The camp was silent, the campfire reduced to glowing embers that barely illuminated the circle of tents. You shouldn't be here. shouldn't be sneaking toward the abandoned barn on the edge of camp after dark. But when Jie Ge gives an order, people obey.

The wooden door creaks as you push it open, and immediately you feel his gaze like a physical weight. Qiu Dingjie doesn't look up from cleaning his revolver, but you know he heard you coming from fifty paces away. His broad shoulders fill the shadowed space between hay bales, muscles shifting beneath his worn flannel shirt.

"Took you long enough," he says without glancing up, voice low and graveled like whiskey and sin. The revolver's cylinder clicks shut with a sound that echoes too loud in the small space.

You swallow hard, closing the door carefully behind you. "Didn't want to be followed."

He finally looks up, those dark eyes burning with an intensity that makes your knees weak. "You think I'd let anyone touch what's mine?" He stands slowly, towering over you as he approaches with deliberate, predatory steps.