Buying Time

“What do we do now?” I choked out when Ryuu finally opened the bathroom to let me out.

“We need to go.” He grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward the door.

Panic surged in an instant. “I can't! I don't even know if the encrypted message passed! I didn't find your mother either!”

Ryuu grabbed my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. “We don't have more time. If I don't bring you to Yan Hao now, we're both as good as dead.”

I sucked in an uneven breath, ineptly trying to calm down and failing. “So... what will happen now?” I finally managed.

He exhaled slowly and looked me up and down. “You'll have to lie, and you'll have to be very convincing. You'll have to put on your best act, as if your life depends on it because it will.”

I swallowed a thick knot in my throat. “Tell me what to do,” I breathed out.

“First of all, you'll have to act like you're disoriented,” he said. “A few people saw me when I carried you here. You'll have to pretend as if you were unconscious most of the t