She suddenly dreaded what would come next.

  "Why did you track him down and not hand him over to the police?"

  "At first, I just wanted to hand him over to the police," he stated calmly. "But then I realized it would be too easy."

  Qian Meng looked at him with concern. "What did you do?" she demanded.

  "I found out everything I possibly could about him."

  "And?" she prompted. "What did you find?"

  "He works are a local motorcycle shop. Or he was. The shop was owned by an older man. They had four locations. The guy was in jail before and got a job there and swiftly went up to being a manager. He was set to buy the shops over once the owner retired."

  Qian Meng's heart constricted in her chest. She didn't want to know anything about this man. She wanted him behind the bars. She was fighting hard to leave that experience in the past. And now Mo Qingchen was taking matters into his own hands.

  "What did you do?" she repeated.

  "I made the owner an offer he couldn't refuse. I purchased the business, shut it down, and sold everything in bits and pieces. The man has no job."

  Qian Meng stiffened. "What did you accomplish doing that?"

  "I am not finished. The investigator found that this perp was having an affair with a married woman. I had the investigator mail all the photographic evidence to her husband in hopes the woman would break it off with the perp and the husband would make him suffer."

  Qian Meng gasped. "The woman… what about her?"

  He shook his head immediately. "She is okay. But the perpetrator now has no choice but to take another big job to start a new life. He needs savings and a safe place to stay."

  "You almost ruined that woman's life," she said.

  "She shouldn't have been cheating then," he told her calmly. Almost ruthlessly. "People who cheat do not deserve our pity," he reminded her.

  "Okay. She was wrong. But why involve her?"

  "Because I needed to corner the perpetrator into taking a job."

  Qian Meng stared at him. "And you are not going to tell me what you have planned next, right?"

  "Of course. I know you are soft-hearted. You will turn him over to the police and the people behind him won't get punished. So, I am not going to let you stop me."

  She shuddered. "You're going to destroy him?"

  "No. He will go to jail. You don't need to worry about that. I am just making sure that he can't escape." She could see the determination in his eyes.

  "And what about Bai Ye Qing? He is already in jail. What problems is he facing and what did you do to make it happen?"

  "I'll tell you everything." He touched her knee, trying to appease her. "I purchased the flat Jia Ai would live in after she comes out of jail. When Chen Yue rents an apartment, I will do the same. Every time they try to make a fresh start, I am going to get them evicted and then sell everything off."

  She quietly watched him.

  "Bai Ye Qing won't live happily in jail either. By now, the people in his location must have found out that he ratted their bosses out."

  "Bai Ye Qing did that?"

  Mo Qingchen nodded. "He wanted protection so he told the police everything about his clients and the crimes he was committing with them. Some bad people will go to jail." He smiled.

  He looked positively terrifying. "Mo Qingchen… how would people inside the jail know that?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.

  "Because I sneaked the news in." His tone was matter-of-fact.

  "Why the hell would you do that?" It was actually how cunningly he put people to death that bothered her the most like he didn't care about the lives of others. She wanted people punished but not cruelly.

  "Qian Meng, I told you that I would protect you fro—"

  He cut her short. "Protect me? This is not protecting me. You are taking revenge!" she yelled.

  "Qian Meng—"

  "How could you do that? That is the opposite of protecting me. It's even worse than I thought. What is Mr. Bai going to do if he finds out that my husband is responsible for all of this?" she asked.

  "He is not going to find out. I was very careful to keep anonymity."

  She watched him as her anger mounted. "How could you? How dare you mess with people behind my back? We are supposed to be a team!"

  "We are a team! That is why I—"

  "That's why you what? That's why you did all of this? Without even consulting me?" She stopped. "No, you didn't feel like you needed to consult me. Because you didn't think I deserved to know. Or maybe you thought I don't get a choice in all of this. How would you feel if I did such things without your knowledge?" she questioned.

  In two seconds, she went from absolutely fuming to completely devastated. One second, she was glaring at him and in the next, she completely broke down.

  Mo Qingchen didn't miss a beat as he took her into his arms. She wanted to push him off herself. She wanted to yell and tell him not to touch her. Hell, she even wanted to slap her. But she didn't.

  Instead, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and cried loudly against his chest.

  "I could kill Bai Ye Qing with my bare hands for what he has done to you. I could kill them all for making you suffer," he confessed.

  She recoiled slightly. That wasn't what she had expected him to say. "Mo Qingchen, don't say that. Don't give them the power to make you so angry. That's all in the past. It was just a dream. You can't hold a grudge against people who could have been bad." She tried to make him see reason.

  "It's not a dream. And it's not in the past, Qian Meng."