by Lee Weeks
‘My private life is none of your business.’
‘Of course it isn’t, but you’re a good-looking man. You are not short of women wanting to marry you, I’m sure. But you choose to stay single. Why is that?’ She took off her jacket and draped it over the chair. Beneath it she had on an expensive white lace blouse sheer enough to see a broderie anglaise slip beneath.
‘Why do you bother asking? You already know all about me.’ Mann marched back and forth to his bedroom, armed with the piles of papers.
Victoria followed him. ‘I knew about Helen, yes. I don’t know all the details but I can guess. I know Chan was capable of terrible cruelty. You weren’t the only one to suffer at his hands.’ Mann turned to see her standing in the doorway, a genuine look of sadness and regret in her eyes. ‘My marriage was a living hell. Every day of it was torture, physical and mental. I was glad for the fact that he liked to be away from home more than he liked spending time with me.’
‘You knew about his business?’
‘I knew about a lot of it. I followed him when he wasn’t looking. I saw the people he did his business with. I never knew about the existence of his private club where he kept the girls hostage and used them in those films.’
‘Snuff movies. That’s what they were. That’s how Helen died-in the process of pleasing sick perverts like Chan.’
‘I am sorry for you. Sorry for all of us.’
‘But you chose to stay with him. Why did you never leave him?’
She shook her head sadly. Her eyes drifted away as she thought. ‘It is not the Chinese way, is it?’ she smiled ruefully. ‘I was educated in England. I was brought up to feel like I was just like every other young woman-that the world lay ahead for me; anything I wanted to achieve was possible. But then I returned home. Suddenly I had to conform, put aside all my hopes and dreams. I wanted to be a lawyer. Instead of that I was married off to one. He was handpicked by my father: ruthless, ambitious, an asset to the firm. I was his prize for coming into the Wo Shing Shing fold. I was his guarantee that he would someday be chosen to take over as the Dragon Head. I was his insurance. For years I did as I was told by my father and by my husband. I had no one to seek help from. I made up my own mind on how I would handle it. I shut my feelings away. I stayed out of his way. I planned for the day that I would be released. And then you came along and you did it for me. We have a lot in common, you and I.’
‘No, we don’t and I didn’t do it for you.’
‘No, but that was a happy coincidence for me that you were the other person who hated him as much as I did. You did me a favour. You knew you had at the time. Now let me do something for you. Let me help you become the man you are meant to be.’
Mann walked angrily away. ‘I will die before I become a Triad.’
‘You don’t have to join the ranks. Just look on it as a business deal.’
‘It’s dirty money.’
‘All money is dirty, Mann.’
He picked up the last of the piles of documents and took them into his bedroom. ‘There’s no way I trust you not to pry into my business so I’ll save you the trouble of trying whilst I go for a shower in peace.’ He locked the bedroom door and came back into the lounge with a towel and shut the bathroom door behind him.
Mann was drying himself off when he heard music coming from the lounge. The telly had been switched off. He heard Victoria moving around and then he heard her come to stand outside the bathroom door.
‘You know, Mann, I have never felt so much in common with anyone else as I do with you. I have never spoken to anyone before about my life with Chan. In some strange way I feel I can trust you more than anyone else.’
Mann stopped his towelling and listened. In some awful way he understood but it didn’t make him happy. It scared him that she was right. In some ways they understood one another.
The door opened. She stood in the doorway with a drink in her hand. Her hair was down over her shoulders. Her blouse was open to the third button. ‘Thought you might be thirsty?’ She had a vodka in each hand.
Chapter 96
Ruby sat down against the white tiled wall a few feet away from Sheng and looked across at him. His chest was heaving up and down. All around him the dolls, their dresses and bonnets, their nylon hair, their painted rosy cheeks, were speckled with his blood. Ruby opened and closed her naked legs like windscreen wipers sliding the blood back and forth and along the floor, she watched delighted at the pattern they made. In her hands she held Sheng’s small intestine. It slid through her hands as she pulled it and coiled it between her legs.
Chapter 97
‘I want to show you my visions of the future. The future for both of us. But first let’s eat.’ She had the food out on the elephant table. Mann was stood in his jeans and t-shirt, towelling his hair dry as he watched her serve him. She knew he was watching. She was enjoying it. She kicked off her shoes.
After they’d eaten Mann took the debris into the kitchen. Victoria opened up her laptop and fired it up. The screen came alive with the image of the Leung Corporation. It was a tiny screen. Mann took it from her and sat on the floor to watch it. Victoria moved from the chair to kneel beside him. They watched the screen whilst a virtual tour of the new Mansions started.
‘As you can see, we will keep the basic structure. We would demolish a block at a time – five blocks and the shopping mall beneath. We estimate it will take us six months to complete, working round the clock.’
Mann looked at it. ‘Very impressive. What’s supposed to happen to the residents whilst all the refurb is going on?’
‘I can find alternative accommodation and we can ensure that only one block at a time is demolished. We will minimize disruption. That is, of course, one of the decisions I would expect us to make together.’
‘What about CK? What’s his involvement in all this?’
‘He is, of course, being very supportive, but he has left it to me to make this project work.’
‘You never wonder at CK’s motives, Victoria? You never ask yourself if he isn’t just giving you all the rope you need to hang yourself with?’
She flashed Mann a look and he could tell that the thought had definitely crossed her mind and it irritated her. ‘I am the natural successor to my father’s empire. Yes, he is making me prove myself, as you would expect but, ultimately, I am sure that he wants me to succeed in my ambitions. Why else would he bother?’
‘Why else? Because he is CK Leung and he has got where he is by shafting everyone, including you. It wasn’t so long ago you were forgotten, sold by him to the bright new star on the Triad ladder.’
‘I would have done the same thing if I was him.’
Mann looked at her and realized she was telling the truth.
Victoria turned to face Mann and leaned towards him. Her lips were an inch from his. ‘You like your women tough, don’t you, Mann? You don’t begrudge me getting my hands dirty once in a while?’
‘I like my women dirty, Victoria, but only in the bedroom.’
‘You have no idea how good I could be for you.’ She opened her blouse further and took the tips of his fingers and ran them over her erect nipples.
‘Oh, yes I do. I also know how bad you are.’
‘We are the same type.’
‘No.’
‘Yes. You deny it but we are. I will never want to have your babies, Mann. I will never grow old gracefully. I will be a fighter till the day I die.’ She leaned over him and her lips brushed his. Her cheek touched his as she whispered in his ear: ‘I will keep you on your toes, never be boring. I will seduce you in ways that you didn’t know possible.’ She flicked her warm tongue deep into his ear…‘I will fulfil you completely.’…She moved her mouth to his. She kissed him tenderly at first and then she bit hard into his lower lip and pushed him backwards and straddled him. She undid her buttons and slipped her blouse off her shoulders.
Mann looked over her shoulder at the laptop as he ran his hands up her thighs to the
tops of her silk hold-ups. The laptop was still showing its tour and it had now stopped outside the Delhi Grill. ‘Have you made a deal with PJ?’ He ran his hands up her thighs to rest on her hips. He traced the edge of her silk panties with his thumbs as he spoke.
‘Yes,’ she replied, distracted. She closed her eyes at the sensation of Mann’s touch as he brushed her sex lightly with his thumbs. ‘I told you, I will keep a flavour of what it is now. He will be opening up a bigger better restaurant.’ She groaned. ‘Fuck me, Mann.’ She reached beneath her to undo his fly.
‘Who else?’ He held her hand, gently but firmly and went back to touching her. He would not be rushed. ‘What about people like Michelle and the Filipino cafe? What have you got in mind for her?’ His thumbs slipped beneath the lace.
‘I have been in talks with her partner, Rizal…We have worked out a compromise…They will get a loan to start a restaurant in the new Mansions…Now, Mann…Please do it.’
‘Really? And is Lilly involved in these negotiations?’
Victoria opened her eyes and looked at him curiously. ‘She could be…’ The minute she said it she froze. ‘I mean…’
‘You set me up.’ Mann threw her off. ‘You could never mean anything to me. Yes, we might both be hollow, damaged; we might be thrill seekers but that doesn’t mean I want to share my life with someone like me. Now get out.’
Chapter 98
‘Rizal?’
Michelle had been expecting the old woman down the hall, who was coming to pick up the twins whilst Nina got on with the cooking. She made the mistake of opening the door before she stopped to think. Rizal pushed her straight back into the flat.
‘Get out,’ she screamed at him.
‘You changed the locks, you bitch. Did you think that was the last you’d see of me? Did you think you could just shut me out? I live here.’
‘Not any more. Go and live with one of your other women.’
‘You don’t tell me what to do.’ He jabbed her in the chest with his finger.
‘You’re drunk. I’m busy. I have to cook. I am expecting the kids back at any time now. Ring me. I’ll meet you. We’ll talk later.’
Rizal stood swaying. ‘There’s nothing to talk about. I am the man in this house. If anyone has to leave it’s you. Where’s Lilly?’
‘You’re not coming near her again. I’ll kill you if you do, and believe me I can do it.’
Rizal picked up the ornaments from the dresser and hurled them at Michelle.
‘Get out,’ she screamed. She went to push Rizal out of the apartment. She felt the sting of his hand on her cheek and she lost her balance. Her head cracked against the side of the sofa. She wriggled backwards. She knew Rizal well enough to know that would not be the last blow and she tried to crawl to the bedroom as fast as she could. As drunk as he was he didn’t have far to make it round the sofa. He stamped on her to stop her and knelt on her as he held her by the throat. She scratched at his face trying to find his eyes. He moved his head out of reach. She felt the world around her going dark.
She didn’t know how long she was passed out for. She came to to a sensation of being shaken and the sound of screaming. Lilly was hysterical. She was knelt over her, shaking her, crying.
‘I’m all right, Lilly, my love. I’m all right. Good girl. Where’s Rizal?’
Lilly didn’t answer. She started to sob. She held on to Michelle and sank onto the floor. ‘I thought he’d killed you. I thought you were dead. You weren’t breathing.’
‘Lilly!’ Rizal stood in the middle of the room. ‘Come with me.’
Lilly stood and looked at him.
‘No, Lilly, don’t.’ Michelle’s voice came out broken, painful.
Lilly walked into the bedroom and came out seconds later carrying the urumi. She let its coils unfurl. Her hand was shaking violently.
Rizal watched it, terrified. ‘Come with me, Lilly,’ he repeated, still staring at the three strips of razor-sharp metal that Lilly had now lifted in her hand. Rizal looked incredulously at her. ‘We can both get away now.’
‘Get out,’ Lilly screamed. She flipped the whip above her head and crashed it down on the top of the sofa, inches from where Rizal stood.
He jumped. ‘Jesus. You’re as mad as your mother.’
‘Get out, Rizal. Leave my mother alone. Leave all of us alone. We don’t want you here. We don’t need you.’
‘You will regret that decision, Lilly. You forget, little girl – I know a lot of your secrets. I know where you go at night. I know what you do.’
‘Shut up…’ Lilly gathered the whip back and lifted it again, ready to strike.
Rizal didn’t need to be told again. He started backing out of the door. Michelle looked at Lilly, at the whip in her hand. Now she was shaking so violently that Michelle was frightened for her.
‘Come here, my little girl.’ Lilly dropped the urumi and Michelle hugged her as they wept in one another’s arms. ‘We are starting again, Lilly. Right here, right now. This is a new start for us. It won’t be easy but we will do it. We don’t need anyone else. We’re in this together. You ready for that?’
Lilly couldn’t answer she was crying too hard. She was looking at the door at Mahmud who stood there waiting for her.
Chapter 99
Ng took the lift to the top floor of the Leung Corporation building and padded out onto the plush carpet, into the dark leather of the penthouse office suite. The PA greeted him with a low bow. Ng walked past him and into CK’s office.
The room was icy. CK sat behind his desk. He looked up as Ng approached, placed his pen carefully down on the writing block and sat back in his chair. In the corner of the room a young Chinese girl sat motionless in a straight-backed chair. At first Ng thought she was not real. She sat like a wax works manikin. Her face was white except for rouged cheeks. But then he saw her eyes follow him across the floor.
‘I am glad to see we remain old friends,’ CK greeted him.
‘I am no friend of yours. I have come to ask you what it is you want from Johnny Mann.’
CK lowered his chin, pressed his fingertips together. ‘You have shown your cards too early, Sergeant. Friends are hard to come by in this world and they make you vulnerable. We were friends once.’
‘I was doing my job. I made mistakes. I was young. I learnt that I was not strong enough to resist the lure of Triad money. I never took the promotion I earned through the undercover work. I always regretted it.’
‘Yes, I was disappointed to see that you did not rise up the ranks as others have done. But, as you know the account is never closed, sometimes it is dormant, other times it is ticking along but it can be fully operational again immediately. Is that what you desire?’
Ng sat in the same chair that Mann had done days before but he did not feel as comfortable, nor cradled. He felt suffocated by it. ‘I have come to ask for a favour.’
‘What favour is that?’
‘Let Johnny Mann be. Leave him alone. Give him time to decide his own fate.’
‘Ah…I am afraid I cannot do that, not even for an old friend. Johnny Mann has things that I need. I feel my time running out. His father was clever; he invested in things that, at the time, seemed worthless. Now, they are worth millions and I feel the years creeping up on me. I want everything now.’
‘Your daughter, Victoria. Is she the reason for all this?’
CK thought for a moment. ‘My daughter is another piece in the jigsaw of my life. She has her place in it, as do others. She will never be all of it. I recognize her failings. They are the same ones I had in my youth. She is greedy, she is hasty. She will learn a valuable lesson soon. She is also, unlike many other women of her type, ruled by the heartbeat between her legs. My daughter would make a good whore.’
CK leant back in his chair and touched his fingertips together in the air; they turned white at their tip. ‘My daughter is impatient. She has been planning this for a long time. She sees that the time is right to strike. With her new
army of young Outcasts she intends to teach the world a lesson. She is still learning. She is ambitious.’
‘She is a murderer.’
CK looked momentarily astonished and then his eyes narrowed and a rare sound came out of his mouth, a peal of high-pitched laughter. ‘Yes…yes…perhaps.’ He placed his palms on the desk and leaned towards Ng. ‘My daughter is capable of anything.’ CK’s eyes shone clear green and glassy. He turned back to Ng. ‘I will grant you your request. But my deal is a favour in return for a favour.’
Chapter 100
Mann held his head in hands. He could still smell her scent on his fingers; feel her presence in the room. He was angry with himself. Despite knowing exactly what she was like he couldn’t help but find her attractive.
He knew he had a self-destructive side but he hadn’t known it was this bad. He knew he was lonely but he hadn’t called it that before. At least he knew now that he didn’t touch Lilly, that it had all been a set-up. He knew that he wasn’t going mad. He knew he had reached rock bottom and he had had enough of swimming in the shit. He was ready to fight back. He stacked the dishes in the sink, picked up the crap lying around and put the vodka bottle away. He called Daniel Lu.
‘Did you find anything that matched any DNA from the sheets to the head?’
‘I shouldn’t be talking to you. You’re suspended.’
‘Did you?’
‘No. And I can also tell you there was no other form of DNA on your sheets.’
‘Yes, thanks, Daniel. I worked that one out myself. I was set up.’
‘But what I did find was bone fragments in your jacket pocket.’
‘Bone? What kind of bone?’
‘Human. I am analysing it to see if belongs to anyone we know. But it’s only a tiny bit of dust. Any idea where you picked it up?’
‘None.’