by Kailin Gow
“Every bit helps. While a few people are in a position to make large donations, most make very modest donations, but they add up. Come,” he said as he took a gentle hold of her forearm. “I have a few people I’d like to introduce you to.”
She’d never felt particularly comfortable amidst high society and as Leo introduced her to Hong Kong’s elite, she felt the scrutinizing gaze of the women drill through her. She smiled and shook their hands, but sensed their disdain.
Flustered and eager to break away as the women returned to their conversation, Zara glanced at the doors that led out to the terrace.
“Let’s get you some air,” Leo said as he guided her out. “You okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Frowning, she set her hands on the rail and looked out at the harbor. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the clear skies allowed a perfect view of Lee Holdings clear on the other side.
“Then you need to tell it to your face, because you don’t look fine.” Leo came up and set his hands beside hers, his left hand almost brushing against her right. “You looked more and more uncomfortable with every passing minute back there. Did I miss something? Did something happen?”
Zara shrugged. “I guess hobnobbing with high society isn’t really my thing.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Oh. Did someone here say anything to make you feel… inferior?”
“No,” she gasped. “Of course not.” At least not outright. “Some of them looked at me kind of funny. Like I was from another world.”
Leo looked her up and down. “You know, Zara that skirt fits you like a glove and your shirt is perfectly pressed.”
She ran her hands over her hips. “Thank you.”
“It’s a great professional look.”
“Thank you.”
“But it’s a little too tame for the Oyster House, and it may be a little too… secretarial for a fundraising luncheon.”
Indignant, she lifted her chin. “First of all, I wasn’t aware I was coming to a luncheon, and secondly, I’m here as your assistant, Leo. I can’t very well wear…” Her gaze wandered to the group of sexy young socialites sitting at a table just beyond the French doors. Their assets were well in view, and one particularly well-endowed woman wore a dress worthy of a high end brothel.
“We’re not at the office anymore. I want you to fit in. It’s bad enough I have to have you following me everywhere as your ‘subject’… some poor hapless victim who can’t protect himself and requires a petite woman like yourself to protect me. It doesn’t matter that I’ve made a name for myself as an action figure and martial artist. If you are going to follow me, you could make an effort to make it a more enjoyable experience.”
“I’ll make note of that and try to do better. As for following you around, it’s just a precaution, one that I think you should take more seriously. Leaving the office without telling me where you're going is negligent on your part.
“I know, and I’ve apologized for that.”
“If you think I’m cramping your style, Mr. Lee, just imagine what being kidnapped and held at gunpoint will do to your lifestyle. Having me around is a small price to pay for your freedom. Considering what happened to this crime ring’s most recent billionaire victim, I’d think you’d be more than happy to have me around.” Zara’s gaze remained on the young socialites and couldn’t fathom dressing like them.
Leo followed her gaze and grinned. “I am happy to have you around, and…” He directed her gaze to his face. “I don’t expect you to dress like a slut, but I do want you to look hot and sexy.”
“Aren’t they one and the same?”
Chuckling, he guided her to a fancifully carved bench and sat down. “You have so much to learn.”
“I beg your pardon.” She didn’t like his tone, or his insinuation. “Are you saying that I’m naïve?”
He shook his head. “Maybe you just work a little too much. When was the last time you took a vacation?”
Huffing with indignation, she tilted her face up to look at a colorful bird perched high in the nearby tree. “Last spring we were invited to a week long training session in Sanya. We were there five days and four nights.”
“That’s hardly a vacation.”
“Have you ever been to Sanya? It’s a very relaxing setting.”
“I’m sure it is, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a weekend in Paris, or a week in Bora Bora, or two weeks in Dubai.”
She waved the notion away. “I’m not interested in that.” She turned to look pointedly at him. “You know, the thing is that I really do love my job. When you love what you do, every day is a vacation. When people take a vacation it’s to get away from a job they don’t enjoy. It’s to break away from the monotony, to put some spice in their life. My days are far from monotonous, and, believe me, I don’t need any added spice. My life is spicy enough as it is.”
“What are you afraid of, Zara? Spending too much time with yourself?”
“Why won’t anyone believe me? I really do love my job.”
“No matter how much you love your job, everyone needs time away every once in a while. I would think in your line of work, that time away would be crucial.”
“Well, you’d be wrong.”
He laughed. “It wouldn’t be the first time.” Looking at her, he ran his finger along her fine cheek bones and down the cut of her jaw. “You have the face of an angel and the body of a lingerie model. What made you want to become a detective of all things?”
She stood suddenly and paced in front of him.
“Sit back down.” Leo took her hand and pulled her back to his side. His eyes darkened with concern. “What’d I say to agitate you so?”
Running her hand over her face, she struggled to find the words to tell him. It wasn’t the first time she’d been asked the question. It’d come up when she’d first enrolled in the academy, then again when she’d graduated, and yet again when she’d made detective. Every time she’d given a flippant remark about idolizing various television detectives.
So why was it now so impossible to give Leo that simple explanation?
“What happened?” he said.
“When I was a little girl, we lived just outside of Shantou. We didn’t have much, but I was a happy child. I loved the country, loved the fresh air and loved the outdoors.”
“Sounds like an idyllic childhood.”
“It could have been,” she said in a mournful groan. “It should have been.”
“What changed it?”
“My parents died when I was a child. Some kind of accident that I was too young to understand. I was sent to live with my grandmother, who was strict and old-fashioned. I didn’t grow up with much of the modern conveniences everyone did. Grandma didn’t even own a television. She owned a bike, not some fancy car, and she made me walk everywhere. Instead of lessons in piano or horseback riding like some of your friends in there, I spent all my free time hitting blocks of wood, sparring, learning how to kick and punch. Grandma didn’t care that I was a girl. She said that because I was a girl, I had to work harder, be tougher, and strive further. Because I was the youngest of the Zee’s and my family’s only child, I had to stay focus on my family legacy.”
“Oh,” Leo groaned. “Family legacy…I know how that feels.”
“I remembered my father was a decent and honorable man, one who didn’t care if his own safety was at stake. He worked hard to support us, while mother taught at a local school. I don’t remember what happened, but Grandma was very sad and angry after she found out about their accident. The police said it was just an accident, but growing up, Grandma often told me there was more to it. She refused to believe my father was under the influence, highly intoxicated with alcohol when he crashed.”
“What made her think that?” Leo asked.
“Well, for one thing, Grandma said that it couldn’t be. My father didn’t drink. He was highly allergic to alcohol. He would never knowingly touch the stuff. Let alone go driving with my
mother in the car after getting drunk.”
“People who drink can’t control themselves, Zara,” Leo said, looking sheepish. “You witnessed how I behaved the day after. I wasn’t exactly a gentleman, which I apologize for, by-the-way, Officer,” Leo said, with a smile.
God, he was intensely adorable at that moment, which Zara reminded herself, was why he was considered one of the most handsome and desirable men in Hong Kong. He was also her responsibility, she told herself, tearing her eyes away from his.
Haunted tears filled her eyes, blurring the vision of her tortured father and dying mother.
“Well, I was only five at the time, and I believe Grandma. My parents’ deaths weren’t just an accident. I swore I’d find the men who’d killed my parents. I would do the job the police had been unable to do.”
“That’s quite a motivation. So you became a cop.”
With a crooked smile, she looked at him through the tears. “Oh, I’ve had plenty of motivation in my life. Living with Grandma in Kowloon City, and not the pleasant section of town, opened my eyes to the world real quick,” she said with a sarcastic smirk.
“Every little errand I made for her was like walking through a war zone. I got pushed around for being a little kid. I got robbed when I had just enough change in my hand to buy a piece of fish. And when I got older, when my body attracted a different kind of attention, I was harassed by men of all ages. I was sick of it. I was tired of being small, and frail and weak. I learned martial arts.”
She shrugged and laughed. “I tried learning it on my own…just moves I’ve seen in old kung fu films without really knowing what I was doing until a friend of my grandmother’s who often came around to help her out saw me one day. Initially he just laughed and dismissed the notion that such a small frail girl could ever learn anything about martial arts, but after a while he started showing me various techniques, and when he saw how serious I was and how quickly I learned, he intensified the lessons. Uncle Chang; that’s what I used to call him. He looked like any old man selling ancient Chinese herbs down at his herb shop, but he had been a kung fu champion back when he was a young man. I learned a lot from him, but he said that I could learn more…go up another level of mastery, and guess who could teach me.”
“Who?” Leo asked.
“My grandmother,” Zara said. “Turns out he and Uncle Chang were classmates, taught by my great grandfather himself. And he was taught by his grandfather and so on in a long tradition that went all the way back to the Qi Dynasty, and originated with the Prince of Lan Ling, Gao Su.”
“The Prince of Lan Ling?” Leo asked. “The legendary brave and handsome prince of China back in the 6th Century A.D.”
“My ancestor was close to the Prince, and some say the prince really didn’t die of poisoning from his own brother, but had pretended to die. That although the Gao dynasty was wiped out, the Prince survived and had descendants. I really don’t know much about all that, but it’s nice to know something about my parents and family ancestry. It was something Grandma was proud of, although it doesn’t help us out today. Nonetheless, Grandma provided more training beyond Uncle Chang’s. She told me that I was my father’s daughter, and a Zee. I had to learn to be the best in martial arts. I came from a long line of martial artists, many serving as the imperial guards of royal families. Grandma was proud of that heritage, and although she hardly spoke of her past, she hinted at a much more glamorous life when she was younger.”
“Does that mean I need to be careful around you?” Leo asked.
Tilting her head down, she looked sidelong at him. “I could give you a serious run for your money, Mr. Movie Star. It means you don’t have to feel like your ego is bruised having a girl like me protect you. I’m not just any girl, you know.”
“I know,” Leo said in a deep guttural voice that made Zara blushed. It sounded like a sensual caress against her skin. “I’m up for the challenge.”
Smiling, she lifted her head and looked up at the late afternoon sky. She’d never told anyone the story of her childhood and felt the heavy burden of her parents’ death lifted from her shoulders.
Leo stood to face her, his eyes intent on her face. “You're quite an impressive woman. You almost make me feel silly and insignificant for having learned martial arts simply to be in the movies.”
“Hey, we all have our paths in life.” She smirked. “I won’t hold against you the fact that you lived in a gilded castle with a silver spoon in your mouth.”
“I might have been coddled, but that didn’t keep me from going out there and working hard to become who I am today. I know plenty of young men who’ve inherited from their fathers and they just sit back and take it easy. I put in six hours of training every day to master martial arts, and I had plenty of rejection from the movie industry before I was finally taken seriously.”
“And now you're hoping the culinary world will take you seriously as well.”
“What’s life if you don’t have the ambition to move forward?”
Zara smiled and felt more at ease than she had in a long time. It wasn’t quite what she’d expected from him. She’d heard he could be difficult, and she’d thought she’d be protecting a brat. She’d also heard he could be a diva, and she’d anticipated a slew of unreasonable demands.
“You’re a pleasant surprise,” she blurted out, quickly regretting her words.
“Really?” he said with interest. “What surprises you? That I enjoy cooking? That I don’t use my martial arts ability every chance I get? That I’m not using my celebrity status to impress you?”
Laughing, she pulled away from him. “All of the above.”
Amusement sizzled in his eyes as he closed in on her and tapped his forehead to hers. “And you haven’t even seen my rebellious side yet,” he whispered.
As they walked back into the restaurant, Leo was quickly surrounded by women of all ages. Some wanted to thank him before they left, others wanted a word with him about the money being raised, and many wanted more, much more. Leo took it all in stride, and Zara enjoyed watching him in his element. He had a charming and endearing way about him, and she now understood why he had such a strong female fan base.
But as charming as he was, it didn’t stop her from keeping a critical eye on the crowd at large. While the women were surely all sincere in their desire to speak to Leo, Zara had to remain on the lookout for any attempt at foul play.
In the far corner she saw them; two men in dark suits speaking to one another with their heads low. In a room filled with flowing pastels, shimmering satins and fashionable florals, they stood out and were instantly conspicuous. Ready for a confrontation, she slowly, but surely made her way to the whispering men.
As she approached, she saw that one of them was a young man, perhaps twenty-five, with a thin mustache and spiked hair, while the other man, shorter and significantly older, had silver grey hair a clean shaven face and a diamond stud earring in one ear.
Zara ’s heart pounded as it always did when she sensed she was onto something. The adrenaline, the thrill, the excitement… and the satisfaction of nabbing another criminal; they all pushed her on, urging her to put a stop to whatever plans they might have.
She stopped at the table set with three large bouquets of flowers and pamphlets regarding the women’s hospital. With her back to the suspicious men, she perused an article that had appeared in the local paper. It praised not only the hospital, but Leopold Lee’s part in the fundraising.
“I don’t know,” the younger man said. “Couldn’t we wait until evening to make our move?”
“No,” the older man said with assurance. “We need to do this now so he knows we mean business.”
“Look around this place,” the younger one said. “There are people everywhere. Someone’s bound to see or hear something.”
“That’s where you're wrong. There are a lot of people here and that is exactly what’s going to make this easier. No one will notice he’s gone. No one will miss him. It’l
l be hours before they realize what happened.”
Zara made her move, and quickly cornered the men, handcuffing them before they act. “You’re not doing anything, gentlemen.”
“Hey,” the older one groaned. “What’s going on?”
“Let’s quietly head to the kitchen and we’ll let the police handle this.”
Chapter 4
Leo
The head chef’s eyes practically popped out when he saw Zara lead the two men into the kitchen. His lips parted and his brow furrowed, but he remained silent, though clearly unhappy with the situation.
The two men looked up at the chef. “Hey, Eddie,” the young man said.
“Jack? Rob? How d’you…? What are you guys doing here?” Eddie said, his eyes wide with surprise and a hint of fear.
“We heard you were back in town. Imagine our surprise. We thought you’d left Hong Kong for good. It’s been so long since we last saw you, we thought we’d pop in and visit you.”
“Right. Right,” Zara said. “Nice try guys. I suggest you remain quiet until the police gets here.”
“Police?” Eddie said. “What’s the police have to do with this?”
“These men were plotting something, and I thwarted their plans.”
“Thwarted our plans to surprise an old buddy, here,” Rob said drily.
“Hey,” Craig said. “How d’you end up with this gig anyway? I thought you were through with Hong Kong after our last… transaction? Last time I saw you, you had your tail between your legs.”
Eddie laughed, but it was a nervous and uncomfortable sound. “Long story short, I ran into Leo Lee on the set of a movie a while back, he introduced me to the famed French chef, Errol King, who trained me, taught me everything I know, and now, here I am.”
“Oh, brother,” Zara groaned, eager to have the police show up. Where were they anyway?
“Looks like a really nice place,” Rob said with a scrutinizing gaze around the well equipped kitchen. “Looks like you’ll have a real hit on your hands.”