“Paul.” Lucy cuts through the crowd, her face deathly pale in contrast to the deep purple of her gown. “Did you find her?”
I shake my head. Everyone surrounding us is staring openly, and I’m tempted to snarl at them. “She’s been taken. I don’t know by who. I need to…”
My vast network of friends and associates flashes through my head. I’m the guy who knows a guy, the one everyone comes to when they need something from a certain person. If this happened to anyone else, they’d be coming to me to find out who could help.
So who the fuck do I need to track down? I can’t come up with a name. All I can hear is the terror in Grace’s voice, then the shatter of the phone.
The immigration lawyers? So far they’ve all been useless.
All the power brokers I know in Homeland Security? Again, useless.
The politicians I’ve bought with some well-placed donations, the titans of industry I’ve laughed with, the tech gurus I’ve funded—none of them can help me.
I do know some mercenaries though. And they come cheap compared to the lawyers.
Lucy puts her fist to her mouth. “Oh no. He really did it.”
“Fuchs?” I take her arm, pull her closer so I can hear her better. The crowd’s started murmuring, and I don’t have the time to tell them to shut it.
“Fuchs?” She frowns like she doesn’t know him. “Oh, Grace’s boss. No, Archie.”
My rage focuses to a single, sharp point. I’ve got a target now. And I’m going to make him pay. I was so busy trying to fool my mother—and falling in love with Grace at the same time—I didn’t keep my eye on him. I should have known he wouldn’t give up without a fight.
“What happened?” I ask with deadly clarity.
“He called ICE on Grace. Said she was here illegally, that her visa had expired.” She licks her lips, looking afraid. Maybe of me, maybe for Archie. “One of my friends overheard him telling someone about it. She came to me, wanted to know if it was true.” Lucy’s voice goes quiet. “If Grace was only marrying you for a green card.”
Oh, that’s going to be a lovely rumor to have flying. If I weren’t so focused on Grace, I’d feel worse about it. This evening is just becoming the perfect shit storm.
“Forget about it,” I say. “Grace is gone. I’m pretty sure ICE has her. If it’s not them…”
Lucy grabs my arm tightly. “Let’s find Archie and confront him.”
He’s at a table with my mother, talking her ear off while she simply looks bored. I catch a few snatches about a building and real estate prices and acting immediately. The fool is still trying to convince her to fund one of his idiot deals, and he hasn’t the eyes to see how badly he’s failing.
“Archie.”
His head snaps up at my cold tone, his voice dying. For half a moment he looks guilty, guilty as fuck, and I immediately know it’s true.
“You son of a bitch,” I say, my breath low and taut.
“Paul.” Mother’s scandalized, but I can’t care.
“Tell her what you did,” I demand of Archie. “Tell everyone what a sneaking rat you are.”
“Everyone is watching,” Mother warns.
“Good. A public confession is exactly what I want.”
Archie shifts in his chair and swallows hard. “What about your public confession? A fake engagement is certainly not something to be proud of.”
My face sags. How the hell did he find out? I glance at Lucy, and she shakes her head. If she didn’t tell, and Grace definitely wouldn’t have told, how did he know?
“What is he talking about?” my mother asks.
Triumph twitches at the corner of Archie’s mouth. “I did some investigating. Grace doesn’t have a green card, isn’t a citizen—she’s here on a visa. One that’s about to expire. And no one, absolutely no one, has ever seen the two of you together before you announced this engagement. You two are so in love but apparently never go out in public. Not once. It wasn’t hard to figure out—she needed a green card and tricked you into an engagement.”
I almost roll my eyes because Archie’s so close yet so far. “She’s not marrying me for a green card. And she didn’t trick me into anything.”
My mother is looking between us, and I can see her putting the pieces together, fitting them into the timeline of when she arrived with Amelia in tow. This isn’t how I wanted to tell her, but I don’t have a choice at this point.
Archie snorts. “Whatever you need to believe.”
“Did you call ICE and inform on her?”
My mother gasps but I ignore it, completely focused on forcing an answer from Archie.
He sets his lower lip, which only makes him look petulant. “I did. I told them she’d be here.”
Lucy fists her hand into the back of my jacket, anchoring me in place. It’s a silent warning to not make an even bigger scene than I already am.
“Why?” The question comes out like the hiss of a dragon’s breath.
“To make a point.”
“What point?” I’m not sure if Archie hears the horrified anger in my mother’s voice, but I certainly do.
“It proves that your son isn’t the one to lead the company—if he chooses such an unsuitable wife, what else will he get wrong? No, the board has to understand we can’t risk our future with him at the helm.” Archie folds his hands as if he’s just made the world’s greatest argument. “With the scandal surrounding this, you won’t be able to cover it up. The board will know, and they won’t be pleased.”
Mother curls her lip. “The board will do whatever I tell them. Your father would have ruined everything because he was as thickheaded as you are. He might have been rightfully next in line, but it would have been madness to let him take over. And it would be madness to let you do the same.”
Archie’s jaw twitches. I can’t tell if he’s furious or about to cry. “But… this girl is completely unsuitable. Even you agree.”
Oh, that asshole. I’m halfway out of my seat before Lucy grabs me, sits me back down hard.
Mother folds her own hands in a mockery of Archie’s posture. “My son is now the head of Tsai Holdings. The paperwork was completed before I even left Taiwan. That is how much I trust my son’s judgment. If he has chosen her, then she is suitable. No matter what anyone else thinks.”
My rage at Archie cools, replaced by sour guilt. My mother still thinks my engagement is real. And I never had the chance to make it real because I kept putting off asking Grace, thinking I still had time.
Archie’s right—I am an idiot. But not for the reasons he thinks.
“Since he is in charge,” my mother says, glancing at me, “he will choose your punishment.”
Archie meets my gaze with a defiant glare. I wait for some gesture of apology or even reconsideration, but he’s holding strong to his indignation.
Fine. I’ll do what I have to then. “You’re out of the company. All board meetings, all deals, all future earnings. I can’t touch your trust fund”—more’s the pity—“but in no way will you benefit from being a member of this family. You are… banished.” I shrug since the word is dramatic, but it still fits. “Other family members might invite you to their homes—I can’t stop them—but you are not welcome in mine nor at any family gathering I’m attending.” I point to the door. “Including this one.”
Archie looks between me and Mother, clearly expecting her to step in. Her mouth turns down, and she stares at the exit. He rises, snapping his jacket off the back of his chair. To his credit, he doesn’t try to get off any clever parting shots. He just disappears through the door.
After a moment, Lucy asks, “Does anyone have the number for ICE?”
My shoulders slump. “We’ll have to go through the lawyers, I think. I’ve got a bunch of them on retainer luckily.”
Grace might already be on her way to Beijing. I could race out to SFO, see if I can stop them at the international terminal, but I’m not certain they would even let me past the security checkpoint.
I haven’t flown commercial since… ever. And getting into a fistfight with federal agents would be the height of stupidity even if the testosterone surging through me insists it’s an awesome idea.
“Sit down.”
Our mother’s command is soft, but Lucy and I both instantly sit.
“Explain.” She fixes us with the Mother’s Death Glare.
Lucy glances at me guiltily. I smile with resignation and relief. It’s more than time to come clean.
“Archie’s right,” I say. “The engagement was fake.”
My mother’s mouth tenses. “I thought so.”
“What?” Lucy and I say together.
“At first,” she admits. “The timing was too suspicious. I tell you you must marry, bring a perfect candidate, and you are already engaged? Come now.”
I could argue that Amelia wasn’t anything like the perfect candidate, but I don’t.
“But then at dinner, you seemed… taken with her. I couldn’t entirely be sure,” Mother says.
“That’s why you came to stay at the house,” I say. “You wanted to see if we were living together.” Wow, my mother is way more devious than I’ve ever given her credit for. And I thought she was pretty devious before.
“The next time you try to hide something from me,” Mother says dryly, “remember that I’ve known you and when you were lying your entire life. Also, I saw the maids doing some of her laundry.”
So much for being stealthy. “But you said I shouldn’t marry her.”
Next to me, Lucy huffs in an indignant breath.
“I still don’t think she’s suitable.” Mother doesn’t even flinch as she says it. “But since it’s not real, we can leave all this behind us. And we got rid of Archie.”
My heart seems to crystallize, harden. I thought that admitting the lie would be the most difficult part, but I was wrong. It will be admitting that I love Grace since that’s the most important part.
“We can’t leave it behind.” My voice is steady, almost stern. “Because I love her and I’m definitely going to marry her.” When my mother opens her mouth, I cut her off. “There is no argument, no discussion. It’s decided.”
Shock and outrage roll through her expression. “You can’t. I forbid it.”
“I can. You trust me to run the company, lead the family. Trust me in this.”
There’s a moment where I see her wrestling with it, with everything that’s changed between us. She’s not in charge anymore, which is what she wanted, but it’s also hard to give up. I understand. So I reach over, squeeze her hand. “It will all be fine. I promise.”
There’s a beat where she stares down at our joined hands, then she nods. Short and sharp, but she does it. “Now’s not the time to discuss this.” Her gaze meets mine. “But we will talk later. At length.”
That’s going to be unpleasant, but it’s necessary. I did lie to her. “Of course.”
“Um, what about Grace?” Lucy asks quietly. “Should we… go get her?”
Mother leans back, sighs. “You should explain all this from the beginning.”
So I do, starting with Grace’s job at Corvus, how she exposed their illegal programs, got fired for it, and couldn’t get her visa approved with another company. And how Fuchs offered her her freedom for naming the person inside his company who’s working against him.
“But she wouldn’t do it?” Mother clearly doesn’t understand why.
“It’s complicated,” I say. If Grace wants to tell the story of her great-uncle, she can. That’s not my family secret to give. “But no, she couldn’t. That’s not who she is.”
Lucy taps my arm excitedly. “Wait, what if you went to Fuchs? You give him the name, he gives Grace her visa, and she can come back.”
I’ve been struggling with that same question as I tell the story—what to do about Fuchs?
“I can’t go against Grace’s wishes.” I want to, but in the end she was right. “She doesn’t owe Fuchs anything. I’m not giving him a damn thing, not even a response. Let him stew and do his own dirty work.”
Grace and I don’t need anything from him to start our life together. She can be done with him, finally and forever. And it will drive him stark raving mad to lose even that last small leverage he has against her.
“But you can’t let him get away with it,” Lucy says.
“We won’t,” Mother says simply. “We’ll answer as a family. By stopping any of his business deals we can and souring his networking relationships.”
I have to smile at her ruthlessness. Mother might have her reservations about Grace, but she’s prepared to fight Fuchs for me. “Sounds perfect.”
Lucy taps my arm again, this time with more force. “You still have to go find Grace though.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” I look at the gala going on, at the people trying their best to listen in on our conversation. The gossip sites are going to explode tomorrow. “Look, can I leave you two to…?” I gesture around us, meaning our guests, the scene I’ve made, everything that isn’t finding Grace and bringing her home.
“Of course.” My mother says it with a touch of asperity, as if she can’t believe I’d ever doubt her.
I kiss them both on the cheek, because they mean so much to me in their own, unique ways. “Thank you.”
“Go.” Lucy shoos me toward the exit. “Hurry up.”
So I do, ready to take on ICE, Fuchs, and maybe, maybe even fly commercial if it will bring me back to Grace.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A flight to China doesn’t take as long as you might expect, even if you’re awake the entire flight. It’s only about twelve hours, and I spend all twelve dry-eyed and silent. I’m still in my gown, although one of the flight attendants gave me a blanket to wrap around my shoulders. “You can keep it,” she whispered to me, no doubt sensing I was at rock bottom.
The ICE agents escorting me onto the plane probably gave that away.
The blanket is wrapped around my shoulders as I ride the subway to my parents’ house. Several commuters have given me strange looks, but I don’t think it’s because of my dress and the blanket—I think it’s because of the hollow look in my eyes.
I feel dead inside. Surely I must look that way too?
No one says anything to me though; everyone else is caught up in their own lives. I’m a curiosity, but in this massive city, another, better curiosity will turn up in a few minutes.
At my stop, I stumble out of the train and up the stairs, holding tight to my blanket. Beneath it I’m clutching my purse, which holds only my passport. I don’t even have my national ID or money or anything. When my phone rang and I yelled for Paul to save me, the agent managed to toss my phone out the window. I don’t think it was an accident.
I’m returning home with literally nothing. The ICE agents said something about shipping my things to me, but I wasn’t paying close attention.
January could probably pack my things up and ship them to me. Or Paul—
I force his image, even his very name, away from me. It hurts too much.
He’s gotten what he wanted. His mother announced his new role as CEO of Tsai Holdings. She can’t walk that back now without losing face.
That was the plan, the end game we were counting on. Paul assumes his role as head of the family and I go home. Perhaps it happened more quickly, more violently, than we were expecting, but this was supposed to happen.
I know Paul will hold up his end and that soon enough I’ll have enough in my bank account to do whatever I like, including doing nothing at all for the rest of my life. And I held up my end; I pretended to love him so well that I ended up falling for him for real.
As I pass through the familiar streets, I keep my head high and my gaze on nothing. The thought of seeing a family friend, of having to smile and chat, is unbearable. If I don’t look at anyone, I can pretend I see no one.
Too soon, my parents’ apartment building appears. I key in the code, then walk all twelve flights up to ou
r floor. My legs burn and my heart is racing, but I want the pain.
“Dad?” I call out in our dialect, the one only used in the village where my parents grew up. I suddenly feel like a child again.
“Zhenzhen?” He uses my Chinese name, the one he and my mother chose so carefully for me. Not the American name I picked for myself in school.
He and Mother always chose so carefully for me, and now I’ve ruined it all. The tears run silently down my cheeks, my grief finally overflowing.
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “They wanted me to expose someone, someone who was doing a good, brave thing, and I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”
My father embraces me, his arms so comforting, so familiar. I cry even harder. “Of course you couldn’t do something wrong. Of course.”
He says it over and over and over again until the words blur together into soothing nonsense. And he lets me keep crying on him.
Finally, when I’m as dried out as a desert and my head aches, I straighten up and wipe my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Dad hands me a tissue. “Don’t be sorry. But… I don’t understand. Why are you home?”
Oh. Oh boy, I have so much I have to tell him. I told my parents about losing my job, and I mentioned that I had a plan to get a new one, that everything would be taken care of… but I said nothing about Paul. Nothing about the deception I involved myself in.
Nothing about how I felt about him.
I can’t talk about Paul, not now. Maybe someday, when it hurts less, I’ll give my parents the entire story. But not today, not when I just got off the plane, the plane I was thrown onto.
“Arne Fuchs wanted me to betray someone to him,” I say. “There’s a person inside the company leaking information. He thinks I know who it is, and if I told him… he’d have my visa taken care of.”
My father sighs as he sits back down. His knees aren’t in good shape, and they creak as he does. “And the information was something bad?”
I try to think of how to explain the American surveillance state to a man who lives under one that is much, much worse. One that murdered his uncle.
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