by J. A. Huss
“Hmmm,” I say. “So the meritocracy is a myth.”
This time he guffaws so loud, I’m pretty sure whoever’s in the room next door just heard him. “Was there ever a doubt?”
“Well, yeah,” I say. “My parents didn’t go to an Ivy League school, and I did OK. Hell, they did OK too, and my family is pretty much nothing but bikers and tattoo artists.”
He frowns. “I know. I was leery of that, I have to be honest. I should’ve chosen Kallie. And I know she’s probably upset that I didn’t—”
“You chose me?” I ask, cutting him off. That… might be the most off-putting thing he’s said so far. As if I’m nothing but chattel to be bought and sold.
“Let me finish,” he says, more sternly than he should. “I had my pick of all the women in this house and I chose you, yes. Because you’re beautiful, and smart, and talented. Plus, I find your family interesting. I think Christmas at the Shrike house is something I’d like to participate in.”
“I think my father would beat the living shit out of you if he was here right now.”
“I don’t doubt it. But I don’t have to worry about that. Because you said yes, Rory. And if you show up next Saturday to take the vow, then that means you’ve accepted this pairing. Which subsequently means you will build me up and never tear me down. So if your father ever does have an urge to ‘beat the living shit out of me,’ as you so eloquently put it, it will be your fault.”
My mouth has dropped open. And there it remains as I process all the bullshit he just spewed.
Frank gives me all the time I need to process. I’m fuming mad. About to explode like the Bomb I take after. But my adult role models include lots of other people besides my parents. They include the best liars. The best hackers. The best killers too.
So I channel them all in this moment. Shut my mouth, smile sweetly at him and say, “OK.”
“OK?” he asks, raising one eyebrow. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say about this?”
I shrug. “What should I say? You chose me, I took this ring as my pledge to you, and next week we’ll be legally paired for the good of both of us. We’re a…” I close my eyes in order to spit the word out. “We’re a team, then. Right? I know what it means to be a team player, Frank.”
He leans back into the couch cushions and smiles. “I have to admit, I expected a little more fight from a girl who comes from an infamously rough family.”
“Welp,” I say, letting my bubbly princess personality take over as I reach for the tea pot and start pouring us a drink. “I’m sold, how’s that? I mean, what kind of girl doesn’t want to be taken care of? I get the feeling you’re more than capable in that department, am I right, Frank? Do you like sugar and milk?”
He nods. Smug. Smiling. Satisfied that he’s put me firmly in my place. “Please.”
I add one cube of sugar to each of our cups, pour a splash of milk, and stir. “Here you are, see if that’s to your taste.”
He sits up, takes his tea, sips, and gives me a nod of approval. “Very nice, Rory. We’re going to be happy together, just wait.”
“Oh, I have no doubt, Frank.”
“Really?” He raises that eyebrow again as his hand wanders.
I slap it off. “I’m a virgin, Frank. And I didn’t stay a virgin until senior year of college just to give it up a week before my wedding night.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “So that rumor is true, huh? You’re really… pure?”
“Like the driven fucking snow.”
“I hope you use that dirty mouth in bed next week.”
“I guess you’ll have to wait and see. Should we drink more tea? Or should we go back out and join the party?”
“I don’t even drink tea.” He laughs, standing up and bringing me with him. “It’s just high-society pretenses. Let’s fucking party.”
My heart is racing. My face is hot—hell, my whole body is hot. And there’s no way to get a grip on it unless I deal.
So I deal.
Frank leads me out to the group, which is sparse, but I see Tera. And Mia, so she’s not getting fucked back in her man’s study room, but no Kallie in sight.
I glance at Tera and she’s got a tight smile plastered on her face. “Hey,” she says as we approach the group. “Would you like to go to the ladies’ with me? I drank too much punch in there.” She nods her head to the ominous double doors.
I look up at Frank, who is waiting to hear what I’ll say. “Do you mind?” I ask, like a good little demure… whatever the hell he thinks I am to him.
“Go right ahead.” And then he looks at his buddies and they laugh out the word, “Women.”
Yeah. Women. We’re so fucking predictable.
Tera grabs my hand tight and doesn’t let go, even when we get to the dining room bathroom. She checks each stall, kicking open the doors with her fancy shoes.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking for spies, of course,” she hisses. When she’s satisfied we’re alone, she drops her pretenses and frowns. “What. The fuck. Was. That?”
“Um,” I say, unsure how to handle this. Do I trust Tera? I mean, up until recently that was a big, giant, emphatic yes. But now? I dunno. “I think it was a marriage proposal.”
“Right?” Tera says, nearing hysterics. “I had no fucking idea. Did you? I mean…” She looks down at the ostentatious diamond on her finger and shakes her head. “What the fuck?”
“You really had no idea?”
“Did you?”
“Shhh,” I say, glancing at the door. Because she’s being way too loud. “Someone will hear you.”
“Should I be scared? I mean, really, Rory. What just happened?”
I shrug and let out a long breath of air. “We made a pledge, Tera. I mean, no, I didn’t know anything about this. Not at all. But… that’s what just happened. Did you say no?”
I cannot imagine Tera saying no. But she nods her head. “I did. But he told me to think about it this week and let him know on Friday night. Did I make a mistake? Did you say no? Please, Rory. Do not tell me you’ve agreed to this… this… insane bullshit? Did Frank tell you the part about your place at his side? Because Brian told me. He basically said my purpose was to build him up.”
“Well, yeah. He said that.”
“And you’re just gonna go along with this? Jesus Christ, I bet they wanted Cliff in Palladium House and then he told them no, so they figured they’d get the Middletons through me! They must think I’m the easy one, right? Get me, get him. And my parents. Holy shit, do you think they’ll do something to my family if I say no next weekend?”
“Tera,” I say, looking at the door again. I don’t like this either, but my dad is the most paranoid motherfucker on the planet. So I know better than to discuss things like this on someone else’s home turf. “Just calm down. That part of tonight is over. When we’re done here we’ll go for a walk and have another talk, OK?”
“How can you be so calm? Brian just told me we’re part of some secret society! Like… we’re like… in a cult, Rory! Palladium House is a cult!”
She has the good sense to whisper that last part, but still. “Shhh,” I say. “Stop talking, for fuck’s sake. Just be cool and meet me at the quad at one AM, OK? The party will be over, we can go back to our rooms and change and slip out without anyone knowing.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she says. And there is real fear in her face. Genuine terror.
“You can,” I say, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a shake. “Now let’s go back out there and pretend everything is fine, all right?”
She swallows hard, takes a few moments to think about it, and then nods. “OK.”
We exit the bathroom and rejoin our new… men. Good Lord. What the fuck? is right. These people are crazy. And then I lose track of her as more and more people come back from their little discussion rooms.
I do my duty, because I know when to shut up and do as I’m told, and this is definitely one of thos
e times. So I dance with Frank. And every other man in the room. Since we are all in this together, each one needs to drive that point home with me personally. They tell me that over and over again as they twirl me around the room.
But at the end of the night, after Frank walks me to the entrance to the female side of the house, and after I’m exhausted from all the fake smiles I’ve been beaming, and after I strip out of that designer dress, change into my jeans and a Shrike Bikes t-shirt, and make my way out to the quad at exactly one AM…
I know something is wrong. Because Tera never shows up.
Chapter Twenty-Three - Five
My father doesn’t come to the funeral. It’s better that way. I’m not sure how my mom is taking the news, since we’ve decided distance is the best course of action going forward. He warned me not to get in touch with Rory because that would just make her a target, so I haven’t.
But I desperately want to. I need to warn her. I need to be there for her. I need to know she’s OK. Hold her in my arms and never let her go.
My grandfather was laid to rest this morning in a private family cemetery on his sprawling ten-acre property in Southern California. The entire organization was present to pay respects, but it wasn’t a complicated affair like it would’ve been had the funeral occurred back in Hong Kong.
Part of me is sad about that, since he loved that city and Taoist funerals are a pretty big deal. We did burn the spirit money—called joss paper—the entire time to give it a little flair. Chen insisted on it, even though my grandfather didn’t believe in spirits.
“It’s always better to be safe than sorry,” Chen had said. “And it makes people feel better if they contribute to his wealth in the afterlife.”
But now that it’s done, my thoughts are on what’s next. Was he poisoned? We won’t know for another week, at least. Who did it? Was it Wen? Maybe. But after hearing his offer, I doubt it. I don’t think it was Wen. How do I figure into all this? Again, Wen’s offer has me questioning everything. And Rory? What’s happening back at Princeton?
“Do you need anything?” Chen asks.
We’re staying in the family home. It’s huge and it sits up in the Rancho Santa Fe hills, just north of San Diego. Everyone is staying here, since there’s ten bedrooms, a pool house, and a guest house. But the place seems empty and quiet from the seclusion of the conservatory on the western side of the mansion. This was not my grandfather’s actual office—that’s in another wing, near the front entrance—but he liked this room best.
“I’m gonna miss him,” I say, sipping a glass of Scotch. I’m sad that he’s gone. I’m sad that I never got to say goodbye. I’m sad that I’m never going to have that final conversation with him. The one where I say no, I will not be part of your legacy.
I admired him as a child. Hell, even well into my teens. When he came to our house when I was little he was just… a well-mannered businessman. Innocuous. But my mom—and especially my dad—were always suspicious of him. When I found why at the age of nine it all seemed… kinda cool. My grandfather was the head of a Chinese Triad.
I was kinda proud of him.
But that was before my mom and dad explained all the shit they were involved in when they were younger. I could hardly believe what I was hearing when they explained Kate’s role in all this. Her biological father was some kind of secret society assassin, for fuck’s sake.
No kid is prepared to handle that.
But I was already on a road to… this by then.
“We’re all going to miss him,” Chen belatedly replies to my sadness.
But I don’t think they are. He was old. It was his time. They want to move on and it shows.
“You need to go back to Hong Kong and make a statement.”
He doesn’t mean statement, as in speech. He means statement, as in acts of violence to ensure I can take Damian’s place as the head of his men.
“Yeah,” I say, taking another sip of my drink. The ice clinks in the cut-crystal glass as I set it down on a nearby table. “I’m heading back tonight. Just a little side trip to Colorado to see my mom and make sure she’s OK.”
“She should’ve come to pay her respects,” Chen says. He’s mad about that, but nobody gives one fancy fuck what Chen is mad about. Least of all my mother.
“My father said no. And when my father says no, the answer is no.”
Chen says nothing.
“I’m going alone,” I say.
“No,” Chen says. “I have to—”
“I said,” I snap, anger flashing in my eyes, “I’m going. To go. Alone.”
Chen sighs, then shrugs. “I’ll get the plane ready.”
“No need,” I say. “I’m going to drive.”
“Drive?” Chen says, his exasperation with me plainly showing. “That’s a waste of time.”
“I have a little time to waste. The meeting with Wen isn’t until next week.”
Chen’s mad about that too. But he has the good sense to leave it alone. We’ve been over and over this meeting several times over the past few days. I told him Wen wants to make a deal in our favor. He’s finally crossing over to the dark side. Most of the officers in the Hong Kong Organized Crime and Triad Bureau are already on the mob payroll. Wen and his small group of do-gooders are the last holdouts. Chen knows if we can get Wen on our side, we’ll be infinitely more powerful. So he’s torn. And he stays silent.
A knock on the glass doors make us both look at the same time. The butler enters with my bags. “Here you are, Mr. Aston.”
“Thank you,” I say, standing up and buttoning my suit coat.
“Your car is waiting outside,” the butler says.
“You’re leaving now?” Chen asks.
“Now,” I say, striding over to the butler. He picks up my bags and we leave Chen standing in the conservatory.
Outside, the Porsche is waiting, as promised. It’s nice. A ’61 silver 718/RS Spyder that my grandfather probably never drove, simply looked at on occasion. The mechanic was clearly against me taking it on a road trip through the Rocky Mountains when I told him to get it ready this morning before the funeral.
But fuck it. If you’re gonna go down, you might as well go down in style.
My two bags—just an overnight satchel and a spare suit in a garment bag—are placed on the passenger seat as I lower my sunglasses and get in.
I leave them all behind, squealing the tires on the smooth concrete driveway. With any luck, I’ll never see this place again.
The trip will be short. I’m not driving a three-million-dollar car to Colorado. These people must be crazy to let me even consider it.
A small smile creeps out as I wind my way through the hills, hugging the corners of the twisting road, and then head up El Camino Real to the McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad.
A small jet is waiting on the tarmac, as is my father, the infamous Rutherford Aston IV. Einstein-level mastermind of pretty much everything that has kept his family and friends safe over the past twenty-three years.
I’m counting on his genius to pull off the impossible one last time.
“Dad,” I say, getting out of the car and handing the keys over to a waiting attendant.
“Get in,” he says, panning a hand to the jet. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, Five.”
Chapter Twenty-Four - Rory
“Hey.” I grab Mia in the hallway before she can jet past me. “Have you seen Tera? I’ve been playing phone tag with her all week.”
Mia shrugs me off and keeps going. “I’m late for class and Jeremy is waiting for me outside. Saw her this morning.” And then she disappears out the front door.
I look around, but it’s been quiet all week. I get that school started back up and everyone is busy… but it’s almost too quiet.
Tera never showed up for our one AM meeting last Saturday. And when I went to her room the next morning, she was already gone. Kallie said she was out with Brian. OK. I get it. He’s her pairing, or whatever. And it was all b
rand new. Hell, Frank has been by to see me every day too. But then she called me back after I left a message. So I called again on Monday. And Tuesday. She finally returned that call—which was a relief because I was starting to seriously worry something had happened to her—but I was in class, so I couldn’t pick up. And she knew I’d be in class.
So… is she avoiding me?
“Hey, Rory.”
I turn around to see Frank walking across the main foyer.
“Hi,” I say. I’ve been doing my best to act cool this week, but he’s really getting on my nerves. He showed up to walk me to class on Monday. Which would be sweet if we were… you know. In like and shit. But we’re not. So it was annoying. Then he showed up outside my class just before lunch. Then again, after my last class to walk me home. And that’s been his routine all week. Like he’s keeping an eye on me.
When Frank is close enough, he reaches for me, leans in, and kisses me on the cheek. I wince, then look around to see if anyone’s watching. But no, we’re alone.
Weird.
“Ready?” he asks.
I don’t need to ask what I’m ready for. Once again, he’s my campus chaperone.
“Have you seen Tera?” I ask. Because I’m desperate. I’m really starting to worry about her. I mean, she was so afraid last Saturday and then she just disappears?
“Yeah, about ten minutes ago. She and Brian were having breakfast in the dining hall.”
“Oh, I’m gonna go look for her real fast. You don’t need to walk me to class.”
But he grabs my arm and says, “They left. I saw them.”
Yup. Weird. And his touch isn’t getting any easier to deal with as the days pass. It’s getting creepier.