Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 624(@200wpm)___ 499(@250wpm)___ 416(@300wpm)
Aunt Suzi finally spoke. “Leo already knows something is wrong. We’ve been standing outside in the garden for too long instead of dragging Monique back inside to serve tea.”
“Good point.” I nodded. “I say we get my father anyway we can, reporters in there or not.”
To my surprise, Moni stepped forward. “Lei, he will use the reporters against you.”
Chen agreed. “We’ll need to get them out of there and attack Uncle Leo at the same time.”
“Whatever we do. . .” Aunt Suzi now placed her feet into a fighting stance too. “Leo can’t be allowed to manipulate or charm his way out of this. He took my sweet little niece after. . .not being the man, the father he was supposed to be to her.”
Aunt Min gazed at the ground.
Aunt Suzi’s voice cracked. “For Yan to die by his hands is an injustice that I cannot. . .I will not let go.”
Aunt Min’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I’ll handle Song. He trusts me the most and I can keep him occupied long enough for you to do what needs to be done, Lei.”
“Hold on.” Chen raised his eyebrows. “What are you going to do, Aunt Min?”
“Does it matter?”
“I don’t want you to hurt my father.”
“Song is strong. He can handle a few punches from me.” Aunt Min shrugged. “I only want to knock him out for a few minutes.”
Suddenly, one of Moni’s ladies-in-waiting’s phones rang.
We all turned her way.
“Sorry. I’ll turn it off.” She pulled out the phone.
Tension gathered in my shoulders. “Check to see who it is.”
“Yes, Mountain Master.” She looked at the screen and widened her eyes. “Oh. . .It says the Mountain Mistress is calling.”
Chen frowned. “Leo must be using Monique’s phone.”
I sighed. “Answer it.”
She swiped the screen and then placed the phone against her ear. “Hello.”
I exchanged glances with my aunts and I saw the same truth mirrored in their gazes. All hope for us getting my father had dwindled down to unlikely. If he was on Moni’s phone, then he was on guard. That meant he had enough time to quickly plan an escape.
Additionally, he would use whoever and whatever to get out of the East.
That was the difference between him and me. I could never watch innocent people die and he knew it, using that fact against me as much as possible.
Moni’s lady-in-waiting blinked and then handed the phone to Moni. “It’s for you, Mistress.”
“No.” Without hesitation, I took the phone from her. “He doesn’t get to talk to her anymore.”
Enough is enough.
I put the device next to my ear. “What do you want?”
My father’s voice hit the line. “I assumed you wouldn’t let me talk to Monique.”
“What do you want to say to her?”
“I wanted to know if I could get an invitation to the cookout—”
“Sure. Come on. You are more than welcome to show up.”
He must’ve caught the violence in my voice because a dark chuckle left him. “No, son. Perhaps, I will give her a rain check.”
I sneered.
“You should be happy to know that I am currently heading away from Lotus Blossom. Please, make sure the gate opens for me. If they don’t open, prepare for more than half of the people at the market to die.”
“Running away?”
“We’ll fight at the battle tomorrow evening. For now, you should rest and prepare for the cookout. I want Monique’s sisters to have a true Eastern welcome when they arrive at Lotus Blossom.”
Of course you know about the cookout too. Yes. I think it is Bolin or Fengge.
He continued. “Son, can you deliver a message to Monique for me?”
“Never. I don’t even want you to say her name—”
“Tell her that I’m proud of her with the tea ceremony but most of all, I’m prouder that she passed my final test.”
I spoke through clenched teeth. “And what the fuck was her final test?”
Moni quirked her brows at me.
A hint of humor laced his voice. “While the tea ceremony was important and I needed her to understand our traditions and be ready to follow them. Well. . .I more wanted to make sure that her loyalty to you was more important in her heart and mind.”
“So, you wanted her to tell me about Yan during the tea ceremony?”
Moni stepped back and hugged herself.
“Yes.” His voice shifted to more stern. “It would show me what was more important to her—power in the East or the bond that she has with you.”
“You are fucked up—”
“Monique could have lied to you and went back into the tea ceremony. She didn’t because she couldn’t lie to you and she definitely couldn’t hold onto something so serious for the sake of tradition.”
I shook my head. “Why would you test her in that way?”
“Chanel would have done the opposite. Do you understand that? All she cared about is power and position. She never considered things of the heart. Meanwhile, Monique doesn’t know how to live without considering her heart.”