“I’ll take her outside.” Tommy gestured to the courtyard. “We’ll return shortly.”
He led me away from the house to where the bauhinia tree had once stood.
“Don’t,” I said as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “Not here.”
“Who cares if they see?” Tommy nuzzled the side of my neck. “I want them to know that they can’t hurt you.”
“Not here,” I said again. I tried to push him away. “What do you want to tell me?”
“Ying...” His lips were on my temples, the sound of his voice vibrating against my skull. “I’ve tried everything; my grandfather won’t change his mind. I have to marry Priscilla-Mae.”
I have to marry Priscilla-Mae.At the words, pain shot up my left ear, making my entire head throb. “What?”
“I don’t like her,” Tommy was saying. “It’s a marriage for business. Her family owns a gambling house in Macau, and they’ve promised to invest in Peaksoy.”
It was as if an invisible string had cut off my breath. The muscles in my throat tensed, the air so thin my ribs trembled when I inhaled.
“A marriage for business,” I repeated. “Don’t you have enough money already?”
“Ying, I know you’re disappointed . . .”
Disappointed? Was that the ache in my heart, squeezing so hard I thought I might burst?
“... but it’s to secure the future. I do this, and we can be married. We can have everything we wanted.”
“I’d be a second wife,” I said tersely.
“Is that so bad? Look at your Sai Ma, your father dotes on her. He never goes to see your moth—”
“Don’t!” I warned him.
Stricken, he pressed his lips together. “Sorry.”
I pushed myself out of Tommy’s arms. How could he compare me to Sai Ma? Obviously life as a second wife hadn’t been bad for her, because Mama lived in an entirely different country. I wouldn’t be so lucky married to Tommy. I’d always be the mistress. Theconcubine.
“If you don’t want it this way, then wait for me,” Tommy pleaded. “After a few years, I’ll file for a divorce.”
“What will I do during thosefew years?” I cried, my voice rising. “You could change your mind, you could have a child, you could—”
“I won’t.”
He said it with such conviction, I wanted to believe him. Truly I did.
But a woman like me was brought up never to dream, never to seek more than she was given—while a man like Tommy was used to thinking that he could have everything: Peaksoy, his grandfather’s approval,me.Never did he stop to consider the cost, because he wouldn’t be paying the consequences. I would.
I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, but instead, a heaviness settled in my chest. I could feel my bones sinking, my heels boring down into the earth, my shoulders falling.
It hurt to speak. “What happened to running away together and not caring what your grandfather thinks?”
“Peaksoy needs this investment—”
“So you choose Peaksoy over me.”
“It’s not about choosing, it’s about the best solution. Can’t you see I’m helping you? This way, with my grandfather’s approval, I can save your aunt’s factory—”
“What does the factory have to do with us?” I cried. “You made a promise tome.Me,not my aunt.”
“Just because the investigation’s over doesn’t mean that it won’t be seized later on. Ying, I’m doing this because I love you.”
