Page 17

I can feel Yuki’s eyes boring into my back. “Sir, the meeting is starting in five minutes.”

Moon nods, his smile falling. It’s like his whole demeanor changes. Two hours left, for what? Before I turn eighteen? What the hell does it mean?

“What do you mean?” I ask, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket as he starts to walk away.

He stops and looks at my hand that’s clutching his sleeve, before I let go like he burned me, his dead eyes meeting mine. “Don’t worry, we’ll meet again,” he rasps, and brushes past me.

I watch him walk away with Yuki and Endo right behind him, his broad back disappearing into the crowd. My phone vibrates. I take it out of my back pocket and scan Dash’s text. Come meet me on the rooftop, party boy.

Ten years ago, Shanghai

Moon and Eliot

That fucking meeting lasted way longer than I wanted to, but Tian had a point, we need to conquer more ports to get what we want. We’ve been expanding in Europe now too; we need to crush the competition while we have the upper hand.

“Sir?” Yuki asks, following me down the corridor. I’m on a mission. I know where Eliot is going to be, I asked her to decorate the rooftop for his birthday. He likes that sappy shit. I catch myself smiling. He likes cute stuff, as much as he likes to stab people with a chopstick during interrogations. My little psycho. I let my smile fall when Yuki looks at me.

“What?” I bite out.

Yuki stops in his tracks and eyes the door I’m standing in front of. “Are you going to the rooftop?” he has the audacity to ask.

I nod. “Make sure no one follows me except for Eliot.”

His eyes harden. He tries to hide it, but I see it anyway. “Yes, Sir,” he answers.

My hand lingers on the handle. “Yuki,” I say, my voice cold as ice.

He bows. “Yes, Sir?”

“How long have you been working for me?” I ask, as I cross my arms in front of me.

“Fifteen years, Sir.”

I take a step forward and his back hits the opposite wall. He doesn’t dare to look at me while I push my hands in my pockets. I clear my throat, staring him down as he casts his eyes down. “Be careful,” I tell him after a minute. I want him to feel the silence. That’s the same thing he’s going to hear when I kill him for touching what’s mine again.

“Yes, S-S-Sir,” he stutters and bows. I’ve debated sending him to our Bangkok chapter, but he’s one of the best getaway drivers, and we need his New York connections.

“Remember what I said,” I tell him, leaving no room for debate, only death.

He keeps bowing as I open the door, letting it fall closed behind me.

I grab the railing and haul my ass up the stairs. “The wait is over now,” I tell myself. It’s finally fucking over. “I’m keeping him,” I whisper, stopping one level before the rooftop.

I stare at my watch. Ten minutes to go. There’s a mirror hanging opposite me with rust on the side. I stare at my reflection. Dirty black hair falls in front of my forehead. Does he like my straight nose, my full lips. Does he like what he sees? I don’t fucking know. Every time he’s near me, he starts to fidget a little, and his eyes dart around like he’s looking for a quick escape. I run a hand over my face and brush a hand through my hair. Why am I nervous? Because if he rejects me, I don’t know if I can let him walk away. I’ll probably abduct and hide him from the rest of the world like Tian jokingly said.

“Damn it.” I trail a hand over my clean-shaven jaw, all the way down my neck. My eyes are hard and half-lidded; many say I can kill a man with one look. They’re right, I’m ready to kill anyone who crosses me. I never smile; some say I look distant, detached, and unapproachable. I only crack a smile when he’s not looking. I catch myself smirking when I look in the mirror thinking about my psycho. The man I’m waiting for always smiles, but there’s something sad and broken behind his laugh. Now that I think about it, he never smiles at me though. It’s always directed at Dash, or fucking Tian. I once caught him pushing up the corner of his lips with his fingers to force a smile after his father hit him. That was before I bought him; he hasn’t smiled at me since.

I grab the iron railing for support. Maybe this isn’t my best plan, to trap him in the stairwell right before he turns eighteen and take what I want. He’s so beautiful, with a youthful face, sharp jawline, dumpling cheeks, and expressive big eyes. His appearance drawing in men and women every time they catch his innocent gaze. But when he smiles and his eyes smile with it, I find it hard to take a single breath. We’re both untamed, maybe that’s why I gravitate toward him. Like black and white. Ying and fucking yang. I swear under my breath, I fucking disgust myself for what I’m about to do. I shouldn’t crave a guy twelve years younger than me. He’s still a teenager, echoes through my mind. I shake my head. But he’s already killed more men than most twenty years older. His life wasn’t easy, and it’s left its mark.

The first moment he walked into my life I knew that was it. I did everything in my power to protect him. I was the one who asked Tian to have him accompany her. Dash and Eliot became friends instantly; they did everything together. I flick my black lighter between my fingers. She knows he wasn’t only with her as a friend, but also as the protection she needed. Eliot is unparalleled in martial arts and knife skills. He trained with the best. That’s what happens when you get sold to the Triad family, the little voice in the back of my head says. You don’t have a choice what happens after.

I tap open the lighter staring at the flame. One day we’re all going to be consumed. The flames will swallow us whole and destroy everything. This is why Tian and I are putting our plans in motion. We need to, to not only protect the syndicate, the two families, but them too. The money and power coming with it is good too. We’ve been slowly gaining territory outside of China. Japan and Korea are now ours, but the United States still has parts that don’t belong to us. We’ve been buying up ports, infrastructure, and small towns in America to widen our territory. Everything is permitted if you have money, and with the help from the government both our families became the biggest organized crime syndicates in the world. There’s no way back now. Me and Tian decided we’re going to play the long game, and they’ll be there standing next to us when we reset. The old guard needs to go. We need to move the operations from drugs and extortion to investments and more legit business, for the Triad to survive the next century.

I press the back of my head against the cold concrete, looking up at the stairwell leading to the rooftop where Tian followed Dash to. Not long before Eliot will follow, and I’ll be waiting here to stake my claim. Ten fucking minutes before he turns legal. Not being around me meant keeping him safe. These last years have been torture. I felt like I was his number one fan club pulling the strings behind the scenes without him knowing. I took those stolen moments when the need, the yearning for him every waking hour, became too much. The fucker even visited me in my dreams. But he could never know who was behind it all, to pay for his schooling, his tutoring, his boxing lessons. The reason why he’s here. The reason why I’m still alive.

The door to the rooftop flies open and bounces against the wall, shaking the whole stairwell. Tian slams his fists against the concrete and curses in our mother language.

I chuckle, waiting for him to fly by me.