The Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy

“Now, don’t let me keep you, Michael. I know you’re a very busy man. You have to get over to see my wife before she heads to Salon Dor La Mode for her wash and set at eleven thirty.”

“Of course,” Michael said, grateful to be getting away relatively unscathed. “Once again, I apologize. At the end of the day, I was only trying to do my best for the family. A feature article about my success can only benefit—”

Harry suddenly snapped in fury. “Your success is absolutely irrelevant to me! What have you succeeded at, really? You’ve sold a few meaningless companies and made some insignificant money. It’s all been handed to you! Your only mission in life as far as I’m concerned is to protect my daughter, and that means protecting her privacy. Your second mission is to protect my grandson. And on both scores you have failed.”

Michael, his face boiling in embarrassment and fury, stared at his father-in-law. He was about to say something when six black-suited security guards suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began carrying off the golf bags.

Harry Leong turned to his friend. “Now, on to the fourth hole?”

• • •

Michael sped down Adam Road in his Aston Martin DB5, seething with rage. How dare that shitbag humiliate me in front of the minister of commerce! Calling me a pretentious buffoon, when he’s the one bragging about his weekend trips to golf at Pebble Beach! What fucking bullshit to say it’s all been handed to me, when he inherited every cent of his obscene fortune and I’ve worked so goddamn hard my whole life!

Suddenly it was as if a flare went off inside his head. He had been going to his mother-in-law’s house on Nassim Road, but now he slammed on the brakes, made a U-turn, and raced back to his office.

Krystal was on her computer surfing websites for cheap travel deals to the Maldives when he came bursting into the office and started going through the filing cabinets.

“Where are all the files related to the sale of Cloud Nine Solutions, my first company?”

“Acherley,*5 wouldn’t those old files be in the archive room on forty-third floor?” Krystal suggested.

“Come with me, we need to find those files now!”

They raced down to the archive room, which Michael had never even entered before, and began digging through the file drawers. “I need to find the original contracts from 2010,” he said urgently.

“Wah, so many files here! Search and search until vomit blood!” Krystal complained.

After searching for twenty minutes, they came across a set of large orange binders that contained all the relevant documents. “Here it is!” Michael said excitedly.

“Wah, you damn heng!*6 I thought we never find!”

“Okay, Krystal, you can go back upstairs now.” Michael began rifling through the pages until he came to the one he was looking for. It was the Share Purchase Agreement authorizing the sale of his company to Promenade Technologies of Mountain View, California. There, buried within the dozens of various entities that were involved in the buyout of his tech firm, one name stood out—the ultimate parent company of the acquisition vehicle, some shell corporation based in Mauritius. He held the piece of paper in his hands, staring intently at the name in disbelief and denial, his heart pounding more furiously than it ever had before: Pebble Beach HoldCo IV-A, LTD.

It’s all been handed to you! His father-in-law’s words suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

* * *

*1 Singlish for “disturb” (Malay origin).

*2 Correct Singlish pronunciation for “government.”

*3 A gift from his friend His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent.

*4 A Hokkien term for cowards that literally means “no balls.”

*5 Correct Singlish pronunciation for “actually.”

*6 Hokkien for “lucky,” “fortunate.”

6

IMPERIAL TREASURE RESTAURANT

SHANGHAI

“I hope you don’t mind—I invited Colette to join us,” Carlton said breezily to his parents as the two of them entered the private dining room of Imperial Treasure. The Baos, who had summoned their son to dinner as soon as the gossip about Paris had reached their ears, couldn’t mask their looks of surprise when Colette walked in, followed by the ubiquitous Roxanne with a large beribboned hamper full of gifts from Paris.

“It’s always a pleasure to have you with us, Colette,” Gaoliang said, forcing a smile as he stared grimly at Carlton’s purplish eye. So the s