I leap as best I can off the bed, prepared to jump into the coming fight. But then we all freeze when a voice starts speaking overhead.
“Change of plan, Jason. We have an unexpected visitor. Let’s give him a show…”
The blood shrivels in my veins as the overhead voice delivers a set of grisly instructions to his minion.
37
VICTOR
Victor has Kuang’s only daughter in a chokehold with a knife to her throat. But only after taking a sip of his tea does Kuang bother to address that.
“I see that you continue to act the fool over love,” he says after setting his cup down. “Even going so far as to threaten my daughter.”
Victor squeezes Nora’s throat. And she cries out, “Baba! Baba, please! Give him back his woman. He’ll kill me if you don’t!”
Kuang’s eyes barely flicker in acknowledgment of his daughter’s plea, and he doesn’t shift his gaze from Victor. “I don’t know what’s more foolish. That you came in here by yourself with only my daughter as leverage. Or that you actually thought this plan of yours might work.”
A bit of the surprise Victor feels must make its way onto his face. Kuang laughs. “No, young Zhang, I will not be giving you back your black whore. In fact…”
He turns the monitor sitting on the coffee table to face Victor. It has a picture of the same security feed Victor has been watching for the last twenty-four hours. One camera is dark, but the other one clearly shows Lucy with her hands raised. She’s standing in front of a man who looks like a younger version of Yaron. He also has a knife in his hand. One large enough to be picked up by the security camera.
Victor can’t see Dawn, but he can only assume she’s in the same room. Meanwhile, Kuang says, “While you were making your foolish way into my house, I sent instructions to my faithful 24K to stage an old Hong Kong ritual. It’s called The Betrayer Ceremony. If memory serves me right, it was the same one your father was caught on camera performing ….”
Victor doesn’t want to believe him. The thought of Dawn being put through The Betrayer Ceremony shatters his stomach and slams a red haze over his mind.
His body tightens with the bone-deep need to rush Kuang and plunge the knife into his throat. But no, it’s too risky with the two guards posted at the door. He shakes off the red haze. If he is to execute this plan, he must keep a clear mind.
“Usually, this ritual is performed by three members of the Triad. And, of course, your whore will have to stand in as the betrayer in your place. But I suppose this facsimile will have to do,” Kuang laments. “Perhaps, she’ll go into labor halfway through, and we’ll have the chance to watch your pitiful spawn die too—”
Victor cannot bear to listen to this. He cuts the older man off with an angry roar, similar to an enraged bull. Then he brings his knifepoint to each of Nora’s hands and her nose before settling it back at her neck.
Victor might not be able to speak, but his message is clear. Fingers for fingers. A nose for a nose. Then I slit her throat right in front of you.
“Baba… Baba….” Nora wails.
However, Kuang merely laughs. At the both of them.
“Do you really think I’ll give you back your whore in exchange for my daughter? That girl was barely an asset before she chased you away by revealing her disgusting preference for women only. Even if I could use her to make another alliance, I’m not sure I can trust her not to turn that new worthier ally into an enemy with her refusal to conduct herself as a good woman should.”
Kuang has the temerity to take another sip of tea before finally rising to stand. “Go ahead and slit her throat. I have a much more loyal son who will soon kill your so-called brother in Hawaii. And even if I didn’t, there is no prize in the world greater to me than seeing the look on your face as my man exterminates that black bitch.”
Victor can only stare at the old man for a moment, shocked that he could be so cruel. Even in their world, Dragons protected their daughters.
His second of shock is all the opportunity Nora needs.
She punches an elbow into his stomach, causing him to crumple over and drop the knife.
She dives and grabs his weapon before he’s fully recovered. And the next thing Victor knows, she is standing on the other side of the table next to her father, holding the seized weapon up in a defensive stance.
“How dare you use me in this way?” she demands. “Did you really think you’d get away with it?”