TIGERLILLY- THE BRAVO BOYS [book two]

Chapter FIFTY

River O'riley

....the dragon's den....

"You expect me to believe such an absurd story? I would not trust in a man I do not know, nor would I take the word of a whore.. You should not have come here, Mr O'riley.. And now you will never leave.." Fei Xiao, the slickest of operators sneers at me from where he sits, dressed in a dapper designer silk-blend suit.. Xiao stares at me, with intuitive black eyes that mirror his daughters, except instead of cocoa warmth, they contain a cold and dark power.. There is a bitterness behind his gaze, angry, unforgiving and something else..

Tired..

The old man is exhausted.. Emotionally overtaxed to the point of detachment.. There is an emptiness to the way he speaks and even the way he holds himself is weary.. At a guess, I'd say this is a man who has given up on living.. He doesn't care what happens to himself, let alone what happens to me..
There is nothing left..

Life has been as cruel to him as he has treated so many in return.. No amount of money or power could replace the things he has lost, and no amount of blood would satisfy his vengeance..

I watch him check the time on a diamond studded wrist watch that's worth more than the entire building I live in, as if he is deciding how many seconds I have remaining on my clock.. Still for all his faults, I can't help but pity the tyrant who sits across the table.. If I had lived through what he has, I doubt I'd be half the man I am today..

Maybe I'd be just like him..

He had inherited his regarded position as Red Dragon, an inescapable legacy that makes demands of sacrifice to him..
His beloved had been denied an opportunity to know what might have been, driving her to commit suicide..

His daughter had disappeared without a trace, gone in the blink of an eye to become a ghost who would haunt his every waking moment..

His own deputy had been the one to betray him, conspiring to overthrow his dynasty..

These types of tragedies and treasons aren't the kind to leave a man unaffected and the toll it's taken on The Red Dragon is apparent, worn into the wrinkles written around his ebony eyes..

I glance around the red room, taking in the low hanging lanterns and gilded carved architecture to scope out The Dragon's preferred stomping ground.. The rest of the Chinatown restaurant is empty aside from a collection of Triad gun thugs who have posted themselves all around, blocking the exits, ready to die for their leader at the snap of his fingers..

"It's true, whether you wanna believe me or not, Sir.." I offer a respectful bow, maintaining caution around the temperamental despot..

"Where is my deputy now? I do not suppose I could hear this truth from his own tongue?" With a bored sigh he selects a pair of bamboo chopsticks from the table and begins picking at his lunch of rice and pepper spiced beef.. The scent of chili and garlic wafts through the air, swirling in the down-draught of the overhead fan that ticks and whirrs an irritating sound with every spin..

"Someplace safe.. For now.. Sir, I have done ye' the service of keepin' Jun alive so that ye' can have the satisfaction of killin' him yer'self.." I lean back in my chair, casual, easy and non-threatened.. I will show him no fear.

Men like Fei don't particularly scare me, if anything there is a sense of predictability that comes with ruthlessness.. You can count on a bad man to do bad things.. You can be certain of it..

It's the men who live in the grey, men like me, who are the dangerous ones.. You never know what a man with both limitless patience and endless contempt might do..
Test the demons in a beast too far and the cornered animal might just bite your damn hand off.. "But ye' do have to kill him, Xiao.. This woman is no liar, Lijuan speaks the truth.. Yer' had a rat in ye' ranks and it cost ye' daughter ten years of her life--"