In His Arms

Chapter 31

With my guilt brushed aside, Alexander and I agree to meet for brunch tomorrow if the meeting tonight runs into the early morning. After a shower and a coffee, Alexander kisses me goodbye as he leaves for the meeting after passing me some Taiwan dollars he had Todd exchange before the flight. 

With him gone, I sigh heavily as I try to bring myself up to date on what I probably know about Mr Lee and surprisingly I manage to recall quite a bit as I can now remember that his favourite colour is green, he always wanted a daughter and that his favourite food is 小笼包 (soup dumplings).

The hotel room bell rings suddenly breaking my train of remembrance as I sit up cautiously on the bed. Frowning I slowly approach the door, remembering that Alexander took his key card before he left. The cold metal of the door handle sends goosebumps up my arm as I pull the heavy door halfway open, I am surprised to see one of the staff members of the hotel with a clothes bag, a shoebox and a card.

Passing all the items to me without saying anything, he gives me a nervous smile before bowing lowly and leaving. Puzzled, I take the items to my room where I open the card first, my face scrunches into a cringe when I read the first line. This old man...

小蝴蝶，

我碰到一件非常漂亮的连衣裙,我想如果你今晚穿的会很漂亮。

一辆车会在六点钟来接你, 在那时请准备。

李先生

Little Butterfly,

I came across a very beautiful dress that I thought would look beautiful on you tonight.

A car will pick you up at six, please be ready by then.

Mr Lee

Now it's 5:30 pm China time so...I have half an hour to get ready. Shaking my head at this, I open the clothes bag to reveal a beautiful satin shift with a furry kind of cape thingie, and inside the shoe box, I see a pair of matching high heels that I will trip on while wearing. There is also a formal black clutch next to the shoes. This must have cost a lot...

Thankfully I can use the cape thingie to hide the scars.

Considering I was still dressed in the sleeveless dress I wore to the dinner with the Whites, I was in desperate need of a shower thanks to the blend stick ended up eating a good twenty minutes of my preparation time. Luckily the dress fits perfectly and so do the shoes which makes me wonder how he knew my foot size in the first place but then again he is a boss so he could have found it out even if he didn't want to.

Biting my lower lip at the thought, I grab the black clutch packing in my blackberry, room card, my wallet with the money Alexander gave me and my passport. Taking a deep breath, I go through possible scenarios of what might happen tonight as I sneak out.

"If by any unlucky chance, I get caught by one of the guys..." I mutter to myself under my breath as I slip on the shoes. "I'll make an excuse that I am going out for dinner."

My hands drop to my side as I realise how feeble my response is to the guys finding out. Glancing at the ring on my left hand, the ring that I haven't taken off since it was given to me and I debate with myself whether or not to keep it on tonight, my heart drops slightly as I realise that I have to take it off for tonight's meeting.

It's inevitable...I can't give father or son any idea of my life now. Danny might get caught in the crossfire...

Slipping the ring off, I place it on the makeup table as I leave my room, I nearly scream when Todd's room door opens and the guy comes out adjusting his suit tie. I freeze over and so does he, both of us eye the other in shock.

I thought they left?! Why is he still here? Does that mean Alexander is downstairs?

Unfreezing from the shock first, Todd strides easily past me as if he doesn't know me and he makes it halfway to the elevators before he speaks, "He left earlier. Ask Lee Yang to erase the CCTV footage after you see him. There are lots of them here. Watch your back and your gun is in my room."

Looking at his room door, I see his room card is still in the reader, the small light above the card scanner is blinking red. Turning back to him, he nods shortly and I dash into his room to retrieve the weapon. Once it's in my clutch, I rush back to Todd with the card which he places into his breast pocket.

"You know my number if anything goes wrong during this meeting," He tells me as the elevator brings us to the lobby. "Don't let him take advantage of you and please remember you are going to be a married woman. Did you wear your ring?"

I shake my head as the elevator sounds our arrival and the double doors are about to be open, "I'd rather not get Danny involved in my mess."

Walking out before I can hear his reply, I notice the stares I receive from some of the men and women in the lobby and I do my best to swallow my embarrassment of being watched so boldly as I make my way to the black sedan with dark windows waiting for me at the front of the hotel.

Same car and plates he used to pick me up fourteen years ago...sly old man.

Sliding into the backseat as the doorman opens the car door for me, my heart jumps to my throat when I realise there's another person already sitting inside. He has jet black hair that has a tussled bedside look, deep brown eyes that send arrows to the centre of your soul framed behind a pair of expensive-looking black-framed glasses and his facial features look chillingly similar to Mr Lee when he was younger.

He is without a doubt Mr Lee's eldest legitimate son. Eugene Lee. Talk about awkward, the first time we met I was on his father's bed, holding a knife to the man's neck.

I was seven...

What am I supposed to say to him now? Hey, how's it been? Remember me? Your father would have rapped me when I was seven if I didn't pull a knife on him.

That's a great opening line, Janette. I roll my eyes at myself, trying to come up with something to say to vanquish this awkward tension in the car.

Taiwan rolls past the car window, reminding me that if I don't say anything soon arriving at their house would be ten times more awkward. I feel the car turning a right and I end up sliding towards him, my bare shoulder and his suit jacket touch which makes an electric shock rush through my body.

Crab.

"Fourteen years and you still look like a princess, Alastora," He murmurs to me, calling me by my old name surprising me by speaking first and completely ignoring what happened just now. "Watching them beat you was a pleasure back then."

His words cut deeply into my heart, and the skin on my back tingles at the mention of his beating, forcing my lips to lift into a small smile, I give him a reply in the most nonchalant way I can manage in a situation like this, "Of course it was. You weren't tearing up as you did it."

He was crying from what I remember after all his father made him watch.

My heart pounds in my ears as the sedan pulls up in front of a large black-painted gate that slides open as soon as the driver has tapped a card to a scanner. Is it the same? Jeez, Mr Lee needs to up his security system soon.

My car door opens as the driver pulls up in front of the large double doors with the traditional Chinese knockers on them. The kind with lions and the hoop in their open mouths. Getting out of the car, Eugene surprises me by coming over to me and offering me his arm.

"Alastora," he speaks, his brown eyes meeting my own as we walk into his father's home.

"Eugene."