A Gentleman's Prerogative (Unedited Version)

Chapter 14

After pulling the doors closed, Chen Li went to work.  Gathering all her strength, she managed to pull the Count's body over to the couch.  Bon dieu! The man was heavy, for one so fit, she nearly shouted aloud.  With considerable effort she was finally able to lay him upon it.  A task that had taken an incredible amount of her time. She needed to hurry as the affects from the drug would soon be wearing off. 

Li removed her dart from Durands neck and placed it into her reticule, then she proceeded to undress him.  Not completely, but just enough to make it seem as if he had been up to a bit of debauchery.  She then wiped away her lip color, and loosened a few trendils of her hair.  She placed an open bottle of brandy by his side, and extended his arm out as if he had set the bottle down, and fallen out from too much drink.   For her final performance she casually strolled from the parlour, leaving the doors ajar.   She made certain that those around noticed her exit. 

When they found him, and they would, it would look like he had a bit of sport with a harlot, a putain.  Loosely translated in English, a whore. That is what they referred to Li as.  Of course,  that is what she led everyone to believe. In reality however, she was still as virginal as the frilly, white gloved debutantes in attendance tonight.

Her role as a madame was simply pretense.  A role devised by the bastard who had brought her here.  None of the gentleman who called upon her, the Count included, had ever actually touched her, or seen her naked for that matter.  There had been a few kisses, and some rather unpleasant groping, but she never had intimate relations with any of them. Though all the of them had left thinking they had.  A sleeping elixir in their drink, or one of her darts had accomplished that. The potions subdued them, and caused them to forget everything.  In the morning they would leave none the wiser, and of course their manly arrogance would never allow them to question otherwise.

As she approached the ballroom many heads turned and the whispering erupted due to her appearance.  She kept her head up and her back straight as she glided through the crowd.   There was no crush to barr her way as everyone turned their backs on her, and the ladies simply stepped back, pulling their gowns aside to let her pass.  As if the very hem of her dress touching theirs would somehow taint them.  Chen Li ignored them all, but one.   The one she desperately had wanted to avoid, the Keeper. 

He stepped in front of her, blocking her path, preventing her exit.  Nobody would question him speaking with her.  They would simply believe he was asking her to leave.  Demimondes at best, were tolerated at these gatherings, acts of indecency were not.  The mamas didn't want their innocent daughters soiled by association. 

"What have you done?" He demanded through clenched teeth.

"Nothing that wasn't required of me.  The Count was in the way," she whispered back.  "They got away.  I will find them, but first I need to go change."

"They've probably already sailed for England.  One of my men recognized O'brien down by the warfs. You will have to hunt them down there."

"No!" She nearly shouted, but managed to keep it reigned in.  I wont leave Paris.  Not without Mei."

"Mei is my charge.  Which is were she will stay, until you finish this assignment."

"And if I am not successful?"

"You always succeed.  However, if you do not, you will never see your sister again.  You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

Chen Li wanted nothing more than to kill the bastard right then and there, but she couldn't.   He had her backed into a corner, and he knew it.  The smug look upon his face proof enough. 

This was the way men like him operated.  They cared nothing for others, only wealth and power.  They were influential men who ran in high political circles that profited off of espionage, murder, and slavery.  Chen Li being a victim of the latter. 

Their  slave operation consisted of kidnapping young impoverished females from their homelands, along with a younger sibling.  Then they held, the younger sibling captive in order to get compliance from the older one.  As long as they held on to their loved ones, they had complete control.  Well, Chen Li no longer accepted those terms.  She would get Mei out, and leave for England.   How, she wasn't certain,  but she would find a way.  She now had someone who could help her.  She would accept his offer, and call on him, but first she had to find her sister.  She looked back up, using the skills he had taught her of hiding her emotions, and nodded in agreement, then walked away.  She prayed he wouldn't follow her out.

Once outside she looked around for her carriage and driver.  He was nowhere to be seen.  Where he had gone she didn't know, but him not being there made her a little nervous. He never left her unless she told him to.  He was loyal to her.  Still not spotting him, she decided to walk.  Once at the street, she would hail down a hackney.  She needed to hurry.

It was getting late and the temperature had lowered dramatically, however she chose not to put on her cloak.  The crisp night air felt good upon her bare skin.  Besides she didnt care who seen her, as she wasn't afraid of anyone, except him. He was a cruel man who loved to inflict pain, physically and mentally. 

She had been the recipient of that cruelty for far too long.   It would have been more, but she had been sent away to set up her new identity.  A time that had been bitter sweet for her.  On one hand she was able to finally get away from him, on the other she had to leave sweet sister behind.  The only saving grace was that she knew Mei wouldn't be hurt.  They never bothered the siblings.  They couldn't, they would have no leverage. 

Their trainees were not so fortunate. They, or should she say the keeper enjoyed punishing them when they made mistakes.  When it came to Chen Li he found pleasure in torturing her mind, more than her body.  Of course it wouldn't be wise to physically abuse her, as a whore wouldn't be worth much if her body was marred. 

That hadn't been enough to stop him from trying, however. He had beat one poor soul so badly she had died from her wounds.  After that, others in the organization had put a stop to it.  It wasn't that they cared what happened to them, it was the fact that they would lose valuable property.  Because in reality that's all that they were to them.  A commodity, one to be bought and traded. 

She made it to the street and started to hail a hackney but something stopped her.  She jumped back quickly as a carriage was barreling straight towards her, and it was coming on quite fast.