by Anne R. Tan
Myling’s cell phone rang again. She glanced at the caller ID, dismissed the call, and tossed the phone behind her.
It slammed into Raina’s forehead, and she winced in pain. She bit her lip again to keep from crying out. The cell phone rang again. The display said the caller was Freddie. Myling ignored the ringing phone, and the van kept
bouncing along the road.
Raina dug into her purse and pulled out the pepper spray and hair stick. She tucked the pepper spray into her bra and stuck the hair stick into her ponytail. She took another calming breath. Should she stall by talking to Myling or go into ninja attack mode when the van stopped?
The van hit a bump and dipped, making a loud squeal and crunch that bode well. It inched forward for another foot or so and stopped. Myling cursed in Chinese, slamming her palms on the steering wheel. She jerked open the driver door and went outside. The cursing continued outside about the mud. Like this would help with their current predicament.
The van door opened, and a fresh breeze drifted inside, lifting a curl away from Raina’s face. With her eyes closed, Raina took a deep breath. Freedom. She could—
Myling jerked the blanket off and slapped Raina’s face. Wake up, sleepyhead. I need you to walk.
Raina’s face stung, and she squinted at the brilliant sunlight streaming in from behind Myling’s shoulders. They were in a forest area. Probably close to a lake or bog judging by the mud covering her captor’s pants legs.
What happened? Raina asked. What came out was a muffled, garbled sound from behind the duct tape. And Sonny said she couldn’t act.
Myling pulled a gun out from her pocket, pointing it at Raina. I need you to move, or I’ll shoot your shoulder. The next time I ask again, I’ll shoot your other shoulder. We’ll keep going until either you’re moving or dead.
Raina shivered. The fear she’d locked up earlier slammed into her. Her chest heaved, and she couldn’t get enough air. The bright light around Myling became whiter. Her eyes rolled, unable to focus. Oh, geez…
Myling slammed the butt of the gun on Raina’s leg.
A sharp flash of pain jolted Raina out of her panic. Her teary eyes focused on a lump next to her. She blinked. Was that a person? Was this the driver of the catering van? She had bumped into him when Myling slammed on the brakes earlier. Raina couldn’t see any visible injuries on him, but his ashen pallor and stillness spoke volumes.
Are you coming, or do we need more incentive? Myling asked.
Raina shivered at the chill in her captor’s voice. She kept her hands behind her back and shuffled forward with her legs, inching along like an earthworm.
Will you hurry up? Myling said. If you hadn’t mentioned my affair with Jerry to Freddie, he wouldn’t have gone on this stupid rampage about needing a DNA test. She jabbed a finger at her stomach. How am I supposed to fake this?
So that’s why you had to kill Jerry, Raina said. It came out in a garbled groan.
Myling ripped the duct tape and several layers of skin off of Raina’s mouth.
Eowww! Raina screamed. You crazy bi—
Myling pointed the gun at Raina’s forehead, and Raina shut up. I’m not crazy. I needed to get Jerry out of my life.
Good luck with that, seeing as now you’re having his baby, Raina said, shoving her legs forward. Her kick slammed into Myling’s chest.
Myling stumbled backward, slipping on the mud. She fired the gun, but the shot went wild.
Raina jumped out of the van. The momentum carried her forward until she straddled Myling on the muddy ground. She grabbed Myling’s hand, slamming it on the ground. The gun plopped onto the mud somewhere. She jabbed Myling in the collar with the hair stick, but the stick snapped in half in Raina’s hands.
Myling screamed and bucked, knocking Raina off her perch. Raina landed on the side of her face. Cold mud oozed into her mouth. Yuck! Myling jerked at Raina’s waistband. The steak knife!
Raina rolled onto her back, pinched the knife and Myling’s hand onto the ground. She pulled the pepper spray out of her bra, blasting Myling in the face. Or at least she hoped it was Myling’s face. The mud dripping down Raina’s cheek distorted much of her view.
In the distance, tires crunched and someone shouted. A siren wailed.
Unfortunately, the wind shifted and some of the pepper spray came back on Raina. Her eyes and sinuses exploded in pain, and she burst into a coughing fit. She crawled on hands and knees toward the noise, trying to put some distance between her and Myling.
There was more shouting, and footsteps approached them, crunching leaves and branches. And that was how Matthew found Raina—choking on her own pepper spray with a bruise the size of Texas on her forehead from
Myling’s cell phone. She sure knew how to make a man hot and heavy.
20
No More Secrets
The next morning, the knocking on the door woke Raina. She had returned to Matthew’s hotel room after the paramedics checked her out and police released her late in the evening. Po Po had returned to the Kwan mansion but said she would be by in the morning.
Raina glanced at the time on her cell phone. Eight o’clock. Couldn’t her grandma let her sleep in? The note on the nightstand said Matthew was having breakfast with Detective Bibb, and he would bring her back something yummy. She hoped he meant food.
She stumbled out of bed and opened the door. I hope you have coffee with you.
Sonny jiggled the ice in the plastic cup he held in front of him. Your wish is my command.
Raina blinked. Was she dressed? She glanced down at herself. She had on Matthew’s Gold Springs Police T-shirt, leaving large swaths of her exposed. She held up a finger. Give me a minute. She closed the door, leaning against it to take a deep breath. No more rest for the weary. And boy, was she weary.
It took more like ten minutes to do her morning business and throw on her clothes. Matthew had them laundered the night before while she slept. She could get used to a Chinese man who did laundry.
Raina texted Matthew to let him know Sonny was here. She didn’t want to surprise Matthew if he walked in on them. She opened the door and gestured for Sonny to come in.
Sonny glanced around the hotel room, probably to assess for danger. There wasn’t much to see—a bed, two nightstands, and a TV. Well, I’m glad you made your choice. I’m sick of watching the two of you make puppy eyes at each other.
He was dressed from head to toe in black with a white armband to show his family was in mourning. The last time she’d seen him this relaxed was when he proposed their bargain.
I don’t need to make puppy eyes at a man.
If you say so, he said. His tone said otherwise. Do you want to go out for breakfast?
Raina shook her head and went to sit on the bed. We need to talk, and I don’t want anyone to interrupt us.
Sonny closed the door and followed her in. He shifted from foot to foot until she reached for the iced caramel macchiato he held out to her. Thank you for all that you’ve done for my family. You’re the only one who cared enough to help me.
Raina sipped her coffee, letting the silence drag out. She didn’t bother correcting him. It was blind luck more than intention that had recorded Myling’s confession. How did Kwan Gong take the news?
He thinks it’s karma coming to bite us. He’s talking about becoming a monk to atone for everything he did. He wants me to leave the family business.
You mean leave the Nine Dragons?
Sonny grimaced, stretching the scar on the side of his face. It’s not that easy to leave this life. Not at my level.
Raina nodded. Too many enemies and too many ties. How did Myling get the catering van?
According to the driver, he was at a stoplight when a woman came up to him, waving a gun. She got in and told him to drive to the funeral parlor. Then she knocked you out, got him to drag you in the van, and then she gave him the same treatment.
Will the driver be okay?
Sonny nodded. Myling is claiming temporary insanity from t
he pregnancy hormones.
Seriously?
Sonny shrugged. What do I know? I’ve never been pregnant.
Raina snorted. Not her problem anymore. Why did my grandfather marry another woman in China and keep that family hidden for the last fifty years? You said he searched for her?
Her grandfather had traveled from Hong Kong to China under the guise of working on the Great Leap Forward policies in 1962.
She was his half-sister and pregnant at the time. A rape victim.
I don’t understand. He married his sister?
His secret sister. She was adopted by a family in a remote village. No one knew about the connection.
Why didn’t he move his sister to Hong Kong?
He couldn’t. There’s no paper trail that they were related. Marriage was the only option.
Raina nodded in agreement. And at the time and in a remote village, everyone blamed the victim. Made perfect sense. But why did he keep this from Po Po and the rest of the family?
Sonny shrugged. You know how it is in Chinese families. It’s always the victim’s fault. One false move and you bring shame to your family for generations.
I wondered if the entire thing—the job at the Ministry of Agriculture and the marriage—was my great-grandfather’s doing, Raina said. It wouldn’t surprise her if her great-grandfather had a hand in arranging everything. There was a reason he was known as a wily fox in the Wong side of the family.
No, your great-grandfather never knew about the marriage. The half-sister wasn’t his.
Raina’s eyes widened in shock. Her great-grandma? In that generation, they still hogtied and threw loose wives into a river to prove their innocence. No wonder her grandfather had to marry the half-sister. He had to hide his mother’s shame. And he couldn’t betray his mother by telling Po Po. It would have brought shame to him too.
She sagged against the bed, and the doubt about her grandfather left her. He was the honorable man she had known her entire life. She blinked at the tears burning in the back of her eyes. She couldn’t wait to tell Po Po.
I’m sorry, but I need to talk to my grandma. Raina jumped up from the bed. She deserves to hear the truth.
Whoa! Don’t you want to know where the half-sister and the son are? Sonny asked.
Raina swiveled her head like a ventriloquist. Where are they? she whispered. She had to bring them to San Francisco. She’d failed in her duty to send them money like her grandfather had wanted. Now she needed to make amends with them and bring them home.
Sonny handed her a slip of paper with an address on it. Malaysia.
Raina’s hand shook when she reached for the paper. Th…thank you.
Sonny cupped her chin in his hand. You have no idea how beautiful you look when you are this vulnerable. He kissed her, a brief brush of his soft lips on hers. Even then, she still grimaced at her stinging lips. The duct tape had done its job well.
When he left, Raina shook with emotion. She curled up in a fetal position and cried, not because her heart was broken, but because she should have trusted her heart.
Matthew came back a few minutes later. He took one look at her and scooped her up in his arms. Yep, everything was right in her world again.
* * *
There was something rather comfortable about being a passenger in a vehicle driven by someone Raina trusted above all else. Matthew drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding her hand. The engagement ring threw sparks and possibilities in the space between them.
At some point, they should probably talk, but for now, Raina was more than happy to just be in the moment. The sun warmed her skin, and she took a deep hungry breath. To be alive was glorious.
I checked up on Sonny Kwan with some friends of mine, Matthew said, breaking the silence between them. The FBI caught up with him in San Francisco earlier this year. They won’t tell me what happened but told me to leave Sonny alone.
That’s odd. You have access to the Kwan mansion. Why wouldn’t they want your help to take down this crime boss? Raina asked. Unless… Is he working for them now?
Matthew shook his head. You’re too smart for your own good. I suspect there’s some kind of deal at work here, but let’s pretend we’re dumb and blind on this one.
Raina agreed with him. She didn’t want to have anything else to do with Sonny Kwan and his world ever again.
Matthew pulled up to the gate at the Kwan mansion and spoke with the guard through the intercom. The gates opened, and Matthew started the drive up to the house.
Raina’s cell phone dinged from inside her purse. She tapped on the screen to open her email and a goofy smile spread across her face. It was from Moody Investigations, and they wanted her to come in for an interview.
She glanced at Matthew and decided to share the news with him only if she got the job. No point in mentioning it if she didn’t get the internship. She couldn’t wait to tell her grandma the news though. They could do a celebratory dance together.
Before she could tuck her phone back into her purse, it dinged again. She frowned at the text message from
her sister.
He glanced over. Is everything okay?
I don’t know. Her husband walked off with a travel bag two weeks ago and hasn’t been in touch since.
Were they having marital problems?
Not that I know of. He wouldn’t walk away from his career. Leaving Cassie would be akin to slitting his own throat. Uncle Anthony would fire him immediately, and that would be the end of his law career in San Francisco.
He patted her knee. We’ll be back in the States soon. I’m sure it will turn out okay.
She glanced out the window at the video cameras recording their progress toward the mansion. I hope so. Especially for her beloved niece’s sake.
* * *
THE END
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Continue Raina’s story now.
Murky Passions and Scandals
(Raina Sun #6)
Acknowledgments
A story is a dream that a writer brings to life on paper. But a book needs a team to nurture it into an enjoyable experience.
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I want to thank my editors, Alicia S. and Sara P., for wrangling my words so they are coherent.
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And then, there are my beta-readers—Marion D., Joyce S., Silva P., and the anonymous readers—thank you, ladies, for volunteering your time to catch these sneaky typos and grammatical errors.
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Thanks, reader David B. for loaning me your name.
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And finally, thank you, Susan C. for the awesome cover.
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I wouldn’t have been able to bring this story to life without all of you. —Anne R. Tan
