1. Sex on the Beach
Chapter one
Sex on the Beach
Lei
Present Day
Chanel and I were far from the Diamond Syndicate—several miles outside of Paradise City.
Hidden away.
I ruled the East.
She ruled the West.
But today, we focused on each other.
We played on the beach.
And the water was diamonds glittering on foamy crystal blue waves. Powder white sand shimmered under our feet, while a pale blue, cloudless sky hovered above.
And the heat didn’t just come from the sun, it came from the passion building between us. The love.
Chanel was my heart.
After all these years of silently obsessing over her, I finally have her to myself.
I gazed at the love of my life—the only person I could ever give my heart to.
Sun sparkled on her brown skin. Salty air whipped through her long black hair. Her red bikini top strapped around her small breasts and the matching red G-string barely covered the lush cushion of her pussy.
“Come on, L.” Chuckling, she ran to the water. Her ass jiggled. “You can’t catch me!”
“You want to bet?” I dropped my katana onto the sand and raced after her.
“I’ll outrun you this time.”
I smirked. “Never.”
Chanel could do a lot of things. She could shoot her way out of a room crowded with enemies. She could kill a person with any object. Once, I saw her grab a hardcover book from our enemy’s shelf and mercilessly slam the corner into their temple, fracturing the skull and lacerating a major artery.
That was the day I knew I would marry her.
Chanel could do it all, but she could never outrun me.
Fast, I raced after her.
She glanced over her shoulder and shrieked. She tried to speed up, but I had her in my arms within seconds.
“Damn it, L!” She molded her body to me. “One day, I’ll outrun you.”
“You can never escape.” I captured her mouth. Kissing Chanel was everything. Her lips were soft and smooth. Her tongue was the sweetest lustful pleasure.
I held her in my arms for the first time in my life.
It was so odd to do so. To finally get to touch her the way I’d yearned forever.
I fell in love with Chanel the first time I spotted her. I was only seven years old. She had these little braids with red beads at the end. I used to love to hear them clang against each other as we played.
I followed her around as much as possible after that and never stopped.
Anytime I tried to confess my feelings, she stopped me. I knew why. It was due to our families, our Syndicate obligations, and even the old traditions of Paradise.
The East would never accept an interracial union.
And the West didn’t trust Asians.
In the past, white supremacy created a heavy divide between Paradise’s Asian and Black communities. Chanel’s and my parents did their best to shatter the divide. They helped to start the Syndicate. All sides of the city were expected to work together in harmony.
The East and West made money together. We fought for each other. We killed together. But there were limits.
We were never to love each other. Never to get married or have children together. In the East, an interracial union weakened the blood. In the West, my words and my people would never be trusted.
Plus, a union between the East and West would make the North and South antsy.
But I never cared about Syndicate politics. I was willing to fight everyone for our love, forsake them all just to have Chanel by my side.
Meanwhile, she was too scared to disobey, and I understood that, too—the constant flame of loyalty.
Then, her family gave her brother, Romeo the throne and arranged Chanel’s marriage to the leader of the coffin cheaters, Pedro. It was all to make the West as strong as possible.
Then, Romeo was murdered.
And I secretly seized the opportunity and killed her husband.
“Hey, L!” Chanel splashed water at me. “Where is your head today?”
“On the past weeks.”
“Fuck the past, L.” She chuckled and splashed me some more. “Let’s focus on the now before it’s over.”
“You’re right.”
Chanel smiled at me. “Do you think we tricked them all? Do you think they really think I’m dead?”
“I do. Definitely.” I closed the distance between us.
She frowned. “Dima may figure it out.”
“He might.”
“He’s smart.”
“We’re smarter.” Unable to help myself, I pulled her in for a kiss, pressing her body to me. And there were no regrets as sparkling ocean waves crashed against our bodies.
When she leaned away, her lids drooped over her eyes. “Make love to me, L.”
“Finally?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Finally.”
I picked her up in seconds.
Next, we were on our huge towels with our limbs entwined and our hands exploring each other’s bodies.
She moaned, “I love you, L.”
“I love you, too.” I captured her mouth, needing to taste her as much as possible.
She wanted to make love. And I didn’t know how to tell her that I’d never had sex. I’d waited all these years for only her, never wanting my cock to enter anybody but her.
How do I tell her that I’m a virgin? Would she believe me?
I doubted it. Surely, she knew about the harem living within my palace’s walls. While they taught me the many ways to pleasure a woman, there was never a lesson in penetration.
“Damn it, L.” She hit my chest. “What are you thinking about? You keep fading away.”
I rolled away from her and got on my back. “Chanel, we should talk.”
“But I don’t want to talk.” Smiling, she straddled me. “No conversation. Only fucking.”
I’ll figure it out. I have an idea of most of the steps. I put my cock in and let the body do the rest.
I had her bikini top off in seconds, and my hands palmed her breasts.
She groaned. “There we go.”
My body hummed with desire. “Do you know how long I have wanted to do this?”
“I do.” She licked her lips. “Do you know how hard it’s been to be true to my duty to Pedro, while secretly being in love with you!”
“Now he’s gone and we don’t have to hide anything.” With a hand on each breast, I captured her nipples and toyed with them.
To my surprise, she frowned and then shook her head.
Did I do something wrong?
I stopped playing with her nipples. “What’s wrong, Chanel?”
Blood dripped from her nose.
Horror hit me. “Chanel, are you okay?”
“It’s just. . .” Bloody tears fell from her eyes.
“Are you in pain? What’s going on?” Shocked, I sat up and wiped at her eyes. More blood rushed out and spilled down my fingers. “Chanel?!”
“You have to stop doing this, L.”
I stared down at my bloody hands. “Doing what?”
“This isn’t good for you.”
I stared back at her. “What isn’t good for me?”
“Doing this will invite demons.” More bloody tears spilled from her eyes.
And then Chanel slowly withered away. Little by little, her body broke down into bits of dust that blew away with the ocean breeze.
“Chanel!” I screamed so loud that the seagulls fled the beach, furiously flapping their wings and desperately flying away. “Chanel!”
In one moment, she was there.
The next second, she was gone.
“Chanel!”
And then I woke up to all-consuming pain, a dry throat, exhausted eyes, a shattered soul, and broken heart.
How do I stop these damn dreams?
A week had passed since Chanel’s death—the love of my life. I’d never got to touch or kiss her, date or truly tell her how much I loved her.
In the same week, I also discovered my father killed her.
I brought myself back to my sad, present reality.
She’s gone.
My body rocked from side-to-side. My driver sped down Caviar Lime highway, making my Cadillac Escalade sway.
I’d been stretched out in the last of the two rear rows.
My cousins, Duck and Chen sat in the middle row in front of me. They wore silver metal collars over their entire neck to protect them during this mission. My father was known for slipping out of shadows and giving a quick slice to the throat. Being that they were his nephews, I hoped that the collars were unnecessary.
If you didn’t care about killing Romeo and Chanel, then who else is off-limits for you now?
Up in front and by the driver, my longtime friend, Hu sat in the passenger seat and watched the cars on the highway. As my Straw Sandal , he remained on guard, making sure no attack against me was successful.
His favorite AK-47 rested in his lap. It was orangish-gold with black stripes. And he loved to make it roar. A gold collar also covered his neck to protect him from my father’s knife.
I yawned, taking in the view outside the windows. Where there wasn’t wineries or farms, there was a mass of green rolling hills.
We’re definitely outside of Paradise.
I raised my gaze. Hundreds of crows flew high above us and peppered the sky. They swarmed and spun around in choreographed harmony.
Crows always fascinated Chanel. She told me once that a group of crows was called a murder . And that biologist discovered that when a crow messed up in their group, the other crows gathered and decided that crow’s fate.
She’d also said that when a crow died, the group surrounded the deceased and cawed. Many believed the crows were not only mourning the dead, but attempting to find out what and who killed their feathered friend.
Apparently, when the crows figured it out, they always banded together and chased the predator away. Chanel explained that this was known as mobbing .
Chen cleared his throat. “Did you get some rest, Lei?”
I rubbed my tired eyes. “Not really.”
“We’ll be in the town of Glory soon.”
“How much longer?”
Chen checked his pink Hello Kitty watch. “Five minutes.”
I yawned. “What is the tracker on my father saying now?”
When my mother passed last year, I worried about my father. He seemed close to being suicidal. I gave him a gold and silver cross locket with my picture inside. However, a tiny tracker was on the back to monitor his movements.
Chen pulled out his phone and looked at a screen. “According to the tracker, Uncle Leo checked into an old inn near Glory’s Chinatown. He’s been at the location for several minutes.”
“Then, we’ll head there first and kill him.”
Chen stirred in his seat.
Like his father Song had done, Chen served as my Deputy Mountain Master and represented the typical example of an East Paradise man—blue suit and blue tie.
He followed the old traditions of the East. Swift and clean kills. No showing off. No blood. No psycho shit. Just quick and final. No bullets. No guns. No grenades or bombs. Just the sharp edge of a blade to finish all conflicts.
While he enjoyed a drink or smoke socially, he only had two things that brought him unsurmountable joy—the study of Alchemy and his ridiculous obsession with Hello Kitty.
Chen gazed over his shoulder and gave me a worried look. “We have some other problems.”
“What?”
“I’ve gotten reports that Aunt Suzi and Aunt Min took the helicopter.”
I rolled my eyes.
“They’re heading to Glory.”
I sneered. “They should be going back to their main hobbies—palace gossip and drinking liquored tea.”
“Uncle Leo is their brother—”
“Still, they won’t be able to save him from me.”
Chen sighed. “Are you sure you want to kill your father?”
I glared. “He is no longer my father.”
Chen countered, “He still is your father, Lei.”
“When he killed Chanel, he cut away the last bit of love I had for him.”
Chen glanced at Duck as if hoping for someone to help.
Smart, Duck didn’t look back.
Today, he had his silver hair in a top knot.
Duck was my Red Pole —my military commander. When we went to war, he oversaw defensive and offensive operations.
Chen cleared his throat. “I loved Chanel too, but I believe that Uncle Leo thought that he was saving you.”
I growled, “How could he think that?”
“After your mother died, Uncle Leo left our world of crime. He found religion. He became a servant of God.”
Frowning, I glanced out the window. “And you assume that killing Chanel was his duty to God?”
“Your father wanted you to leave the Syndicate and stop this life of crime—”
“A life that he introduced me to.” I snapped my view to him. “A life, that was forced on me, before I could fucking walk.”
I had other dreams as a kid. I wanted to be an artist. I loved to paint.
One time when I was ten years old, I snuck away from my training, hid on the back of the estate, and painted a picture. I thought if I could just create the most beautiful, best portrait of Mom and him, he would understand that I was not meant to take over the Eastern throne or fight in the initiation ceremony.
Surely, he would understand. Father loved art, too. He was the best living painter I knew.
But he found me. And with no hesitation, he slung the painting to the side, slammed my little ten-year-old body to the ground, and stomped on both of my hands so hard, I couldn’t hold a brush, fork, pencil, or anything else for a month.
Still, the next day, I was expected to show up at the gym and continue my training with broken hands. Sparring and climbing, shooting at the range behind our house and punching a wooden dummy for countless hours.
I was meant to be his champion. I was expected to destroy the thirty-six and take his crown.
That was my entire childhood. Hours before school and sunrise, I had to get up, run five miles, and then jump rope for thirty minutes. And each day, he stood over and watched me, yelling when I slacked and showing constant disapproval.
And now what? Why did you put me through all of that to utterly destroy me?
Chanel’s death devastated every cell in my body. I would never recover. I still hadn’t gotten over my mother’s passing.
And now. . .
My eyes burned from dread and sadness.
I rubbed them.
I suffered this past week without Chanel. I should have been going after my father in Glory, but I couldn’t leave Paradise. . .or more. . .I couldn’t leave Chanel’s lifeless body behind. I couldn’t be too far away.
I was destroyed.
Broken.
Shattered.
So much so, that I snuck into the West, broke into Serenity Funeral home, and took Chanel’s body with me. That was the only way I could leave Paradise, hunt for my father, and avenge her death. Her body lay in a casket and rode in a van behind the Escalade.
At least, she’s with me in some way.
Before leaving, I assigned my other cousins, Fengge and Bolin to rule the East during my absence.
Fengge was my Incense Master. It made sense to leave him in charge. He already handled the Four Aces’ operations.
Bolin served as my Vanguard—my personal security and assistant. He would make sure no one questioned Fengge or showed any disloyalty.
Does it even matter? After my father’s gone, the East will descend into madness. They’ll never forgive me. And I don’t care. I don’t want to rule anymore. I don’t even want to live. . .
Chen cleared his throat, pulling me out of my thoughts. “Duck. . .perhaps you want to chime in with some. . .helpful knowledge for Lei, or even some. . .spiritual advice?”
“Nope.” Duck polished his sword.
Chen sighed. “Surely, there’s something you can add to this, brother.”
Duck nodded. “Well. . .I am wondering how long we’re going to have Chanel’s body in the van following us?”
Chen groaned. “We’re talking about one problem at a time.”
Duck shrugged. “I still think that is a priority. The West announced that a double funeral will be in a few days for Romeo and Chanel.”
My heart broke.
“Never mind, Duck,” Chen said. “Lei, I think that you should let Dimitri or Marcelo handle your father. They should kill him. It would be better for everyone involved.”
“You know what my father means to the East. If anyone else kills him, then it will be war. It doesn’t matter what I say to them. Blue Lanterns will rise up and rebel.”
“Yep.” Duck bobbed his head. “That is very true.”
Chen frowned at him. “ Now , you have something to say?”
Duck shrugged. “I agree that only someone from the East can kill Uncle Leo without igniting war.”
“Okay. Fine.” Chen waved him away. “Then, let it be me or Duck that kills Uncle Leo. That’s all I’m saying. Not you, Lei.”
“I can’t do it.” Duck shook his head. “Uncle Leo is a god to me. I could never.”
“I liked it better when you were being quiet.” Chen turned all the way around in his seat and gave me a sad smile. “Uncle Leo loves you. With Chanel alive, you would have never left the Syndicate. Chanel’s blood ran with the West. She lived by the gun. He killed her so that you could move on—”
“That was not his choice to make.”
“Still, I want to do this for you.” Chen reached his hand over the seat and showed me his palm. “Get out your knife and let me take a Blood Oath to handle this.”
In the East, if a man thought another was treated horribly, then they did a Blood Oath for the person. They promised to kill any enemy for them. The oath was signed by both people cutting a line in their palm and rubbing their blood together. The person’s enemy was supposed to be gone by the time their palms healed. Depending on the deepness of the cut, the time frame would be a week or two.
If the enemy wasn’t dead by then, then the man failed the oath and had to kill himself in front of who he’d made the promise, too.
Chen sighed. “Please, Lei.”
I growled at him. “Put your hand away.”
“Seriously. Put it away, bro.” Duck shook his head. “You couldn’t kill Uncle Leo even if he was drunk, asleep, and lying in bed with broken ribs.”
Chen frowned and moved his hand. “Lei, when your mother died, you took it bad.”
“My mother is very different from my father. She was an angel. My father is a serial killer.”
Chen continued to speak, but I ignored him and looked out the window.
Chanel was lost to me forever. I could never touch her face, smell her scent, or hear her voice.
I would never heal from her death.
I would never be the same.
There would be no other women in my life.
The last image of Chanel hit my mind. My father had propped up her dead body and dressed her as a king. Money and jewelry surrounded her.
Anger for my father rose.
I hate you.
All of my life I’d believed that my destiny was entwined with Chanel. She was to be my wife one day. The mother of my children—beautiful caramel faces with her smile and my eyes, all outlined in waves or curls. We were supposed to grow old together—gray hair in a bun, sipping tea, and planting in our garden while our grandkids played around us.
There’s nothing left for me anymore. There’s nothing else to live for. . .
After I took care of my father, I planned to join Chanel in whatever afterlife she’d moved on to.
Chen studied me. “Lei, do you hear me?”
“Leave it alone.” I pulled out the bloodied, red fabric from my pocket. I’d cut it from the shirt she’d died in. It was wrapped around the wooden dagger that she’d given me during the initiation ceremony many years ago.
I stared at the wooden dagger. The handle was odd. It curved and arched in different places. Someone had drawn on it. The ink was faded, but I could still make out some of the design. Always, I kept the dagger with me, believing in what the ghost told her. It was my protection and supposed to lead me to my destiny.
I just thought my destiny was you, Chanel.
Her property had ghosts. At night, they haunted anyone that wasn’t Killer Crows or from the Jones bloodline. There were many reports of how they toyed with people and drove them to their deaths.
Surprisingly, whenever I snuck onto her estates at night, the ghosts never bothered me. Sometimes, they hid. Every now and then, I would catch flashes of green light here and there. Many times, I heard a chuckle or two. Even a few whispers about destiny and exposing the crimes of men.
But mostly they left me alone as I stood outside of her office’s balcony for hours, hoping to see her.
I put the wooden dagger back in my pocket and took the fabric that I’d torn from her bloody shirt.
I miss you so much, Chanel.
I lifted the piece of cloth to my nose and inhaled.
Duck and Chen watched.
And I could not care less how crazy I must’ve looked.