14. The Enigmatic Puppet Master
Chapter fourteen
The Enigmatic Puppet Master
Monique
“This situation is far scarier than I believed.” Chen pushed his bowl of soup to the side. “While I thought Uncle Leo was always two steps ahead of us, he’s really been two to three years ahead of us.”
Duck lifted a slice of pork with his chopsticks. “The enigmatic puppet master strikes again.”
Chen frowned at him. “I hate when you call him that.”
Duck shrugged. “Is it not the truth?”
Chen grumbled.
But how was Leo able to do that? And when did Leo discover that I even existed?!
I sat there.
Paralyzed.
A maelstrom of emotions poured into my heart.
And I felt like I was about to drown.
I almost gasped for air, so overwhelmed by feelings that seemed too vast and wild for my chest to contain.
Mountain Mistress? Like. . .Leo wanted me to be a part of all of this. . .Four Aces stuff?
The world around me grew hazy, and the conversation at the table became a distant murmur.
Meanwhile, Yan’s words echoed in my ears.
She had loudly laughed. “Such a shocking coincidence that Monique’s father happened to be living in our old apartment building. I bet it was our exact apartment.”
Panic settled in my gut.
“How did your father even come to live there?” Yan leaned her head to the side. “Tell me. Did he happen to meet a nice Chinese woman who he fell in love with and just so happened to have him move in with her?”
The new reality struck my body like a bolt of lightning.
The space blurred around the edges. Vibrant colors faded into muted tones. A distant ringing in my ears drowned out the other sounds around me.
My hands shook.
Leo had plotted for us to be together?
The faces around me grew distorted as though I was looking at them through a foggy window.
These last days have been orchestrated by him?
I widened my eyes and found it hard to breathe.
If that was true, then did my father take the money or did Leo have a hand in getting him to do it?
A cold shiver ran up my spine.
Perhaps, he was at the game that night. . .
But then, somehow Leo knew that I would come to China Town looking for my father.
How? Was Leo THAT GOOD at Life Chess?
I mean this was fucking delirious in every sense of the word.
Even more. . .had Leo always planned to kill my father?
The air around me thickened and pressed against my chest.
Swallowing was an effort as my throat constricted, each gulp feeling like I was trying to swallow a boulder.
A cold, clammy sensation spread over my skin, and my heart rate quickened, sending a rapid thud against my ribcage.
No wonder he was hanging out at my apartment. . .later. . .while I was with Lei. . .he knew exactly where I lived.
More panic welled up within me, threatening to spill over.
I was trapped in my own body, a prisoner of my escalating anxiety. The overwhelming desire to flee, to find an escape from this suffocating feeling, gripped me. Yet my legs seemed anchored to the floor.
The dizzying realization of Leo’s reach brought a fresh wave of terror.
The web of deceit was too intricate.
Too mind-blowing.
Too painful.
If Leo could plan all of this, what else was he capable of?
Then, a hand tenderly touched my thigh. The contact sent an electric jolt up my spine, breaking the oppressive weight of my thoughts.
Startled, I turned to see Lei.
The night’s breeze swept past him, making his long black hair dance like tendrils of midnight silk, each strand catching the glow of the moon.
He frowned. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
I took a deep breath. The familiar scent of him—a blend of pine, leather, and something uniquely Lei—filled my senses. “No. . .I’m glad you did.”
“Good.” He squeezed my thigh. Heat radiated from his hand and enveloped me, serving as a balm to the unease that had plagued me earlier.
For a moment, all the troubles and uncertainties faded away, leaving just the two of us, bathed in moonlight, lost in each other’s presence.
Well. . .Leo’s matchmaking isn’t all the way bad.
The moonlight traced the sharp contours of Lei’s jawline and high cheekbones.
Earlier, when Lei had come into the shower, dirtied from Rowe Street Mob’s blood, his eyes had held absolute death.
But in this moment, they were pools of calming compassion. “Are you okay?”
I swallowed and put my mind back on this new reality. “No, I’m not okay.”
The rest of the table continued with their urgent chatter. In between speaking, Chen stared at me in disbelief, making me extremely uncomfortable.
Lei moved in closer and whispered in my ear, “What’s wrong?”
I kept my voice low. “Your father wants me to be. . .you know. . .Mountain. . .Mistress?”
The mere title sent more terrifying shivers down my spine.
I did not like being Leo’s piece in his twisted game.
Isn’t it enough that Banks and Lei are trying to move me here and there?
The realization dawned on me, heavy and suffocating; I was truly a pawn to all of them.
But what did it mean to be a piece in someone else’s game? A mere object, devoid of choice?
If every step I took, every choice I made, was orchestrated or influenced by another, then where did I truly stand?
No. This is my life.
This burning need to reclaim my agency hit me.
I gritted my teeth.
They are craz, and this is bullshit.
If Banks, Lei, and even Leo thought they could slide me here and there on the board, then I had to hurry and learn the game.
Once I did that, then I would redefine the rules for myself.
In chess, you can still win as a pawn. They better stop messing with me.
Meanwhile, I had just mentioned the Mountain Mistress title to Lei and his eyes didn’t betray surprise.
Instead, they narrowed ever so slightly.
“Lei. . .” I took a deep breath. “You knew?”
Lei’s jaw clenched, a cold, impenetrable mask slid into place—the very same hard facade he reserved for his people during these gatherings.
That reaction sent a chill down my spine. “Lei?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he cleared his throat like he was wrestling with words that seemed reluctant to surface.
I held his gaze, willing him to answer. “Did you know that your father was setting us up?”
“On some level.”
“On some level?” I tilted away from him. “What level?”
“I knew that his putting the tracker on your neck, was for me to find you.”
“What? How did you know that?”
“Because my father wouldn’t put a tracker on a random gorgeous woman for no reason. Additionally, Chanel was Black. You’re Black. I figured he was trying to. . .”
“What?”
“Give me some form of a compromise.”
“What the fuck?” I shivered. “And Mountain Mistress? That’s serious. Maybe, Yan has some of it wrong—”
“I doubt it. I had already figured that we were meant to be unknowingly intertwined by Father’s Grand Design. I just never wanted to contemplate it too much.”
“But that’s not okay. We can’t just—”
“Monique.” Lei moved closer to me, so close that I could feel his breath on my lips. “It doesn’t matter.”
This time, I shivered again, but it had nothing to do with fear. “It does. . .”
“It doesn’t.”
“How can you say that?”
“My father brought us together but we will decide whatever. . . we decide. It’s only our choices that matter.”
“But are we not still his chess pieces following his plan?”
Lei frowned.
“I bet Leo wanted me here on this mountain with you.” I swallowed. “I bet he wanted me on this throne. Right now.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
Lei’s gaze drifted to my cleavage. “Because I wanted you on this mountain with me too, and that is the only thing that you should care about.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“You have kept my mind off pain. Your very presence has been a soothing balm. And. . .I care about you. I’m. . .becoming more and more possessive of you.” More powerful heat radiated off him. “My father might have set the stage but we decide how the play unfolds.”
My heartbeats calmed.
“Don’t worry about the Mountain Mistress stuff. That was his plan.”
“He killed my father because of that plan—”
“ He killed your father. That is the only thing you should remember.” Lei shook his head. “My father is a sick man. That guilt is not for you, Monique. You are innocent in this entire situation.”
“How could I be innocent?”
“Because I said so.”
I pursed my lips together.
He ran his gaze over me and whispered. “This dinner should just be you and me. No one else. I wish my sister had not come. I need one night of peace with you.”
“Maybe, it’s good that she did. I would have never known.”
“Still. . .” Lei sighed. “Regardless of my father’s bullshit, we need alone time together, if we really are going to figure out whatever this is. Many days and nights, it should be just you and me.”
I swallowed. “I agree, but there is still the matter of Banks’s men.”
He sighed. “What matter?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m still pissed that you hurt Banks’s men.”
He leaned in and brushed his lips against my ear. “What did you think was going to happen after you sucked my cock like that?”
I almost shrieked in shock. That was not where I thought the conversation would be going.
He scowled at me like I was the bad person. “You fucking made me shake and scream like a mad man.”
“Lei. . .that has nothing to do with—”
“That has everything to do with it. How many women do you think have been able to make me moan that loud. . .and whilst among my men?”
“How many women are in your harem?”
“None of them did what you did—”
“Lei, no more beating people up over me—”
“Things are different between us. Sometimes there might be blood.”
“Lei, don’t be that guy.”
“What guy?”
“The guy that gets a little pussy and now thinks he owns it.”
He raised his eyebrows at me. A wicked smile spread across his face. “And what if I do think I own it?”
I frowned.
“What if I do, Monique? What if I feel like I own every little bit of that pussy and every inch of you?”
I sucked my teeth. “You do not own me, Mountain Master .”
Lei’s grin grew even wider and his eyes twinkled with mischief. “Is that a challenge?”
“It’s a fact. No one owns me.”
He licked his lips. “But don’t you want to be owned by me? Just a little?”
My breath hitched and I could feel my resolve crumbling. The intensity in his gaze, the authority in his stance—it was all too much.
His voice grew low and husky. “You own me but I can’t own you ?”
“I don’t own you.”
“If you saw what I did to your cousin’s men, you would think differently.”
I opened my mouth in shock. “What did you do?”
“I broke a few bones, but all of the men will heal. Eventually.”
I glared. “Lei—”
“Don’t worry. They’ll be able to play with their toys in a few weeks.”
“Banks will be pissed.”
“Banks knew I was going to do it. He just wanted to prove to you that I was violent and psychotic.”
I scowled. “Well, he definitely did that.”
“Good. Now that we have that out of the way. No other men guard you, besides the ones I appoint. And you wear blue.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“We sure will.”
I just hoped that whatever Duck was going to have put under my pillow would be some form of help.
“Anyway. . .” Lei drank me in some more. “Due to my father’s puppeting, I am going to make sure we have more alone time together.”
“And if we are still too busy this week?”
“We should never be too busy to spend more time with each other.”
I considered our steamy hot moment in the tent earlier today. “If I do let you get some more.”
“If?”
“If,” I rolled my eyes. “If I do let you get some, I’m going to want more than your tongue. You can’t go around beating people up and not even have pierced the pussy.”
He blinked.
I shrugged.
“Hmmm.” Lei’s composed Mountain Master mask underwent a transformation, a subtle yet undeniable shift that spoke volumes.
His eyes, once calm and reflective, now darkened, their depths swirling with an insatiable desire that was raw and unfiltered. The pupils dilated, almost swallowing his irises whole.
His eyebrows drew together ever so slightly.
The strong line of his jaw tensed. The muscles beneath the skin clenching as if trying to contain a thunderous storm of emotions brewing within him.
His lips, usually set in a neutral or contemplative line, parted just a fraction, revealing a hint of his teeth.
In fact, it looked like he wanted to bite me.
His breaths grew shallow.
There was an animalistic edge to this transformation, a primal energy that was both intimidating and alluring.
Warmth spread through me.
Leo’s puppeting or not, we are going to fuck. That can’t be helped.
Lei licked his lips again. “The moment when I tasted you.”
A tremble of lust ran through me. I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes?”
“Tasting you has changed a lot of things.”
A flash of his bloodied face in the tent came to me. I blinked. “Yes. I remember you telling me that.”
“I also want more nights of tasting you between tangled silken sheets and hearing you moan.”
“If—”
“There’s no if.”
Chen loudly cleared his throat, drawing both of our attention to him. “I don’t mean to interrupt—”
“I doubt that.” Lei snapped his view to Chen and scowled. “You’ve been constantly interrupting for these past days.”
“Mountain Master, I would like to have a conversation with you in private.”
Lei groaned in annoyance. “About what?”
“This. . .” Chen glanced my way and then returned his view to Lei. “About this new dilemma.”