Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AUDRY
T his guy likes me. The way he was caressing my feet as he put on my shoes for me… I've never had such a sensual experience performing a mundane task. By the time he was done, he had me dripping wet, which was not a good condition to be in when going into the lion’s den.
“Follow me,” he said as he strode out of my room as if nothing had happened.
I was still kinda freaked out about the picture of my doppelganger, who also happened to be his fiancée. As an adopted child, it brought up a lot of questions for me; questions I wasn't sure I was ready to explore.
I just needed to get this thing done, get my stepfather's approval, and move on with my life. Things were already more complicated than they needed to be.
I sat in the car, next to Marco, feeling kind of put out by how he was ignoring me. His eyes were glued to his iPad. I knew there were a lot of moving pieces he needed to be aware of, but still…
“Are you ready?” He asked me when the car came to a stop. For the first time he turned and looked at me. I stared back just taking him in. He was a man who favored a black suit with a black shirt - which was kind of passe considering we were in LA.
But I couldn't deny that he looked as good as fuck. He lifted an eyebrow at me. “Cat got your tongue?”
That's when I remembered that he'd asked me a question. “Oh, uh yeah, I'm fine. I'm ready.”
He nodded once. “Good.”
The door opened and he stepped out, coming around to open the door for me. His brother Valerio walked behind us as we stepped into the restaurant where we would be meeting the Triad. My heartbeat began to accelerate with nerves.
Showtime.
We were met by Zhang Heoran himself. He greeted Marco fairly cordially before turning eyes bright with interest on me. “And who is this lovely lady?” He asked in a slightly accented English.
Marco turned to me, a smile on his face, “May I present my colleague, and the translator, Audry Martin.”
I stared at Marco with wide eyes. There was no way he knew that I was fluent in Chinese.
He's grasping at straws.
Mr. Zhang smiled. “No need for that. Everybody speaks proper English.”
Marco bowed to him, “My mistake. Would you object to her sitting in on the meeting anyway?”
The dragon head looked from Marco to me, his eyes shrewd. “Absolutely no problem. Such beauty can only enhance our meeting.” He graciously gestured for me to have a seat. I knew he'd be watching me like a hawk.
Good thing I already accounted for that.
I sat down and crossed my legs, the slits at my side falling open and showing off a bit more thigh. I could see the deputy dragon head looking and I just knew that I had gone from threat to eye candy in zero to sixty.
Hurray for the patriarchy.
The meeting began with the usual rigmarole of expected formalities before we got down to business. The first item on the agenda was the trade routes dispute. Marco proposed a merger, where one courier was used to get through all the bottlenecks. “That way everybody wins.”
The Triad members exchanged glances. I could see they thought it was a good idea but were wondering what the catch was.
“We are all in a bind due to a situation that has nothing to do with any of us.” Marco continued. “The bottom line is, we want to keep it business as usual. Do you not agree, Mr. Zhang?”
The dragon head smiled. “It is a clever plan. But who will choose the courier?”
“I think we both have our own people. And we both know independent couriers. I think the question we have to ask is, who is the fastest and most convenient courier that we can get.” Marco replied.
The Dragon's head nodded. “It is a good plan. Do you have a courier to propose?”
“Indeed, I do.” Marco said at once leaning forward, “but today’s meeting was to assess your interest and to reach an agreement. Once I speak to the courier and they are on board, we can set up another meeting.”
“That seems to be a lot of necessary meetings.” Zhang Heoran said, looking displeased, “why you're not prepared?”
Marco picked up his phone from the table. “If you don’t mind having a quick break I could make the phone call now and we can proceed.”
Zhang Heoran nodded. “Very well, go ahead,” he said.
“Thank you. Meanwhile, my colleague will send you the plans on our target routes so we can discuss further. If you would allow her to connect to your devices for a moment…”
I plucked my phone out, holding it up expectantly. Between my phone and my hand, I held a device that would enable me to plant a virus on Zhang Heoran’s device. It would run rampant, giving me access to his passwords, his camera, everything. Of course, I expected that sooner or later, he would sweep his phone, but by then it would be too late. The virus would have done what it needed to.
The Dragon Head and his underboss both activated their blue tooth and I dutifully sent the files they were expecting plus one more that would ‘fail to open’ and then dissolve into nothing, making it’s greedy way into the heart of Zhang Heoran’s systems.
Marco came back, switching off his phone and giving me a look. I gave him a small nod and he smiled slightly before taking his seat. “Right,” he said, “Back to business. The courier is on board. Now we can start talking how to proceed. We’re in business gentlemen.”