1. The Smallest Ally
Chapter one
The Smallest Ally
Lei
My stomach dropped.
I stumbled backward. “The secret what? This was my. . .old room. There’s no. . .”
TT shrugged. “There’s a secret passage.”
Desperation clawed at my inside.
Damn it!
I entered the room. “Which way? Where is it at?”
She stepped aside, lifted her small hand, and pointed to the far end of the room, where the closet door stood ajar. “There’s a secret passageway in there. They went through it.”
“What the fuck?”
Fen remained out in the hallway with our men, while Duck, Hu, and I moved into the big closet fast tearing the clothes off the hangers, shoving everything out of the way.
The back wall of the closet looked solid just like any other closet but TT had said there was a passageway.
I trusted her, even if it looked impossible.
Hu knocked and I caught the hollow sound.
Yeah. The bastard had a secret place in my old closet. How long had it been there?
The thought gnawed at me making my skin crawl.
For a minute, I wondered if my father ever used it to spy on me as a kid. I could see him standing in there to listen to my phone calls with Chanel, Romeo, or even Dima, probably making sure I was still on the path he wanted me on.
What the fuck is wrong with him?
Duck ran his hand over the surface, feeling for anything—a latch, a hinge, something that would give us a clue. “There’s got to be a mechanism somewhere.”
Hu slammed his hand against the wood as he knocked harder. “It's hollow but damn it, how do we open it?”
We tried pushing on different sections of the wall. Hu slammed his shoulder into it at one point, hoping brute force would do the trick but the wall didn’t budge.
All it did was leave a faint smudge on the surface from the force of his hit.
“Maybe there's a lever.” Duck suggested. “Some hidden catch?”
I scanned the closet, looking for anything out of place.
But there was nothing.
Just clothes, shoes, and shelves like any other damn closet.
Duck started yanking at the clothes rod thinking it might trigger a mechanism, but it stayed solid in his hands.
Hu ran his fingers along the edges of the closet.
Nothing.
I kicked the wall, all it did was make a dull thud.
No give.
No sign that it was about to budge.
“We’re wasting time.” My mind kept flashing to Moni, stuck somewhere deep in this house or in the East with my father.
God only knew what kind of sick game he was going to have her play.
I knelt down, inspecting the bottom of the wall now trying to see if there was any shift in the baseboards, anything that could give us a clue.
It looked seamless.
Too perfect.
Duck sighed and turned to TT. “Are you sure this is the right spot?”
“Yes,” TT checked her watch. “I can tell you now.”
I rose and looked at her. “Tell us what?”
“Tell you how to get in.”
Goddamn it. Of course she would know.
It was clear that I would have to get used to the fact that TT was a smart-ass kid. This meant that the first thing we did should have been to see what else she knew.
She checked her watch again and then lowered her hand. “Uncle Leo wanted me to wait ten minutes for you to come in and then five minutes before telling you how to open the wall.”
“He taught you how to open it?”
“No but I saw how he did it.”
He knew you would remember without him having to show you.
“Leave the closet and let TT through.” I headed out.
Hu and Duck followed.
Then TT stepped inside. “There’s a special knock.”
“A knock?”
“Yep.”
Of course, my father wouldn’t just leave a visible handle or latch—he’d make sure only he could access the passage. It was another layer of control, of manipulation.
She pointed to the top of the wall. “I can’t reach it but right there in the corner. You have to knock up five times, really hard and really fast then after that you lower and knock three times hard with three seconds between each knock.”
I hurried in, raised my fist and did exactly as she told me. The sound echoed faintly in the closet.
I lowered and did the same thing. Once done, I rose.
“Step back,” TT said.
I did that too and stood still, waiting.
Hoping.
For a second, nothing happened.
There was a soft click, so quiet I almost didn’t hear it.
TT looked up and smiled. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah.”
Slowly, the wall slid open, revealing a narrow dark passageway beyond. Cold air drifted out and the scent of dampness and earth hit me like a slap in the face.
My stomach twisted.
Moni had walked in this darkness with my father?
Duck sighed. “They had a fifteen minute head start, Lei. They’re gone.”
I turned to him. “Still, take some of our men down there and see if you can track them. If you see Moni, do whatever it takes to get her back.”
But even as I said those words, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were already too late. My father had a plan and we were playing catch-up, as always.
I put my view on Hu. “If my father feels like he truly has Moni, then we can release Dima. Take some men to the carousel.”
“And what do we do with the monks at the carousel?”
I sneered. “Tell Dima he can have them.”
Hu blinked. “Lei. . .”
“The East handles the East but I’m too busy tonight. Let the North have their revenge on the monks for now.”
They shouldn’t have killed the cat.
Surely displeased, Hu shook his head and left.
Duck rushed to get more men.
I looked down at TT who had been watching me the whole time and I realized this wasn’t just about getting Moni back. I had to protect TT and her sisters too. They were all caught up in this mess.
I let out a long breath. “I’m sorry, TT. I didn’t want him to take her. I was going to try and stop this.”
“I know.”
Duck quickly returned with seven guys. They rushed through the passageway. I hoped they could catch up with my father, but. . .I doubted that they would.
Moni. . .you’re gone.
A cold chill ran up my spine as my bottom lip quivered.
I was supposed to keep you safe.
My eyes watered but I would not let one tear come out. I returned my attention to TT. “I will try to get her back and. . .I think at least for now. . .she will be safe.”
“I know she will be.”
I widened my eyes. “You know it?”
“She’s going to be okay. Uncle Leo said he was going to make her powerful, so powerful she wouldn’t need you or him in the East.”
I tensed. “Did my father say how he would make her powerful?”
“No, just that by tomorrow evening all would know she was dangerous.”
My heart pounded in my chest. Officially, my father was a serial killer, a complete psychopath. The very thought of whatever plans he had was unsettling in a way I couldn’t even fully process yet.
What the hell did that mean? How could he make Moni stronger? And stronger without me? That would mean. . .she would have her own reputation of violence, right?
I didn’t trust this.
Not for a second.
Whatever my father had in store for Moni, it wasn’t just about power. Not really. He didn’t empower people. He manipulated them, twisted them into brutal tools for his own twisted goals.
I can’t let her fall into that trap.
I thought back to my own initiation ceremony—the one that solidified my name in the East.
The blood.
The screams.
The stench of death so thick in the air, it still clung to me years later.
I was only fourteen when I went through it, just a boy forced into a man’s world by the most brutal of tests.
He’d put me on that stage to battle thirty-six men—hardened killers.
Thank God I had prevailed.
But had I truly?
It took a year for the nightmares full of dead men to leave me.
Another year for me to get the sound of my fists connecting with flesh and cracking bones out of my head. That sound had haunted me while I sat in class, in church, in the fucking bathtub.
Even now, after all these years. . .whenever I was alone in my bed for too long, I would feel the warm blood splattered across my face and smell it.
I earned power that day.
Sure.
But I’d been absolutely devastated, traumatized, and so fucked up in the head that I knew I wasn’t completely normal.
However. . .after that day of violence and death, I didn’t need my father to stand next to me anymore. I had garnered his concept of power.
The East feared me.
And since that day, no one questioned my strength.
And not many dared to challenge me.
But. . .what is his plan for her?
Moni wasn’t born into this violent world. She wasn’t shaped by it the way I was. She wasn’t meant to endure this kind of darkness, this violence.
How will he make her powerful?
It scared the hell out of me because I knew my father would teach her something fucked up and there would be no normal way for him to do it. His form of education broke the person down until there was nothing left but the pieces of what they once were. Then, he’d build the person back up in the image he wanted.
I can’t let that happen.
I looked back down.
TT was watching me. In fact. . .I was pretty sure she had been staring at me the whole time as I tried to figure out what was going on in my father’s head.
She’s not a typical little girl. I knew that when I first met her but now. . .I understand that even more.
I leaned my head to the side. “Tell me something.”
She quirked her little brows. “Yes?”
“Are you studying me?”
“Yes.” She blinked. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I do that.”
“It’s fine.”
“My teacher said I shouldn’t because it is rude.”
“You actually should do it in the East. The more you know about a person, the better.”
“That’s what your father said, when he caught me studying him.”
“I bet.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “TT, when he talked about making Moni more powerful what were his exact words?”
“He said that she would need to be truly initiated into the Four Aces.”
No.
I closed my eyes and tried to stay as calm as possible.
There would be some form of death. That’s the only way we initiate.
That was what it always came down to with my father.
His idea of power was death. How one dealt it, how one survived it, and how one used it to control others.
Moni would have to face an initiation dealing with death.
That terrified me.
She wasn’t built for that kind of brutality.
Not like I was.
And even if she did survive whatever twisted trial my father had planned for her, what would it do to her mind?
To her spirit?
I’d been trained for that kind of darkness from the moment I was born.
But Moni… her spirit was different.
She wasn’t cruel.
She wasn’t heartless.
She had fire, sure, but there was a softness in her too. Something pure that I couldn’t bear to see tarnished.
Goddamn it.
“Lei?” TT’s voice broke through my thoughts, pulling me back to the present.
Devastated, I opened my eyes and tears spilled from them. “Yes?”
“Moni is stronger than you think.”
“I agree, but. . .” I wiped those tears and crouched down to TT’s level, trying to keep my voice steady. “I made her my Mountain Mistress so she wouldn’t have to be strong anymore so. . .she wouldn’t have to lift a finger, worry about anything, or even deal with problems. She was only supposed to be spoiled. Pampered.”
“But that’s not how life works.”
I swallowed hard, trying to process these wise words from a smart eleven-year-old—a kid who had already lost both of her parents.
TT spoke. “You’re not as scary as your father.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Yes and no.”
“Why no?”
“It means you can’t stop what he is going to do with Moni tonight.”
Another tear left my eye.
Why can’t I control my emotions right now? Is it because I’m high?
TT continued to speak. “It’s okay that you can’t stop him Lei, because Moni is strong and he won’t hurt her.”
I wiped the tear off my cheek, disgusted that I’ve cried so much in one damn night. “She told me to take care of you and your sisters.”
TT gave me a sad smile. “That sounds like Moni.”
“Right now, I'm not supposed to show you any fear or sadness. You are supposed to be the one that gets reassurance, not me.”
“That’s okay too,” TT widened her eyes. “Sometimes Moni would get overwhelmed with bills and stuff and cry. And if I walked in, she would try to hide it but all I would do is give her a big hug like this. . .”
TT wrapped her small arms around me.
Unable to help myself, I found myself hunching over to accept the small arms encircling me.
TT was so much like Moni. Her spirit, her strength, it was uncanny. The comfort she offered was something I didn't expect. Suddenly, I felt a pang of guilt for letting my emotions get the best of me.
“Thank you, TT.”
Her warmth seeped into me.
Perhaps she was right.
Maybe Moni was stronger than I gave her credit for. But that didn't help the dread gnawing at my insides and it didn't stop the fear clawing at my heart. The thought of losing her to my father's sadistic games was more than I could bear.
TT pulled back from the hug and looked up at me. “Moni will be okay, Lei.”
I wished I could share in her conviction but I knew my father well. He played for keeps and wouldn't hesitate to break Moni if he believed it served his grander purpose.
However, I couldn’t think of any of that anymore.
If Duck could stop them, he would.
But I would at least fulfill my promise to Moni and do right by her family.
I let out an exasperated breath and rose. “TT, can you promise me something?”
“Yes?”
I took another deep breath and gathered my thoughts. “I will have to take you downstairs and deal with your sisters and Banks.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think you can help me? I’m a bit low on control and patience tonight.”
To my surprise, she gave me a big smile. “That’s easy, Lei. Just let me do the talking.”