8. The Final Test
Chapter eight
The Final Test
Lei
Finally, my aunts were unified with getting rid of my dad. For the past weeks, they’d been blocking me left and right as if they could only see my father’s vision over common decency and logic.
We’ll end this today.
“When we go after him,” I looked at Aunt Min. “We can’t let Uncle Song or anyone else interfere.”
“Agreed.” Aunt Min placed her feet in a fighting stance as if she were about to battle with someone under the cherry blossom tree.
Slowly, Aunt Suzi rose from the ground still silent but at least. . .she appeared less devastated.
Aunt Min continued. “We will need to be very careful. Song won’t take this lightly and the reporters. . .they must be told to leave before we. . .kill him.”
Chen cleared his throat. “If we alert the news to leave Uncle Leo will know something is wrong.”
Aunt Suzi finally spoke. “Leo already knows something is wrong. We’ve been standing outside in the garden for too long instead of dragging Monique back inside to serve tea.”
“Good point.” I nodded. “I say we get my father anyway we can, reporters in there or not.”
To my surprise, Moni stepped forward. “Lei, he will use the reporters against you.”
Chen agreed. “We’ll need to get them out of there and attack Uncle Leo at the same time.”
“Whatever we do. . .” Aunt Suzi now placed her feet into a fighting stance too. “Leo can’t be allowed to manipulate or charm his way out of this. He took my sweet little niece after. . .not being the man, the father he was supposed to be to her.”
Aunt Min gazed at the ground.
Aunt Suzi’s voice cracked. “For Yan to die by his hands is an injustice that I cannot. . .I will not let go.”
Aunt Min’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I’ll handle Song. He trusts me the most and I can keep him occupied long enough for you to do what needs to be done, Lei.”
“Hold on.” Chen raised his eyebrows. “What are you going to do, Aunt Min?”
“Does it matter?”
“I don’t want you to hurt my father.”
“Song is strong. He can handle a few punches from me.” Aunt Min shrugged. “I only want to knock him out for a few minutes.”
Suddenly, one of Moni’s ladies-in-waiting’s phones rang.
We all turned her way.
“Sorry. I’ll turn it off.” She pulled out the phone.
Tension gathered in my shoulders. “Check to see who it is.”
“Yes, Mountain Master.” She looked at the screen and widened her eyes. “Oh. . .It says the Mountain Mistress is calling.”
Chen frowned. “Leo must be using Monique’s phone.”
I sighed. “Answer it.”
She swiped the screen and then placed the phone against her ear. “Hello.”
I exchanged glances with my aunts and I saw the same truth mirrored in their gazes. All hope for us getting my father had dwindled down to unlikely. If he was on Moni’s phone, then he was on guard. That meant he had enough time to quickly plan an escape.
Additionally, he would use whoever and whatever to get out of the East.
That was the difference between him and me. I could never watch innocent people die and he knew it, using that fact against me as much as possible.
Moni’s lady-in-waiting blinked and then handed the phone to Moni. “It’s for you, Mistress.”
“No.” Without hesitation, I took the phone from her. “He doesn’t get to talk to her anymore.”
Enough is enough.
I put the device next to my ear. “What do you want?”
My father’s voice hit the line. “I assumed you wouldn’t let me talk to Monique.”
“What do you want to say to her?”
“I wanted to know if I could get an invitation to the cookout—”
“Sure. Come on. You are more than welcome to show up.”
He must’ve caught the violence in my voice because a dark chuckle left him. “No, son. Perhaps, I will give her a rain check.”
I sneered.
“You should be happy to know that I am currently heading away from Lotus Blossom. Please, make sure the gate opens for me. If they don’t open, prepare for more than half of the people at the market to die.”
“Running away?”
“We’ll fight at the battle tomorrow evening. For now, you should rest and prepare for the cookout. I want Monique’s sisters to have a true Eastern welcome when they arrive at Lotus Blossom.”
Of course you know about the cookout too. Yes. I think it is Bolin or Fengge.
He continued. “Son, can you deliver a message to Monique for me?”
“Never. I don’t even want you to say her name—”
“Tell her that I’m proud of her with the tea ceremony but most of all, I’m prouder that she passed my final test.”
I spoke through clenched teeth. “And what the fuck was her final test?”
Moni quirked her brows at me.
A hint of humor laced his voice. “While the tea ceremony was important and I needed her to understand our traditions and be ready to follow them. Well. . .I more wanted to make sure that her loyalty to you was more important in her heart and mind.”
“So, you wanted her to tell me about Yan during the tea ceremony?”
Moni stepped back and hugged herself.
“Yes.” His voice shifted to more stern. “It would show me what was more important to her—power in the East or the bond that she has with you.”
“You are fucked up—”
“Monique could have lied to you and went back into the tea ceremony. She didn’t because she couldn’t lie to you and she definitely couldn’t hold onto something so serious for the sake of tradition.”
I shook my head. “Why would you test her in that way?”
“Chanel would have done the opposite. Do you understand that? All she cared about is power and position. She never considered things of the heart. Meanwhile, Monique doesn’t know how to live without considering her heart.”
“That fucking final test hurt her heart. Do you understand that?”
“Monique picked your love over the East’s approval. Be happy.”
“You were the only one that told her the East was important.”
“Yes, but her heart told her that you are everything .” A dark chuckle left him. “I’m just happy she passed. During the tea ceremony, did you see? She could barely keep her hands still as she poured. That’s how much she loves you.”
I motioned to Chen. “Make sure the gates open for my father. He’s getting the hell out of here and I want him gone fast.”
My father laughed some more on the line. “You passed my test too, son—”
“I don’t give a fuck about your tests. While everyone else sees you as this great honorable man, I will always see you as a sick, sadistic monster.”
“You truly love Monique.”
“You don’t know what love is.”
“I picked her for you. Are you not happy?”
I went stiff.
He responded with more of that wicked laugh. “Chanel is out of your mind. You were attentive to Monique today. Your mind was not distracted with grief over Chanel or even memories of her. You saw how nervous Monique was and you ran to her rescue—”
“I am going to kill you tomorrow. Give us the address for this fucking battle. Let us prepare.”
“Song will give Chen the address around 12pm tomorrow and the feast will begin at 7pm.”
“We don’t need a feast—”
“The East will need it.”
“I don’t give a damn about the East and you don’t define what it needs or wants.”
“You will see, son.” His laughter echoed in my ear. “The East will always be bigger than us. It goes on, no matter what we do.”
Feeling defeated, I turned away from everyone, tightened my grip on the phone, and closed my eyes. “Father. . .”
All humor left his tone. “Yes, son?”
“Why would you do that? Why would you. . .kill Yan?”
“You know why.”
“No.” I opened my eyes. “You tell me.”
And then for the first time in years. . .sadness coated his words. “Yan would have come for the throne, Lei. You know that.”
“I could have handled it.”
“You could kill your sister? No.”
“If it got to that point, I could have done it.”
“There was no if about it. She was more than prepared and had three hundred men hidden in Paradise City.”
“She was your daughter.”
“Not anymore. She was a threat.” Although still sad, his voice went calmly. “A threat to everything I’ve built. Yan had to be removed. I knew this a year ago when I began planning out everything—”
“So, you knew you were going to kill her?”
“Yan’s crown was the first one I bought.”
My heart broke.
“She was a bigger threat than Chanel and Romeo. Originally, I’d planned to simply kill her this evening and hide the body. Make sure you would never know but then Monique told me about what Yan said on Mount Utopia. That was when I had to make a bold statement to Monique and let her truly know about her place in my heart.”
“I told you not to even say Monique’s name—”
“Use that anger in the battle tomorrow.”
“You shouldn’t have killed Yan.”
“As I already said, she was a threat—”
“A threat? She was your child! My sister!” My voice rose with each word. “Is that what you want me to do with your grandchildren?!”
Silence was his only response.
My hands shivered. “Answer me!”
“Monique and you are better than me. You don’t have my stuff so you would never harm my grandkids.”
“Your stuff?”
“The baggage. The. . .trauma. The things that turn kids into adult monsters.” He let out a long breath. “You two don’t have that and. . .it makes me happy.”
“I will never forgive you for all that you have done.”
“Yan was a liability in my bigger plan. She made her choice and she knew the consequences.”
“Mom is crying in heaven and it is all because of you.”
Just like that, his voice shifted to pure violence. “Do not ever say that to me—”
“You think that you will go to heaven? No. It will be to hell. And if you do get lucky enough to enter those heavenly gates, you think Mom will open her arms to you? No.” I sneered. “She saw what you did and she no longer loves you.”
Anger coated his next words. “Strong words, my son. We’ll see if you have that same strength tomorrow.”
“I will, because tomorrow I plan to send you straight to hell myself.” I hung up and gave the phone to Chen. “Get a new phone for Moni’s lady-in-waiting and then destroy this one.”
Chen took it. “Why are we destroying this one?”
“Because I don’t want it to exist.”
Chen blinked. “O-kay.”
“The tea ceremony is over.” I took Moni’s hand. “Uncle Song and him are already heading toward the gate. I won’t attack him down there and have more people die over our family bullshit.”
“Smart move, Mountain Master.” Aunt Min bowed.
Aunt Suzi joined her.
Chen pocketed the phone. “Lei, what else do you want us to do?”
“I need time alone with Moni. My head is. . .”
Moni squeezed my hand, letting me know that she was with me. “The Mountain Master needs time to be by himself and consider tomorrow.”
What would I do without her?
I swallowed. “I’ll see you all later.”
Chen quirked his brows. “Are we still having the cookout?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Moni’s sisters need to be here—”
“Hold on.” Moni shook her head. “Lei, we don’t have time to rush my sisters’ moving, with everything you are dealing with. You should have time to mourn your sister. We should make this a quiet evening.”
Aunt Min stepped forward. “What cookout?”
Aunt Suzi placed her hands on her hips. “We’re moving in my new little nieces tonight? Why wasn’t I notified of this?”
I glanced back at Moni and kept my voice low. “We can still do the cookout.”
“Lei. . .are you sure?”
“I am.”
Moni didn’t appear convinced.
“Are you okay with my aunts being there?”
“Of course.” She gazed at them. “You all are invited, but honestly we don’t have to do this—”
“What other way will we be able to deal with the rest of this day?” Aunt Min held her hands out. “I’m sad. I want to drink a lot of expensive champagne and smoke my medicinal herbs and. . .I absolutely cannot be alone. I may harm myself.”
I rolled my eyes. “You will not harm yourself.”
Aunt Suzi didn’t look like her mood had brightened all the way, but she did seem less devastated. “We can spend the next hours shopping for presents for the girls and we’ll need new dresses.”
Aunt Min bobbed her head. “One must look nice for their welcome.”
“Then, it’s settled.” I looked at all of them. “Moni and I will see you later today.”
Chen placed his hands in his pockets. “I don’t think you two should go back to the palace. The tea ceremony was abruptly ended. People will be searching for the story. You will not get much peace.”
I considered that. “I can’t stay in Lotus Blossom right now. Not while Yan’s. . .head is still in the kitchen.”
Aunt Min stepped forward. “I will handle your sister’s. . .remains. Do not worry about that.”
Aunt Suzi raised one finger in the air. “Perhaps, you two should go to the beach house. It is a lovely day for a swim.”
“That’s a perfect idea.” Chen pulled out his phone. “I’ll have the helicopter ready and men will be there to guard. I should come along as well as Hu and Duck. Also, we should take Moni’s ladies-in-waiting.”
I thought about all the people on that list. “I don’t know.”
Moni spoke, “I think taking them would be fine. We all need a break and the beach sounds good.”
Chen gave her a sad smile. “Thank you, Moni.”
I turned to her. “I just want to be alone with you.”
“We will be alone.” Moni nodded. “They will give us space. I just want our people to enjoy themselves on the beach too.”
I checked her ladies-in-waiting. They did seem a bit shaken. Surely, they hadn’t expected to see a severed head on their first official day of service.
Moni glanced at Chen. “Make sure everyone has their swimsuits and all that. I really want you all to relax because we have a rough day tomorrow.”
Chen blinked. “Oh. Well. . .I’ll be wearing a suit and not swimming or—”
“Get the helicopter.” I slowly guided Moni to the helipad. “And she’s right. Make sure everyone has swimsuits, even you. Have fun at the beach house, just make sure you all leave us alone.”
Chen sighed. “Umm, Lei. I think that we should still maintain our official attire—”
“You heard the Mountain Mistress.”