24. The Remaining Gifts
Chapter twenty-four
The Remaining Gifts
Moni
Now it was time for Chloe’s gift, but it was hard to not think about Lei’s possibility of violence on the South.
Forget about it. I’ll deal with it later.
“I hope you like this, Chloe.” Lei reached into his back pocket and handed her a sleek black envelope.
She was already grinning. “I don’t even know what this is, but I like it.”
Lei smiled, clearly enjoying the moment.
Jo got closer along with TT and me.
Chloe carefully opened the envelope and then her eyes went wide. “A credit card!”
What?
I frowned.
She squealed in delight and held it up for all of us to see. “I’ve always wanted one.”
Jo and I exchanged glances.
Chloe needed a credit card like she needed another mini skirt.
“Ummm. . .” I leaned in to check it out and my heart skipped a beat when I saw what it was—an Amex Centurion black card.
The kind with no limit.
The kind that could buy anything.
I shook my head. “Okay. So. . .I’m going to have to put my foot down on this one.”
Lei winked at me. “I’ll be handling the bill.”
Chloe giggled, practically bouncing on her toes. “Somebody show me the mall right now! Like where is it?”
“I’m sorry, but no.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “I appreciate the offer, Lei, but she doesn’t need a high-end credit card.”
I reached out to take it back, but Chloe stepped away, moving closer to Lei as if he was now her new protector.
I scowled.
“Moni, why are you hating on my gift?” Chloe pointed at the car. “You didn’t say anything about Jo’s car and now you’re all focused on my credit card.”
“Because Jo will use the car to go to work in the South and even take you to school.”
Jo murmured from the side, “She can’t get in my car, but TT can.”
I ignored that and caught a glance from Chen directed at Lei. It was subtle, but there was something there—an acknowledgment, a concern. The mention of Jo going to the South had set Chen off and I could feel the tension building again.
Yeah. They’re going to do some bullshit to the South, but what?
I sighed and put my focus back on Chloe, who was clutching that black card like it was the key to her freedom.
I put my open hand in front of me. “Give it to me.”
Chloe inched back. “Come on, Moni. This is like. . .the East’s tradition, and I’m not trying to be disrespectful.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Perhaps, we can come to a simple compromise.” Lei gave me a smile. “Moni, you can provide us with Chloe’s monthly spending limit. Then, she can keep the card and you feel comfortable.”
Chloe exhaled loudly. “But Moni’s going to be cheap as hell.”
I shot her an annoyed look. “No, I’m not. I like that compromise. First, you don’t even pull that card out unless I know and most of the time you keep it in the house. And as far as the limit, let’s say $1,000 a month. That’s more than fair.”
Lei frowned, clearly unimpressed. “That’s nothing.”
Chloe’s eyes widened and she nervously giggled, clearly caught between wanting to please me and not wanting to lose out on Lei’s generosity. “I’m with Lei then. . . sure. . .that’s nothing.”
Jo crossed her arms over her chest. “How are you going to say that’s nothing, when I bet you don’t even have a dollar on you.”
"Shut up, Jo.” Chloe glanced at Lei. “What do you think is good?”
Lei considered that and then responded, “$10,000 a month makes sense to me for maybe the movies with her friends, clothes, a computer—”
“$10,000 a month? She is 17,” I interjected firmly, “and I will get her a laptop. There is nothing Chloe should be spending $10,000 a month on unless it’s saving for her college education.”
Chloe groaned dramatically, throwing her hands up in the air. “Oh my God, Moni! Why are you all up in my gift?”
Jo, standing nearby, couldn’t hold back her laughter.
The whole situation was starting to feel absurd, but I knew I had to stay firm. Chloe didn’t need to be running around with unlimited access to an elite credit card, especially not at seventeen.
I could see her getting in all types of trouble.
But, Lei, ever the negotiating Mountain Master nodded thoughtfully and then countered, “How about we say $2,500 a month and we open a college fund for her that you control? The remaining part of my original 10k a month can go to that fund.”
I sighed, recognizing it as a reasonable compromise. “That works.”
"Yay.” Chloe giggled and twirled with her new card. “Money. Money. Money. And I’m serious. Like. . .where is the mall at? Does the East have one?”
Smirking, Duck nodded. “We have two small ones.”
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Chloe put the card in her mini skirt’s pocket.
I snapped my fingers. “That will be in my control until I think you are completely responsible.”
“What?” Chloe pouted. “You didn’t take Jo’s keys.”
I glared at her. “Girl. . .”
Chloe glanced at Lei as if asking for help.
Lei shrugged. “Moni’s rules are the rules.”
Well. . .he might not have won over Jo completely, but he had Chloe right in his pocket.
Chloe frowned and gave me the card. “Don’t be using my card, Moni.”
“You keep talking to me like that and you won’t be able to use the card.”
Chloe blinked.
Jo snorted.
I put the card in my pocket.
Honestly, I didn’t think Chloe would even need to use the damn thing knowing Lei’s aunts I was sure they’d already bought all my sisters a full wardrobe of designer items.
Speaking of the aunts. . .
I checked the back of Lotus Blossom and spotted over twenty of Lei’s men forming a small boundary line in front of the aunts.
Currently, they were smiling and watching us from afar.
I bet they can’t wait to meet the girls.
No doubt Lei had ordered them to stay back so he could give out his gifts and we could get off this helipad.
As far as I’m concerned, we’d been standing out her for several weeks.
Lei grabbed my attention. “And now TT.”
I let out a long breath and turned to her.
To my surprise, TT had been checking out the cat in Dima’s hand instead of focused on Chloe and my arguing.
But when TT heard her name, she gazed up at Lei.
He gave her a sad smile. “I must say, your gift is not as. . . extravagant as your sisters’ gifts.”
She smiled. “That’s fine.”
“But according to Moni, you’re interested in the Crownsville Bandit.”
TT’s breath hitched. “Yes. I am.”
To my shock, Rose stepped forward utterly intrigued and I couldn’t help but wonder if she had been doing some research on the topic as a reporter.
It wouldn’t be surprising. Many journalists spent their lives on the Crownsville Bandit and the supposed hidden treasure.
Lei gestured to the men by the huge container and two of them disappeared inside.
Alright. This will be interesting. What is he going to give her that deals with the Crownsville Bandit?
Moments later, the men emerged, carrying a large blue trunk between them. The trunk looked old, weathered, as if it held secrets from another time.
O-kay. A trunk, but full of what?
As the men brought the trunk over, Lei turned to TT with a curious expression. “I have a weird question for you, TT.”
She pursed her lips.
He leaned forward. “Do you believe in ghosts?”
TT straightened and her gaze went serious as she considered the question. “Yes, I do, but not in the way most people think.”
“Can you explain?”
“I think ghosts are the remains of energy. Memories that get trapped in places where something significant happened.”
I raised my eyebrows.
TT continued, “I don’t think they are conscious like. . .we understand, but they can interact with the world in ways we don’t fully understand too.”
Her answer was so precise, so educated, that it left me and everyone else a bit taken aback. It was easy to forget that TT, for all her youth, had a mind that was constantly churning, always seeking knowledge.
Movement came from behind.
I spotted Dima giving the cat to Rose and walking closer to us. He’d been quiet the whole time since I’d returned with my sisters as if not wanting to disturb the gift-giving moment.
However, I wondered what made him come over this time.
Lei smiled, clearly impressed. “That’s a very thoughtful answer, TT. And it should make what I’m about to tell you even more interesting.”
She studied him. "Okay.”
I could feel the tension rise as the men set the trunk down next to Lei and TT.
He lowered his voice like he was telling a secret. “I’ve spent a lot of time in the West at night, near Dream Lake.”
Jo, who had been listening quietly, suddenly perked up. “Why?”
A knot formed in my stomach.
I didn’t want the topic of Chanel—Lei’s past—to be brought up, not here, not now, and definitely not around my sisters.
But before I could intervene, Dima went right to the trunk, touched it, and then pulled out his notebook and pen.
Lei ignored Jo’s question and focused on TT. “I’ve spoken to the Crownsville Bandit on many occasions. Do you believe me?”
TT nodded slowly. “Yes, I believe you because. . .there are signs when people lie. And you’re not showing any of them.”
Dima, who had been quietly assessing the trunk, suddenly perked up, and looked at her. “What signs? How can you tell?”
TT glanced at him and then back at Lei. “When people lie, they do certain things without realizing it. Their eyes shift, like they’re trying to remember details they’re making up on the spot. Or their voice changes—gets higher or lower depending on the lie. Sometimes, they’ll fidget, like their body knows they’re saying something wrong, even if their brain doesn’t.”
Dima curled his lips into this big smile. “And he didn’t do that?”
She began to fidget with her fingers, twisting them together in a nervous dance. “He didn’t.”
The fidgeting told me she was nervous. I got closer to her and placed my arms on her shoulder, letting her know I was near.
She stopped fidgeting.
Dima jotted down notes in his notebook. “You’re very observant. Most adults don’t even pick up on those things.”
TT's cheeks flushed and she remained silent.
Chloe got bored with the conversation, slipped a few feet away and began typing into her phone, probably texting some boy.
Lei nodded. “Well, I’m glad you believe me, TT. Because what I’m about to show you is very real.”
The men who had brought out the trunk stood nearby, waiting for Lei’s command.
He gestured to them and they stepped forward.
Dima went to the side to get out of their way.
Then, they opened the old, weathered lid with a creak and all of us peeked in.
Inside, the trunk was lined with dark velvet and nestled within were tons of wooden objects—daggers, to be precise. They looked ancient, worn with time, each one carved and shaped oddly. Some had smudges of dirt or clumps of grassy mud all over them.
What the hell?
“These,” Lei went over and carefully lifted one of the daggers out of the trunk, “are the daggers the Crownsville Bandit would ask me to dig up every time she came to me. And you can see she came up to me a lot.”
TT’s breath caught in her throat and she reached out a trembling hand to touch the dagger. “She?”
“Oh yeah.” Lei handed the dagger to her. “The Crownsville Bandit is a woman.”
A strained sound left Rose.
I checked her and she tried to get Dima’s notebook, but he was already writing stuff down.
TT didn’t take the dagger.
Instead, she just stared at it, almost. . .frozen in pure, unadulterated shock.
Lei held onto the dagger. “I never understood why the ghost wanted me to get them. Long ago I did wonder and obsess about it. . .but. . .my theories never went anywhere and so I would just grab them so she would leave me alone, which she would once I dug one out. As soon as she saw it in my hand, she just. . .”
I leaned forward.
“Her and her men would just disappear.”
I looked back at TT.
She was still frozen with her mouth open and her gaze stuck to the dagger.
I swallowed. “TT, are you okay?”
TT’s bottom lip quivered and she lifted her view to Lei. “ She ?”
I tried not to laugh.
Lei bobbed his head. “Yes. The Bandit is a woman.”
TT’s breaths picked up at an uneasy pace. “B-black?”
“Yes. Tall and black. Not much muscle, but she had these ghostly guns in her side holsters that told me she knew how to handle guns.”
TT’s eyes widened even further and I saw her chest start to rise and fall rapidly, her excitement teetering on the edge of something more intense.
Oh wait. . .is she going to be, okay?
TT began muttering to herself and staring at the daggers. “In the Bandit’s Gospel, it starts off, ‘To my children.’ I thought that was a weird way for a male rebel leader to look at his men, but. . .”
TT’s breath quickened and I saw the familiar signs—her hands starting to shake, her brown face going to a paler color.
Shit.
I gestured to Jo.
“She saw herself as a mother to them. P-protecting them.” TT began to hyperventilate.
“Damn it.” Jo dug into her pants pocket and fished out TT’s inhaler.
The veins in TT’s small neck pulsed with her panicked breaths.
I grabbed it and rushed to TT’s side, trying to get her to focus on me and on her breathing. “Calm down.”
TT wouldn’t let me put the inhaler in her mouth. “B-but why so many d-daggers?”
“TT, look at me,” I said firmly, placing the inhaler in her hand and guiding it to her mouth. “Breathe. In and out. Slowly.”
"T-there’s a lot of them.”
“Breathe.”
TT’s breaths were short and shallow and I could feel her panic rising. “Why s-so many?”
“TT.” I forced her to hold the inhaler up to her mouth and scowled. “Enough on those daggers. Focus on breathing.”
Panting, she leaned her head back and looked at the opened trunk. “B-but why so many daggers? W-what does it mean?”