Chapter 16 Blood Never Forgot #2
Jin rose from the chair.
"I don't want Tan careful."
"I want him emotional."
"I want him angry enough to move before he thinks."
"Then he makes mistakes."
"Then we learn what he knows."
Victor's expression remained unreadable.
"And if he traces Terrence's death back to us?"
Jin smiled.
"He won't."
Friday evening belonged to Terrence and Eva.
It had for decades.
Not every Friday.
Police schedules had never allowed that kind of consistency.
But whenever possible, they made one evening theirs.
No children.
No grandparents.
No work unless absolutely necessary.
Tonight, they sat inside a small soul-food restaurant they'd frequented since before Travis was born.
Eva reached across the table and stole one of Terrence's fried green tomatoes.
He stared.
"You ordered salmon."
"I wanted one."
"Then you should've ordered them."
"I don't want a whole order."
"So you wanted mine."
"Marriage."
Terrence laughed.
"You use marriage like legal theft."
Eva dipped the tomato in sauce.
"Travis would defend me."
"That's why I regret paying for law school."
She smiled.
Terrence leaned back.
Nearly thirty years married.
And Eva could still make him feel twenty-five with one smile.
She caught him staring.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"Can I look at my wife?"
"Depends."
"On?"
"Whether you're about to tell me something expensive."
Terrence laughed.
"No."
She took another tomato.
"You've been quiet."
"Have I?"
"Yes."
Eva knew him.
Not Officer David.
Not Detective David.
Terrence.
She could tell when something had settled behind his eyes.
"Is it Tan?"
Terrence sighed.
"Partly."
"What happened?"
"He showed me something connected to that trafficking case."
Eva's smile faded.
"What?"
Terrence didn't disclose protected details.
He never had.
But the publicly surfaced symbol was enough.
"The dragon."
Eva stared.
"The one from his childhood?"
"He thinks so."
"Oh."
She sat back.
Terrence watched her process it.
"You think the Lees are connected."
"I think we don't have enough information."
"That's your police answer."
Terrence smiled.
"Apparently Tan got it from somewhere."
Eva didn't smile back.
"Do you think he's in danger?"
The question sat between them.
Terrence wanted to say no.
Couldn't.
"I don't know."
Eva looked toward the window.
"I hate that answer."
"So does he."
"Do you remember when he was little and we'd talk about what would happen if his family came back?"
"Yeah."
"I used to be scared."
Terrence frowned.
"Of what?"
"That they'd take him."
Terrence's expression softened.
"I knew they couldn't after the adoption."
"But emotionally..."
Eva looked at him.
"I wondered if he'd meet them and suddenly realize we weren't enough."
Terrence reached across the table.
"You never told me that."
"I was his mother."
"I wasn't supposed to make his questions about my insecurity."
Terrence took her hand.
"He never made us less family."
"I know."
She smiled faintly.
"I learned that."
Then the smile disappeared.
"But now I'm scared in a different way."
"What if the family he spent his whole life looking for is dangerous?"
Terrence rubbed his thumb across her fingers.
"Then we remind him what we've always told him."
"He gets to know where he came from without letting it decide where he goes."
Eva nodded.
"That's easy to say."
"I know."
She looked toward him.
"You'll protect him."
It wasn't a question.
Terrence smiled.
"Always."
Eva's eyes filled.
"He's thirty-something years old."
"Still my son."
She laughed softly.
"That's exactly what I was going to say."
"See why we lasted?"
"Because I'm patient."
Terrence leaned back.
"That's definitely not it."
Eva kicked him beneath the table.
He laughed.
For another hour, they talked about ordinary things.
Ella's schedule.
Travis's newest case.
Gloria's refusal to stop buying things from late-night television.
Harold's grill obsession.
Tan and Amari.
That topic made Eva smile.
"You think he's proposing?"
Terrence nearly choked on his drink.
Eva's eyes narrowed.
"Oh my God."
Terrence recovered quickly.
"What?"
"You know something."
"I don't know anything."
"You are a terrible liar."
"I spent decades interviewing suspects."
"And I spent decades married to you."
She leaned forward.
"He bought a ring."
Terrence stared.
Eva gasped.
"He did!"
"I never said that."
"Your face did."
Terrence closed his eyes.
"Tan is going to kill me."
"When?"
"I don't know."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"What does it look like?"
Terrence laughed.
"I haven't seen it."
Eva stared.
"You knew before me and didn't even demand pictures?"
"I'm emotionally stable."
She kicked him again.
They left the restaurant shortly after ten.
A sedan followed them for six blocks.
Terrence noticed it twice.
Then dismissed it.
Not because he'd lost his instincts.
Because Los Angeles traffic made repetition ordinary.
At a light, the sedan turned right.
Terrence continued straight.
Inside the other vehicle, a man spoke into a disposable phone.
"Friday routine confirmed."
A voice answered.
"Good."
"House tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"He's off Sunday."
"Better."
The call ended.
Saturday morning, Tan and Amari went ring shopping.
Not engagement-ring shopping.
At least according to Tan.
Amari wanted a gold bracelet for Denise's birthday.
Tan accompanied her willingly because he was still secretly terrified she'd wander toward the engagement cases and somehow recognize the ring he'd already purchased.
The moment they entered the store, Amari did exactly that.
"Ooh."
Tan's stomach dropped.
She moved toward a diamond display.
"This one's pretty."
Tan shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah."
Amari studied an emerald-cut ring.
"You don't like it?"
"It's fine."
"Fine?"
"It's pretty."
She looked at another.
"Too much."
Tan nodded.
"Agreed."
Then she looked toward an oval diamond.
Not his ring.
Close enough to make him nervous.
"I like oval."
Tan stared toward the ceiling.
Amari noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're weird again."
"I'm standing in jewelry store lighting."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
She narrowed her eyes.
Tan immediately changed the subject.
"Your mom likes bracelets."
Amari laughed.
"Why are you trying to rush me away from engagement rings?"
"I'm not."
She smiled slowly.
"T."
His heartbeat changed.
"Amari."
"You bought one."
"What?"
"A ring."
"No."
"You did."
"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to."
Tan shook his head.
"You are impossible."
Her dimples deepened.
"I'm right."
"You have no evidence."
"I date a police officer. I understand circumstantial evidence."
"That's not what circumstantial evidence means."
"Look at you getting defensive."
Tan laughed.
Then Amari became suddenly serious.
"Wait."
He looked at her.
"Did you really?"
He saw something in her eyes he hadn't expected.
Hope.
Vulnerability.
A little fear.
Tan could have lied.
Instead, he stepped closer.
"I'm not answering that in a jewelry store."
Her eyes widened.
"Oh my God."
"That is not an admission."
"It's absolutely an admission."
He smiled.
"Pick your mother's bracelet."
Amari stared at him for several seconds.
Then she wrapped both arms around his neck.
Tan laughed.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"You're hugging me."
"I love you."
His expression softened.
"Love you too."
She whispered near his ear,
"I like oval."
Tan smiled.
"I heard."
Later that afternoon, Tan finally reset the proposal.
The operation had disrupted his original plan, but not the idea.
Next Saturday.
Same park.
Same families.
Simpler setup.
No dramatic archway.
No excessive flowers.
Gloria had lost that argument.
Mostly.
Tan sat with Terrence in the garage explaining everything.
Terrence nodded.
"Good."
"That's it?"
"What else do you want?"
"I don't know."
"Advice."
Terrence laughed.
"You already bought the ring."
"She's practically figured it out."
"Sounds like you're doing great."
Tan shook his head.
"I wanted surprise."
"You wanted certainty."
Tan looked at him.
Terrence continued.
"Surprise is nice."
"Certainty is better."
"You know you want to marry her."
"She knows she wants a future with you."
"The question still matters."
"The answer isn't less meaningful because she suspects it's coming."
Tan nodded.
"You proposed to Mama how?"
Terrence smiled.
"Badly."
"Really?"
"Very."
Tan leaned forward.
"I've never heard this."
"Because your mother exaggerates."
Terrence leaned back.
"I took her to dinner."
"Had a ring."
"Had a speech."
"Everything planned."
"Then the restaurant lost the reservation."
Tan laughed.
"It started raining."
"Worse."
"We got a flat tire."
"No."
"Yes."
"By the time we got home, your mother was angry, wet, hungry, and threatening to never let me plan another date."
Tan laughed harder.
"So what'd you do?"
"I proposed in the kitchen while she was making grilled cheese."
Tan stared.
"Seriously?"
"On one knee."
"What did she say?"
"She stared at me."
"Then?"
"Asked if I was proposing because the date was terrible."
Tan nearly fell out of the chair laughing.
Terrence smiled at the memory.
"Then she cried."
"Then said yes."
Tan shook his head.
"And y'all never told us."
"Some stories aren't for children."
"I'm thirty."
"Still a child."
Tan smiled.
Terrence's expression softened.
"Point is, son, life doesn't care about perfect plans."
"Ask the question."
"Mean it."
"Then spend the marriage meaning it."
Tan nodded slowly.
"That's good."
"I know."
"There's the ego."
Terrence laughed.
That night, Jin sat alone inside his penthouse.
No assistants.
No Victor.
No music.
Just silence.
The television across from him displayed Tan's interview again.
Muted.
Jin had watched it enough times to memorize the movements.
Tan looked toward Terrence.
Smiled.
Terrence touched his shoulder.
The word father appeared in the closed captions.
Jin took a drink.
He hated how much the footage affected him.
Not simply because Tan was alive.
Because it resurrected everything Jin had spent decades burying.
The raid.
His mother.
Tan.
His grandfather Bao.
Their arguments.
The family's obsession with succession.
Jin had been sixteen when he first understood the difference between being loved and being valued.