Chapter 7 #2
His eyes lingered on my face, unconvinced. “June—”
“Yes, Dannie?”
His tone made me look up. Serious. “We need to go back to Hong Kong.”
The words barely registered. “What? Why? We just got here.” I shook my head. “No. You’re not going anywhere. You need to stay here. Whatever it is, it can wait.”
His voice snapped sharp enough to make me freeze. “Laura betrayed me.”
“What?” I blinked. “That can’t be. She helped us get out of Hong Kong.”
“You shouldn’t be traveling,” Liam cut in, stepping closer. “You just had a hypoglycemia episode. Your body is exhausted. You need rest, not another long flight.”
Dannie ignored him. “Does anyone in Hong Kong know about my cancer?”
“I don’t think so. Just me… and whoever you told.” My eyes flicked to Kai, then Liam. “But people saw you collapse. They’ll start connecting the dots.”
“Maybe.” Dannie’s calmness unsettled me.
I shifted closer, searching his face. “What did Laura do?”
His jaw tightened. “She’s taken over the triad.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. She’s been running things while you were away before. Even in Malaysia. What’s different now?”
Dannie’s gaze hardened. “This time, she has a partner.”
My stomach dropped. “Who?”
“My uncle.”
I froze. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. Squirrel just confirmed it.” He glanced at his phone before continuing. “Laura… is his illegitimate daughter.”
Silence filled the room.
“My grandmother adopted her for a reason,” he said coldly. “Her mother was a prostitute. My uncle raped her, then abandoned the baby to avoid the scandal.”
My chest tightened. Poor Laura.
“So when my grandmother decided to adopt a child after my sister died, he saw an opportunity.”
“Did Laura know?”
“I don’t know. But if she didn’t before… she does now.”
Kai spoke first. “What are you going to do?”
Dannie looked at him, then at me. “Take control of the triad.”
Anger rose immediately. “But why? Is it really that bad that Laura is in charge? You should be resting. You should be thinking about your health, not this—”
“It’s different now,” he cut in. “She’s his blood.” His voice dropped. “You don’t understand what he’s like.”
“Then tell me.”
Dannie held my gaze. “He’s bad news, June. Always has been. He’s wanted the triad for himself for years. He’s done things… things you don’t even want to imagine.”
My throat tightened. “Is it really that serious?”
“Yes. A lot of those people don’t have a choice,” he continued. “They aren’t like you or me. They didn’t grow up with opportunities. No education. No connections. No way out.”
His eyes drifted toward the window. “I spent my whole life trying to change that. Turning the business legitimate. Teaching them. Giving them real jobs. Making sure their kids go to school, go to college… get a future that doesn’t look like ours.”
His voice cracked slightly. “If my uncle takes over, all of that is gone.”
Silence filled the room. Then Liam’s phone dinged. He looked at the screen, and his expression changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
Liam hesitated, then looked at Kai. Then Dannie. “Your DNA results are in.”
A chill ran down my spine. “What does it say?”
Liam swallowed. “You share enough DNA to establish a close biological relationship.”
For a second, no one spoke. My mouth went dry. “Half brothers,” I said out loud, the words leaving my mouth before I could stop them. Even as I said it, it didn’t feel real.
“I knew it,” Dannie said, letting out a short, breathless laugh. “I always knew there was something between us.”
Kai huffed quietly. “Yeah. I guess I kind of knew too.”
I didn’t. I hadn’t seen the resemblance. Not really. Not until a few days ago. Not until the way they stood next to each other, the way they spoke, the way they looked at me.
Now that I knew the truth, the thought made my stomach turn.
I had fallen in love with two men.
Brothers.
The word alone made me sick.
“Dannie,” Kai said quietly, stepping closer to the bed, his voice steady but serious. “Whatever you need to sort out in Hong Kong… I’ll do it for you.”
Dannie looked at him for a moment, then a slow smile spread across his face. “Oh, brother,” he said, the word sounding strange and yet somehow natural at the same time. Then his eyes shifted to me. “You should go with her.”
My head jerked slightly. “Me? I wouldn’t even know what to do.”
“You’re my wife,” he said simply. “Officially, at least. People know you. They know you’re the one who stands beside me.”
His gaze moved back to Kai. “No one knows about you. And I’d like to keep it that way.”
Kai’s expression tightened, but he nodded.
“The truth is,” Dannie said, leaning back against the pillow, “I wouldn’t know what to do either if I went myself.”
That surprised me. The Dannie I knew always had a plan.
“Back in the day,” he continued, “we would’ve just fought it out. Whoever was still standing would take over the triad.”
I stared at him, trying to process how casually he’d said it. “And am I supposed to fight them with my bare hands?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then how?”
He let out a slow breath. “The truth is… I don’t know.”
That answer scared me more than anything.
“Money plays a big part in all of this,” he went on. “That’s why I spent years building legitimate businesses. Expanding. Investing. Trying to make sure I had something that couldn’t be taken away by a gun.”
He gave a small, tired smile. “But no matter how much I tried… there was always resistance.”
“People didn’t want things to go legit?” I asked.
“The return is slower,” Kai said from the side, his arms crossed, his tone calm but matter-of-fact. “And smaller. At least in the beginning.”
“How so?”
“In the old way,” Dannie said, “you don’t need much to start. Just a little money… and the willingness to take risks most people wouldn’t.”
Dannie looked down at his hands. “And after a while… the risk becomes addictive.” He let out a quiet sigh. “It gives you adrenaline. Power. Control. You feel like the rules don’t apply to you.”
I frowned slightly. “Like the first time you lie to your parents?”
Dannie looked up, surprised, then chuckled softly. “…Yeah. Something like that.”
“The first time is scary,” I said, thinking out loud. “Some kids stop because they’re afraid of getting caught.” I paused. “But some keep doing it… because they like the thrill.”
Kai let out a quiet breath, almost like a laugh without humor. “That’s exactly it.”
I looked down at my hands, suddenly feeling completely lost. “How are we supposed to handle Laura?”
Dannie didn’t answer right away. His expression changed, the warmth fading into something heavier.
“I wish you hadn’t moved me,” he said quietly.
My head snapped up. ““What? We had no choice.”
“My people needed me.” His jaw tightened. “I should’ve stayed.”
“You almost died,” I said, my voice sharper than I meant it to be.
He didn’t argue.
Kai stepped forward before the silence got worse. “Let me help you. You don’t have to do this yourself.”
Dannie looked at him again. Long. Careful. There was something guarded in his expression, as though he were weighing more than just whether Kai could help.
“You’re my brother after all,” Kai added.
The words hung in the air.
Strange. New. Real.
Dannie let out a slow breath. “I suppose that’s what brothers do,” he said finally. “But that doesn’t mean I want you involved in the dirty business.”
He turned to Liam. “I’ll go back as soon as I’m able to travel.”
Liam didn’t answer right away. He looked down at the chart in his hand instead, avoiding Dannie’s eyes.