Chapter 13
June
The car moved quickly, but inside, everything felt strangely still. Rain clung to the streets, turning the pavement into dark mirrors that caught the city lights.
I turned toward Squirrel in the front passenger seat.
Up close, he looked worse than I remembered.
He was still wearing the same grey shirt from the shop, now wrinkled and stained, the collar warped from too many days of wear.
A faint smell of smoke, sweat and exhaustion clung to him.
He looked like someone who hadn't had a proper shower or a proper night's sleep in far too long.
“Where have you been?”
He didn't turn around. “Moving.” He paused. “In case they find me.”
“Roger?”
“Yes.”
The answer was so simple that it made my stomach tighten.
Of course. Things had escalated much faster than I'd realised.
The funeral hadn't even been that long ago, yet it already felt as though we'd been thrown into an entirely different world—a world where people disappeared, loyalties changed overnight, and a man could hide in the back room of an old bakery while the people hunting him stood outside.
“Do you have any spare clothes in the car?” I asked, glancing toward Kai.
He shook his head.
“That's fine,” Squirrel said quickly. “I'll manage.” He lowered his gaze, and for the first time, I noticed the dark shadows beneath his eyes. I'd always thought he was somewhere in his twenties. Now, I wasn't so sure.
“How's Boss?”
“He's breathing.” I kept my voice flat and controlled. That was all Squirrel needed to know, and all I was willing to give him.
Silence settled over the car again, heavier this time. I inhaled slowly and forced myself to focus. This wasn't the time to fall apart.
“Tell me something. How many people are still on our side?”
Squirrel hesitated, a small shift in his shoulders before he finally answered. “I’m not sure.”
Something inside me snapped. “How can you not be sure? Dannie trusted you. You were one of his closest—”
“June.” Kai's voice was low but firm. “Let him finish.”
I swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Squirrel cleared his throat. “There were about thirty. People we knew were loyal. For sure.” He paused. “Today, only about half showed up.”
My stomach dropped. “Only half?”
He nodded. “The rest… I couldn't reach them. They either turned, or something happened to them.”
“I'd go with the first one.” Kai's answer was so calm it almost made it worse.
“Kai.” My voice carried a warning, but he didn't respond. Deep down, I was afraid he was right.
If Dannie had lost his people, what were we even fighting for? The triad wasn't the buildings, the money, the businesses or the power. It was the people. The brotherhood. And if the people were gone, there wasn't much left to take back.
Except I couldn't believe it. Not yet. I'd seen Dannie with them. I'd seen the way he treated them. He gave them his time, knowledge, money and resources. He helped them when they had nowhere else to turn. They weren't simply men who worked for him. They were his family.
“They could be hiding,” I said quickly. “Like Squirrel was.”
“Maybe.” His answer was cautious.
“Maybe,” Kai echoed, but there was no belief in his voice.
“They must have heard the rumours,” I continued. “That Dannie is sick. Or dying. Or already dead. Whatever lies Roger and Laura have been spreading.”
Squirrel nodded slowly. “They would have.”
“Then it makes sense.” I held onto the thought because I needed it to be true. “If they believe their boss is gone, of course they'd disappear. Hide. Protect themselves until they know what's really happening.”
Squirrel was quiet for a moment before nodding. “That… makes sense.”
It was a small victory, fragile but necessary. I needed something to hold onto. “Is there a way to reach them?”
“To bring them back?” Squirrel shook his head. “Not without Dannie.”
I hesitated before forcing the question out. “Do you think…” My heart was beating too fast, too loudly. “Do you think I could do it?”
Neither of them answered immediately. Squirrel turned slightly in his seat, while Kai remained quiet beside me. I could feel his attention shift toward me without looking at him.
“No one really knows you,” Squirrel said carefully.
“That’s true.” I nodded once, then again. “But that can change.”
The words felt strange coming out of my mouth. Too big. Too dangerous. And yet, somehow, they felt right.
I straightened in my seat, curling my fingers against my palm to steady the tremor threatening to give away how terrified I actually was.
I wasn’t Dannie. I wasn’t Kai. I was someone who had spent most of her life being told someone else would handle the difficult things.
Maybe that was why I’d always felt helpless whenever something went wrong. I’d been waiting for someone to give me permission to become stronger.
“What do I need?”
He frowned. “To do what?”
My heart hammered against my ribs. “To lead this triad.”
Before anyone could answer, the car slammed to a stop outside the safe house. Someone had run into the road, forcing the driver to brake hard.
My body lurched against the seat belt as the man stumbled backward, shouting angrily at the driver. I couldn’t understand the words, but I understood the tone.
Squirrel stared straight at him.
Then, suddenly, he smiled.
It wasn’t friendly. It was eerie, strange, and unsettling—something about it reminded me of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker. The hairs on my arms rose. The man stopped talking. He stared at Squirrel for another second, then turned and disappeared into the crowd.
“Who was that?”
“Sei Zai.”
“Son number four?” I was still struggling with the different tones in Cantonese and wasn't entirely sure I'd pronounced it correctly.
Squirrel nodded.
I secretly felt relieved his name didn’t mean something like death child or omen child. Call me superstitious, but I didn’t need another reason to be frightened of a boy who looked barely old enough to shave properly.
He had acne, for God’s sake. He was too young to be terrifying.
And yet every instinct in me said otherwise.
“Is he one of ours?” Kai asked, emphasising the last word.
Squirrel looked at him through the windshield. “Yes…” He hesitated, then turned away. “And maybe no.”
Kai's mouth twitched. He didn't like that answer. Neither did I.
I looked through the window again. The boy was gone, but that smile stayed with me.
“I don't think we should go back to the safe house.”
Kai turned toward me. “Why?”
I swallowed. I didn't have an answer that made sense. Just a feeling. That look on Sei Zai's face had stirred something instinctive that I couldn't explain.
“He gave me a bad feeling.” I paused, searching for something more intelligent, but nothing came. “He just… bad. He looked bad.”
Brilliant. Bad. Apparently, that was the extent of my vocabulary now.
Kai gave me a look. “You're basing this on a look?”
“Yes.”
“That kid?” He actually chuckled.
“If he ever looks at you like that again, I'll claw his eyes out for you.”
Our eyes met. Something in my chest cracked, and a tear slipped free before I could stop it. I turned away quickly.
“Don't talk like that.”
He didn't answer immediately. When he finally did, his voice was quieter.
“I meant it.”
I didn't understand him anymore. One minute, he treated me like a problem he needed to control; the next, he talked about protecting me as though my safety were the most important thing in the world.
He started explaining that his team was finally assembled—the best people he had, security specialists he’d worked with for years, people who knew how to handle situations like this. I listened, or pretended to, while my mind went somewhere else.
Kai wasn't simply trying to keep me safe. He was preparing to step into a world filled with ruthless, lawless men like Tony.
The car turned into the underground VIP car park, and the entrance closed behind us, shutting out the noise of the city. For a second, everything was quiet.
Too quiet.
Dave was already moving, climbing out and opening the rear door on Kai's side. I barely had time to unfasten my seat belt before I heard another door, then several more, their sounds echoing through the underground car park. I looked up as black silhouettes appeared from different directions.
They weren't running. They didn't need to. They moved with purpose, faces tight with anger and eyes fixed on us. Some carried weapons—metal rods, blades, and things I didn't want to identify.
My stomach dropped.
They were here for us.
“This way.” Dave grabbed one of my arms while Kai caught the other, pulling me toward the elevator. It was the only clear route left. Dave hit the button repeatedly, his eyes flicking between the display and the men approaching from the other end of the car park.
Both elevators were coming down. One floor.
Just one more floor. It shouldn't have taken long, but suddenly that single floor felt impossibly far away.
Dave glanced toward the fire exit, then shook his head.
Too risky. The stairs could put us in an even worse position.
All it would take was one man getting ahead of us.
The men were getting closer.
Then—Ding.
The elevator arrived, and relief swept through me for one brief second.
We were going to make it.
The doors opened, and everything inside me stopped.
Andy was lying on the floor. Blood covered her clothes, her face pale and her body twisted awkwardly against the side of the elevator. One hand was pressed against her chest while the other clung desperately to the railing, as though it were the only thing keeping her upright.
“Mr. Li!” Her voice broke through the chaos.
Kai moved toward her. “Andy!”
She looked up and found his eyes. Despite everything, she was still conscious.
“Run…” Her voice was barely a whisper before rising into a desperate cry. “Run!”
My heart slammed against my ribs. It was too late. The men had already reached the elevator foyer, and Squirrel and Dave moved in front of us simultaneously, becoming a wall between us and the people coming toward us.