Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
I had to stop this.
But I couldn’t be reckless.
Not now.
Duck’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “We’ll get her back, Lei. But if you go after her tonight, it’ll be exactly what Uncle Leo wants. You need to be smarter than him.”
Smarter? I don’t know how to be smart when she’s concerned. I can’t even think when she’s not near me.
I took a deep breath trying to clear the haze of rage from my mind. Massive currents of frustration boiled within my veins.
“If I can grab her from my father in this hallway then I will have a chance.”
Duck and Hu exchanged glances then Duck nodded. “Fine. We’ll help.”
Hu lifted his gaze to the ceiling and his expression twisted into disgust.
Blood had long dried in streaks down the walls. His face paled, and for a second, he looked like he might be sick.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “Can we get a break this month?”
“Not at all.” I didn’t bother looking up. The sight had already been burned into my mind—all those dead bodies, nailed and roped to the ceiling, mangled and twisted with their lifeless eyes staring down at us as if in silent judgment.
The door clicked softly, letting us know that it had been unlocked.
It’s time.
My muscles tensed.
My body coiled, ready to spring into action.
The next sound was subtle, almost too quiet to notice in the thick tension that gripped the hallway, but it was unmistakable—the door was opening.
I braced myself raising my fists.
Come on, Father. Let’s have the battle in the hallway.
I was more than prepared to fight my father right here, right now.
The door creaked as it swung completely open.
Someone stood in the doorway.
It wasn’t my father.
Nor Uncle Song.
It was TT.
She stood there, small and fragile. Those big brown eyes stared up at me not in shock or fear but very peaceful and calm.
Far too calm for everything that was happening.
There was something else in her gaze—something that told me she already knew what was going through my mind.
Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something but wasn’t quite sure what to say.
However, she didn’t look scared.
Not of me.
Not of this situation.
In fact, she looked. . .intrigued.
I lowered my fists and scanned the room fast. That was when terror replaced my frustration. “Where’s Moni, TT?”
She fidgeted with the edge of her shirt. “Moni went through the secret passage with Uncle Song and Uncle Leo.”
Noooooo. What the fuck does that mean?
Chapter one
The Smallest Ally
Lei
My stomach dropped.
I stumbled backward. “The secret what? This was my. . .old room. There’s no. . .”
TT shrugged. “There’s a secret passage.”
Desperation clawed at my inside.
Damn it!
I entered the room. “Which way? Where is it at?”
She stepped aside, lifted her small hand, and pointed to the far end of the room, where the closet door stood ajar. “There’s a secret passageway in there. They went through it.”
“What the fuck?”
Fen remained out in the hallway with our men, while Duck, Hu, and I moved into the big closet fast tearing the clothes off the hangers, shoving everything out of the way.
The back wall of the closet looked solid just like any other closet but TT had said there was a passageway.
I trusted her, even if it looked impossible.
Hu knocked and I caught the hollow sound.
Yeah. The bastard had a secret place in my old closet. How long had it been there?
The thought gnawed at me making my skin crawl.
For a minute, I wondered if my father ever used it to spy on me as a kid. I could see him standing in there to listen to my phone calls with Chanel, Romeo, or even Dima, probably making sure I was still on the path he wanted me on.
What the fuck is wrong with him?
Duck ran his hand over the surface, feeling for anything—a latch, a hinge, something that would give us a clue. “There’s got to be a mechanism somewhere.”
Hu slammed his hand against the wood as he knocked harder. “It's hollow but damn it, how do we open it?”
We tried pushing on different sections of the wall. Hu slammed his shoulder into it at one point, hoping brute force would do the trick but the wall didn’t budge.
All it did was leave a faint smudge on the surface from the force of his hit.
“Maybe there's a lever.” Duck suggested. “Some hidden catch?”
I scanned the closet, looking for anything out of place.
But there was nothing.
Just clothes, shoes, and shelves like any other damn closet.
Duck started yanking at the clothes rod thinking it might trigger a mechanism, but it stayed solid in his hands.
Hu ran his fingers along the edges of the closet.
Nothing.
I kicked the wall, all it did was make a dull thud.
No give.
No sign that it was about to budge.
“We’re wasting time.” My mind kept flashing to Moni, stuck somewhere deep in this house or in the East with my father.