Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
My gaze lingered on the final picture for a moment longer before I shut the album with a soft snap. “Who took that picture?”
“Jing.”
“She was at the funeral. . .”
“From a far. She wasn’t sure if she should approach you or not. Apparently, your mother felt you would not be nice to her due to your father cheating with a Chinese woman.”
“I was a bit. . .racist due to that.”
“You weren’t racist. It was just misguided anger. I understand that more than you know.” He sighed. “A day later, Jing sent money to you all under the guise of our program.”
I parted my lips in shock. “W-we did get a check.”
“She ordered Song’s men to watch you all from a far. She was so sure that your father would help. She prayed every night to God about it.”
I gritted my teeth.
Anger covered Leo’s face. “As you know, he didn’t and it caused my wife a lot of grief. A lot of it.”
Damn. . .all of this was happening around us.
Leo continued, “Jing was depressed, always anxious. Because of that, I went to your father and had a. . .tense conversation with him. I gave him money too. He was supposed to take it to all of you.”
Sadness hit me. “He probably took it to the casino.”
“He did.” Leo nodded. “So I talked to Kenny Dean and told him to make sure his boys kept your father away from their casino.”
Finally, I was starting to see all the puzzle pieces come together. “Snow wouldn’t listen to his father.”
“He would not. So I talked to him myself.”
“But, when I told you about them, you pretended that you didn’t know them.”
“Because by then, my plan was in motion. See. . .Monique what you are not understanding is that. . .” Leo clenched and unclenched his hands. “I believed your fucking father caused so much heartbreak for my lovely wife that. . .”
“She died of a heart attack.”
“That was how sweet and gentle my angel was.”
My hands shook. “So then. . .you were going to kill my father no matter what he did with that bag of money? Whether he brought it back to the casino or not?”
A cruel smile spread across Leo’s face. “Monique, I am the reason why he took the bag of money in the first place.”
“What?”
“When Jing passed, I began to plan my death.” He dove his hands in his pockets and scanned the bedroom. “But I knew that the East would not be well without me. Lei’s head was up Chanel’s ass. If I left, the Killer Crows would take over—either by them puppet mastering Lei or a secret war. In fact. . .I had information from a source that Romeo and Chanel had been coming up with a plan to grab the East after my death. It was a ten-year plan, slow and deliberate, but a plan just the same.”
“Fuck. . .”
“Before I died, Chanel had to go, which also meant Romeo would have to go first. It had to be in that order. To take her first would mean nothing, Romeo was too smart and too swift with action. He would have come for the East and. . .” Leo let out a long sigh. “Killer Crows would have defeated us. I know that deep in my heart. . .Lei could not go against them. His heart is too damn big.”
I blinked. “So. . .you killed Romeo first.”
“Well. . .someone else died before him.”
“Who?”
“A man named Johnny Cupcakes.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I discovered he was making secret moves against the Syndicate—ones that would involve Dima which would drag my son into it.”
“Alright.” I tried to get a grasp of everything. “So. . .you begin to plan out killing Johnny, Romeo, and Chanel. All so the East would be stronger.”
“Yes.”
“But you need a Mountain Mistress because if you’re dead, Chanel and Romeo too, then Lei would just sit in depression—”
“Or kill himself over Chanel’s death.”
I blinked again. “O-kay.”
“That’s where you came into the plan. Lei needed a strong independent woman with a huge heart. Someone who would look at all his power and money and not see an opportunity to get rich, but. . .be nervous about it all. Also. . .he needed a woman who understood what it was to lose someone. You were perfect.”
I shivered. “That’s the part that I’m not getting. When did you decided to throw me in your plan?”
“You’re rushing.”
“Okay.”
“Be patient.”
I tensed. “I will.”
“After your mother’s death, Jing watched you take control. It broke her heart, but she also would talk about you as if. . .you were her daughter.” Leo’s eyes watered. He turned away. “Some dinners she would say. . .Moni went hunting for food today, Leo. We have to help them. She is too pretty to be in those woods on her own—”