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)
“W-we don’t know that—”
“She gave up because her heart was also broken—”
“Don’t say that—”
“My wife believed it.”
I had no more tears in me.
Death filled Leo’s eyes. “You father was a leech, sucking the hope and life from everything he touched. A disgusting excuse of a man. He had four beautiful daughters. All smart. All strong and loving. And he fucking left them in that shabby, shitty apartment to struggle.” Leo leaned his head to the side. “Do you know when I realized you should be Mountain Mistress?”
My heart ached in pain. “N-no.”
“All those days I watched you. All those days I went to Glory by myself and just watched, following you from the chicken factory, then to pick up your sisters from school, then to drop them off and not even eat dinner. Fast, you dressed to work at night at that slimy club being pawed on by men, yet gritting your teeth and standing strong, making your tips with aching feet. Hurrying back home to sleep for three hours, maybe four. To only get up and make your sisters breakfast, check on homework, get them ready, take them to school, and go right back to the chicken factory.”
I didn’t even know what to fucking say.
I just stared in shock.
At no point had I ever spotted Leo following me around. I was too tired, too damn busy trying to battle bills.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’d had my sisters searching for a Mountain Mistress.”
“Aunt Suzi and Aunt Min?”
“They went through the East, never finding anyone that they approved of.” Leo’s expression softened. “Then, I had them come to Glory to watch you.”
I widened my eyes.
“They liked you, but they weren’t sure if Lei would take the bait. But I knew he would.” Leo bobbed his head. “Lei is his father’s son, and no matter how obsessed Lei was with Chanel, if there was a woman that I could bring to him that had the same goodness of his mother—strength, love, warmth, and the possibility of true healing—well Lei would want to possess her immediately, even if he didn’t know why he wanted to.”
The aunts were in on this too. . .
“If you came to the East, your father would try to come too.” Leo jabbed his finger in the air. “That man does not get to step his feet here.”
I turned away from him.
“What kind of man cheats on a dying wife? What kind of man leaves his oldest child to pause her life and take care of the rest of his kids? To struggle! To tire! To not even have time to grieve!” Leo raised his voice. “No man at all!!”
I trembled.
Leo went quiet for a minute, then spoke again in a calmer tone, “Everyone I’ve killed this year, deserved it.”
His words, though harsh, resonated with a cold clarity that wiped away the last vestiges of my denial.
I looked back at him, meeting his stern gaze. “You knew that if Snow threatened my sisters, I would go looking for my father in Chinatown. I wouldn’t even hesitate. I would be waiting for him outside his building.”
“Always responsible. Always taking care of things. That was what Jing said about you.” Leo gave me a sad smile. “And you did not disappoint, Monique.”
“The lunch—”
“Was already planned. Our reservation for two booked three months before the time.”
The restaurant was already expecting us.
I sighed. “The wooden cross?”
“Song told Chen to give me a tracker long before I began killing. It was our idea during the planning process. We knew that to get Lei to move around he would need to be able to track me.”
“And. . .you needed a way for Lei to meet me.”
“And he did not disappoint either.”
I swallowed hard and sat back down on the edge of the bed again. “How did you know that we would fall in love?”
“Jing thought you would be perfect for Lei. She knew our son better than. . .me. I had faith in God and my wife. That was it.” A tear spilled from Leo’s eye. He wiped it away. “However. . .what I didn’t account for was Duck.”
My mind whirled with the implications of everything he’d just said.
“I could not kill my nephew, so I had to have faith in God yet again, and I had to have confidence in the fact that Song and I had raised our sons well.” Leo rubbed his chin. “I believe Duck will stand down if he knows for sure that Lei loves you. In fact, by now I am sure Duck has already stepped aside.”
“And. . .”
Leo quirked his brows. “And?”
My bottom lip quivered. “You think your son really loves me?”
A dark chuckle left him. “Monique, the moment he put those handcuffs on your wrist was the moment I knew that he loved you.”
“How did you know about the handcuffs?”