A cinderella crime story, p.19
A Cinderella Crime Story, page 19
It was supposed to be over then. She would not speak a word of Hui Ye’s truth to the other families to ensure they would never suspect or inspire rumors that she had secretly been helping him. Hui Lang was a soft boy who didn’t want anything to do with the mafia, so everything Hui Ye left behind would properly belong to her and her alone. And in a few years, he would happen upon some accident, she thought to herself. It did pain her to imagine killing an innocent boy, but she knew such severity was necessary in their world. Ruthlessness was how they all survived and thrived.
Her place at the table would finally be hers, not the men she had convinced to let her in.
Until the will disappeared. Until the law grew bolder in searching. Until Hui Lang disappeared with the help of a woman who was undoubtedly Hui Ye’s ally. Her power threatened to slip right between her fingers after everything she’d done.
“I shall not let that happen,” she mumbled, pulling at her pearl necklace.
Should she tell the truth to the other families? Of course not. How will they ever trust me again? Hui Lang and his accomplice must be found and killed. With his convenient death alongside the actual traitor, the law would lose their final connection that kept the operation going. Then everything this time, truly, will belong to me.
• • •
Incessant buzzing hovered around Aiden’s ears. He tried to shoo the insect away, but the buzzing grew louder. Groaning, he located the vibrating phone left on the dresser and grabbed it.
Dad.
Dad? Aiden stared. No—not my dad.
He sat up. The phone stopped ringing, and a notification popped up. It joined hundreds of others lining the front screen of the phone. Texts from Christina and Javier demanded to know where Brendan was because of the news of a dead man outside his apartment complex. Texts from people Aiden didn’t recognize. Nonstop calling from Brendan’s parents.
“Brendan.” He shook the still-sleeping boy awake. “Brendan, your family and friends are looking for you.”
Brendan blinked awake right when the phone lit up again. Aiden held the bright screen in front of his eyes.
“Oh shit.” He snatched the phone from Aiden’s hands. “Hey, Dad—sorry, I was actually asleep and silenced my phone.”
With a small smile, Aiden left Brendan to his concerned circle of family and friends and turned around the corner into the kitchen. Celia stood by the stove, flipping eggs over while reaching for a cup of coffee.
“You sleep well?” she asked before he could greet her.
Aiden sat at the counter without answering. She slid a plate of food over to him and poured a cup of coffee before returning to clean up the stove. The smell of fried eggs drenched in soy sauce reached his nose, and his stomach grumbled without warning. The steam from the bowl of rice porridge rose into his eyes and tickled his eyelids. Aiden licked his lips at the spicy red pickled radishes in the container beside the porridge. He dumped the radishes in and scooped up his first taste of breakfast since his stepmother banished him to the basement of her fancy home.
“Good, right?” Celia drank her coffee. “Your brother taught me.”
Aiden gulped the porridge down, only pausing to blow quick puffs of air. He drained the coffee, and the bitterness shot an arrow into his consciousness. He placed the cup down. “What’s the plan?”
“The plan?” She tipped her head. “I’ll handle the plan. I’m going to have one of the Guo agents drop you off at your prince’s home with his parents. It’s safest there.”
“And then what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to kill the family heads and anyone else who gets in my way.”
He stiffened, remembering the names listed in Mr. Chen’s schedules. “There are children at these meetings,” he said, rubbing his suddenly freezing hands together. “They act like it’s a potluck to make it appear less suspicious.”
Celia raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“If you don’t plan this well, they can get caught in the crossfire or they might actually see their parents getting murdered.” He Bao and Zhu Zhu will be there. He grasped the still warm coffee mug with his shivering hands, but his body continued to tremble.
She stared. “And?”
Her words froze the kitchen air. Her eyes saw nothing unusual, but blood splattered before his eyes. Her ears heard nothing, but he heard sobbing and screaming echoing in the lonely homes. She is who she says she is, he found himself thinking. She would grant her brother’s final wish—no matter the cost. But I’m part of the deal. He poured himself more coffee, wincing at the bitterness washing down his throat, and slammed the mug down.
“I’m not okay with it. I know how these meetings go. I saw Mr. Chen’s schedule book when I was working for him. The timing, the rooms, the guests. After dinner, the kids will get grouped together and ushered somewhere, then the teenagers and young adults will go to their own rooms, and then the family heads will have their private meetings with bodyguards. I also know the meeting’s going to take place at Mr. Chen’s home due to the schedule, and I know which rooms each group will be in.”
She tipped her head. “So, what do you suggest?”
“You don’t need to kill anyone. Infinite is already falling apart.” Mr. Chen’s secret. Mr. Zhou’s paranoia. Mr. Yang’s ambition. His stepmother’s own agenda. Not a single goal to unite them except an outdated foundation falling apart beneath the power, money, and legacy. “I’m already a point of contention for all of them. I just need to expose the fact that my stepmother knew everything the entire time for them to turn their guns at each other.”
Celia held a finger up. “You’re not using yourself as bait. You’ve already been through enough. If self-sacrifice is involved in this new plan, I’m still going to follow my original.”
“Then—disguise yourself as one of Mr. Yang’s people.” Aiden sat straighter as the new idea formed. “Out of all the families, he’s the most disliked. He has the least qualms about killing, and he doesn’t even hide that he wants more power. Do something as one of his men, and they will turn on each other.”
The seconds ticked by while he watched the cogs turn in Celia’s mind. She grabbed an apple, biting and chewing slowly. She swallowed. The coldness inside her eyes vanished, and her mouth curled into a fox grin.
“Ah, yes, the better of humanity indeed. You will fight just as hard and even harder,” she mused. “I admit that my plan wasn’t ideal. Killing the family heads, even with evidence at hand, will just paint them all as victims. No matter what, the facts would be they were murdered. Having them kill each other works much better in favor of the justice your brother was pursuing. And,” she tossed him an orange from the bowl, “I can record how it all happens.”
His squeezing chest released a sigh. Stomach growling, Aiden thawed from the frozen tundra of Celia’s words. He dug into the orange, shredding the peel and swallowing the pieces whole. Energy spread its wings inside him, and he smiled at her. “I’ll tell you the layout of the mansion and the timing.”
“Yes, you should do that after you shower. It’s a change in plans, but it’s an easy change to implement for tonight. The Guo agent still won’t come for a couple of hours to deliver you and your prince to safety.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“What?” Celia snapped her head around.
“I’m coming with you.” Aiden kept his eyes on her. “It’s a large house, and I know the layout better. I can direct you on where you need to go rather than you having to find the important rooms yourself. You’ll also need someone to identify who’s working for the Yang family so that you can steal their place.”
Celia sighed. “Listen here—”
“I also want to tell Zhu Zhu and He Bao the truth. I’d like it if my stepmother doesn’t get killed in the crossfire, and I want my stepsiblings a chance to escape Infinite with me.”
Aiden didn’t recognize the brazen feeling inside him that compelled him to sit straight, stare an assassin in the eyes, and say words that slid across the air like butter on a knife. However, his heart remained calm. Somewhere down the hall, he heard Brendan’s promising reassurance upon reassurance of the people in his life. He’s doing the best he can. I need to do the best I can, too. Saying out loud what he wanted tasted like cold water on a burning day, and he only wished for more. “I’ll need to come with you to do that.”
“Listen here.” Celia crossed and uncrossed her arms. She began speaking, stopped, sighed and crossed her arms again. “You want to give your stepsiblings a chance?” The assassin’s even voice tilted. “The same stepsiblings who used you, abused you, and enabled your stepmother to torture you? And then they watched you get taken away without even trying to defend you.”
“They’re even younger than me.”
“They’re not children. They know better.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“Your brother was happy to abandon them.”
Her words stopped him short. However, his heart remained calm. He looked down at himself in surprise, at not only the lack of pain hitting his heart, but the calm acceptance of the fact spoken from her lips.
“I’m not my brother.” He rolled the orange peels together. “And what I want is to save my stepsiblings. I’m not abandoning them to Infinite’s downfall.”
Celia crossed her arms. Her eyes flittered down to the ring still hanging from the necklace clasped loyally around her neck. He stared at the precious jewel—the last gift his brother left behind. The hexagonal shape of the gem, the curves of the band, and the promise contained in an item bought in blood. Celia toyed with it between her fingers before reaching over to grab his finished dishes and washing them in the sink. “What are you going to do about Prince Charming?”
“I…don’t know.” The bravado in his argument before evaporated into the air. Doubt washed over him in dark, heavy waves. He squeezed his arms. “I want to stay with him, but there’s a part of me that screams it’d be selfish. Even if Infinite gets taken down…”
“Not if—when. Tonight.”
“Even when Infinite gets taken down, the chaos that’ll ensue won’t be fair for him.” He traced the rim of the coffee cup. His reflection shimmered back against the porcelain. A purple bruise stood out against his skin, and the cuts on his lips still bled when he accidentally bit them during his ravenous eating. “What about you and my brother? Did you ever regret it?”
“I’m not helping you with your romantic relationship. My relationship with your brother was very physical and knowingly temporary. You shouldn’t base your relationship off of mine, and you shouldn’t base your relationship off of anyone except yourself and what you want.”
“But you did love him, right?” Aiden’s heart ached to hear the answer. “Or was he just something fun for you?”
“Those two are synonymous to me,” she replied and glanced elsewhere.
Aiden turned around to see Brendan finally leaving the bedroom with eye bags already growing longer.
“Real life’s pretty annoying, huh?” Celia raised an eyebrow as Brendan took his place beside Aiden.
“I can’t blame them—any parent and friend would freak out if a dead body was found outside your complex,” Brendan mumbled and scratched his head. He swept his blond bangs to the side to glance at Aiden with an easygoing smile that conjured flowers from thin air.
Aiden turned his face away. He tried to shake the heat from his face, but the movement of his hand only fueled the warmth.
Celia crossed her arms. “You know, we could bring him with us.”
Both boys looked up in confusion.
“I’m just saying—it wouldn’t hurt to have a white boy. Especially one from a prestigious background like his.”
“Even the families wouldn’t want him dead inside their houses…” Aiden realized.
She nodded. “He’s a good shield for us.”
The two turned expectantly toward Brendan who shoveled food into his mouth. Blinking, he placed the utensils down and shrugged. “Sure. Whatever the plan is, I’ll follow along. I’m not about to question people who know more about a matter than me.”
“We’ll be taking you inside one of the mafia family’s homes,” Aiden blurted. He tightly grasped Brendan’s arm. Brendan’s unbothered expression continued staring back, so he reiterated, “It’s going to be dangerous. There'll be guns. People will get shot and might die.” His fingers dug into Brendan’s arm.
Brendan covered Aiden’s hand with his own. “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. I could do more than just come along as insurance. Do you have anything to record conversations? Dad’s always talking about evidence, so I do have enough knowledge to guess we’d need some of that.”
That’s it? His hand fell from Brendan’s arm. Brendan turned toward Celia, asking for more details only for Celia to respond bluntly. Despite the fear simmering underneath Brendan’s eyes, the blue blazed like a sunny day. The two continued conversing, and Brendan leaned forward with more questions.
“Really?” Aiden whispered.
Brendan turned back around toward Aiden. He nodded. An easygoing smile bloomed on his face. Brendan nudged Aiden with his shoulder. “Anything you want, I’ll do. We can do this.”
This is what I want. Aiden smiled. This is exactly what I want. He grasped both of Brendan’s hands firmly in his own, and he looked to Celia. “What’s the full plan?”
She straightened from her lean against the countertop and gestured to him. “You tell me.”
Chapter Sixteen
A cold soda can kissed Aiden’s cheek. He looked up.
Hui Ye looked down with a small smile. “Did something happen at school?”
Tears welled in Aiden’s eyes. He scrunched over on the front step of the porch, gluing his bottom to the stone ground. “I cried so hard today that I accidentally got someone in trouble,” he finally mumbled.
“Why did you cry?” Hui Ye sat down beside him.
“One of my classmates was making stupid sounds and said he was speaking Chinese. It made me so upset that I started to cry, and I couldn’t stop, and then he started to cry, and then the teacher got mad, and after we both explained, the teacher got mad at my classmate, and now he’s in trouble, and I’m unhappy.”
His brother blinked. “Why?”
“I didn’t mean for him to get in trouble!” Tears burst like a dam. Aiden bawled. “I just wanted him to stop is all! Now, he’s going to think badly of me, and because of me, he’s going to think badly of all Chinese people, and he’s just going to hate all of us!”
His brother’s mouth twitched, forming an awkward half-smile and half-frown. “That’s not going to happen,” he said, and a chuckle slipped through. Coughing, Hui Ye tried again. “Either way, he shouldn’t have mocked the Chinese language.”
“Mock?”
“Xiao huan.”
“Oh. I don’t think he was trying to—what’s the word? Mock? I don’t think he was trying to mock me.” Aiden sniffed. He took the soda and held it between his hands. “I just think he didn’t get it is all. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t funny, but instead, I just cried. Like a baby. I’m not strong. Ba Ba’s always telling me to be strong, but I cry too easily.”
He angrily wiped tears from his eyes, but more followed. “How do I become strong like you?”
As a child, Aiden couldn’t read his brother’s face. His eyes were shadowed, his mouth pressed straight, and his shoulders relaxed. However, as the memory resurfaced and he looked upon his brother’s face with older eyes, he saw his brother’s eyes widen. A light glistened from Hui Ye’s irises, and his mouth twitched upward. A light laugh escaped from his lips.
“Lang.” Hui Ye shook his head, chuckling. “Lang Lang, to call you anything but strong would be the greatest disservice I could ever do as your older brother. I’ve always thought that you were strong.”
Aiden clutched the words to his heart and closed his eyes. “Did it hurt?” Bracing himself, he opened his eyes. Hui Ye laid on the ground. His legs were mangled and twisted like a pretzel. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His chest heaved with every breath stolen from the air, and his eyes flickered between consciousness and death. Aiden swallowed. He wanted to dash away, but instead he folded his legs beneath his body looked down at the dying man before him.
“Of course, it hurt.” His brother chuckled. “Though Celia gave me a mercy kill. I don’t actually know when I died on her lap. So, I guess in a way, it didn’t actually hurt. Hey.” His brother wrenched his torso to turn over, but his legs remained still on the ground. Bone fragments snapped through the skin of his waist. “Did she ever answer my question?”
Aiden shook his head.
“That sounds like her.” His brother sighed. He collapsed face first onto the ground. “As long as she’s still having fun. As long as you’re happy and safe. That’s all that matters now.”
Silence.
Aiden watched Hui Ye’s breaths grow smaller and sparser. Blood pooled underneath his legs, pouring from a deep slash across his brother’s neck. Hui Ye glanced up one last time before the last flame of life extinguished inside him. “You ready?”
Aiden nodded.
Death swooped from the air and snatched his brother’s life away. Beside him, the burning car magically appeared and crumbled underneath the heat and fury of flames. He watched Wang Xing’s familiar figure succumb to a terrifying stench that overtook even the smoke billowing out from the groaning car. He leaned down and hugged his brother’s cold body. This will probably be my last time ever hearing his voice.
He opened his eyes to the darkening sky. His head rested comfortably on a soft pillow, and his nails dug into Brendan’s hand with the intention to never let go. However, despite the red grip marks Aiden left behind, Brendan sat comfortably beside him, buried in the instructions Celia wrote down for the equipment he would handle. Aiden stirred, and Brendan turned his head calmly toward him. “You ready?” he asked.
