“Sit! Sit!” Kuang said, taking a seat on the couch that faced the door.
Victor hated sitting with his back to the door, but he took a seat nonetheless, as did Phantom and Han.
Besides the seating arrangements, Kuang was much more accommodating here than he was in his city apartment. He asked them what they wanted and had them put in orders with his footman. This was a break from his usual MO. Typically, Kuang’s choice of drinks simply appeared underneath an umbrella of expectation that his guests would drink whatever he served them.
They talked for quite a while. Mostly about business. Not once did the subject of Kuang’s daughter come up. After an hour or so, Victor began to wonder if he hadn’t mistaken the purpose of this meeting.
Perhaps “come meet my daughter” had been some sort of euphemism for come to my house in Connecticut and let me show off all my fine things and my excess of security guards while we talk about what we always talk about.
However, after about two hours, Kuang sighed and said, “I suppose we should get this over with.”
He nodded toward an attendant, who had been hovering near the door since they’d arrived. “Tell my daughter it is time.”
The door opened and closed behind them. But then opened again almost immediately.
The daughter must’ve been waiting nearby. Perhaps even in the hallway that they had walked down to get to the study. Victor recalled there’d been a hard, antique bench that had not looked at all comfortable.
He wondered if Kuang had been stalling because she was late for the meeting or because he had been making her wait.
Either way, Victor fixed a passive look on his face. It wouldn’t do for him to let it show if she truly was as unappealing as Phantom had predicted.
But to his shock, the woman who entered the room was gorgeous. Kuang had married a Chinese actress from the days when Mafia used to run the Chinese studio system. She’d been quite beautiful.
Indeed, there had been no need for Han to secure a photo of Victor’s future bride. They could have simply googled last century movie posters featuring that 90s-era actress. She was her famous mother’s spitting image with long black hair, a heart-shaped face, and small, dainty features. She was exquisite. Simply exquisite.
Victor could almost hear his cousin silently cursing. He had definitely lost the bet.
“I will leave you alone to talk,” Kuang told them.
The daughter nodded deferentially to her father before he departed from the room. After he left, she didn’t take the seat he’d vacated, but one slightly to the right of it on the couch. As if she were concerned about insulting Kuang, even in his absence.
“Would you like anything else to drink?” she asked Victor in perfect CSL.
“You sign?” Victor asked after a moment of hesitation. It had been so long since he had been anything but silent during one of these meetings that it took a moment for him to start signing as well.
“Yes, my father put me in classes as soon as you two struck your first deal. Almost ten years ago. He said he had a good feeling about you. Such a good feeling, I had to beg him to let me finish my education.”
For the first time, it occurred to Victor to ask, “What did you study?”
“Economics at Cambridge,” she answered, spelling out the school’s name. “But then I decided to go further in grad school and earn an MBA. Father told me I was being silly. But I wanted to be of use to my family. I will graduate in June from the Geneva Institute of Finance in Switzerland.”
June. That was also when Dawn was officially scheduled to graduate from RhIDS, Victor noted with a pang of guilt. But he pushed that senseless emotion away.
This woman was younger than Dawn. By eight years. Smart, and obviously at a prime age to start a family. Any Chinese bachelor would consider her an ideal candidate for marriage.
Also, his relationship with Dawn was purely about revenge. That was what he had told himself. What he needed to be true. So he ignored the guilt twisting his stomach and signed, “You are very smart. And I’m sure you will be a very valuable asset to your family. The 24K and soon The Silent Triad.”
A shadow fell over her eyes at his words. But before Victor could analyze it, she smiled and signed, “I believe this union has much potential. Should we call my father in for a toast? We bought several bottles of a vintage Dom Perignon just for this occasion.”
A silent beat passed, tense and expectant. He could sense Han and Phantom holding their collective breath.
There was no need for them to worry. Victor was clear now. Clearer than he’d been in ten years.
“Yes,” he signed. “Call him in, and we will toast our eventual union.”
Their engagement meeting hadn’t lasted even five minutes.
Victor knew this because Kuang pointed out that fact with a laugh as soon as he returned to the room. Again much faster than expected. And an attendant trailed behind him with two pails of champagne on ice. Obviously, Kuang had expectations for the outcome of this meeting. Expectations that had been met.
“Your father would very much approve of this,” Kuang said, his eyes shining with affection as the attendant poured bubbly into crystal champagne glasses. “He would be proud of you.”
Victor nodded in complete agreement with the man who’d known his father so well. This was the marriage his father would’ve wanted for him had he lived to see this day.
They toasted their past and future fortunes. Then they set a wedding date for the fall.
“How do you feel?” Han asked when they climbed back into the car about an hour later, slightly buzzed on vintage champagne.
“Like I need to triple down,” Phantom answered, climbing into the fleet Audi’s driver seat. Phantom had abstained from drinking. He didn’t believe in “pussy shit,” like having other people drive him around. So he was always their designated driver. “Betcha 3000 bucks that there’s something wrong with her. That mafia princess was too good to be true.”
“I wasn’t asking you how you felt,” Han pointed out.
“Ya shoulda been. I’m the one who’s out 2K,” Phantom shot back.
“I feel great,” Victor answered Han before he and Phantom could devolve into squabbling.
He spoke the truth. Marriage to another woman would be the best way to finally lay to rest this obsession with Dawn.
“I don’t feel great,” Phantom let them know, pushing the car’s start button and pulling out.
“Why did you make the bet if you were going to be such a bitch about losing?” Han demanded.
“Take my triple bet, and maybe I’ll stop whining,” Phantom shot back.
“Hey, I’m not one of your extortion rackets….”
Victor chuckled and pulled out his phone. Not to check Dawn’s security feed. Simply because he had been out of pocket for quite a while. He wanted to make sure there weren’t any urgent messages he needed to attend to as they set out on the long drive back to Rhode Island.
He furrowed his brow when he saw the message from Wayne above an image notification. “She said he was just thanking her. But thought you should see.”
The smile completely fell off Victor’s face, his good mood disappearing in a flash, when he saw the picture Wayne had sent.
“What’s wrong?” Han asked in the seat beside him.