I looked down at it and saw that it was Hahn. I whispered to them. “Thank you.” I could never really thank them enough for the gift of their forgiveness and kindness. It was too bad that one phone call had shattered the fragile moment, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. “I’ve got to take this.” I stood and stepped outside of the room.
“Hold on a second,” I spoke into the phone, while I walked to the nearest waiting room. I looked over my shoulder to make sure I couldn’t be heard. “Details figured out?”
“Yes. Lim and I worked through the night, but we think what we have is pretty good. We should get together to go over everything as soon as possible. We’re hours away from showtime.”
I checked my watch. “I can be at Lim’s office in a half an hour.”
“Alright, we’ll see you then.”
As I disconnected the phone, I turned around only to come face to face with Lauren Windham, the baby sister of the bunch. Her gaze was assessing, intense. “I did a quick internet search on you.”
“Yeah?” I folded my arms across my chest.
Lauren’s eyes never wavered or left mine. “There’s a lot of stuff there. I’m not sure if anything I read is true, but even if just a little of it is, make whoever did this to my brother pay.”
The vulnerable person I didn’t recognize was replaced by the me I knew. Slowly, I tilted my head to the side as my eyes hardened. “I have something in mind, and between you and me, hell is too comfortable a place for them.”
Chapter 8
Showdown #1
Nina was nervous as Jonah opened her car door. She climbed inside. He walked around to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel. Two bodyguards slid into the back seat. This was the moment of truth. It seemed she’d been planning for this her entire life—maybe not her entire life, more like the last year. However, living with Chang and Gina definitely prepared her for this moment.
Jonah could sense her nervousness. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
He pulled away from the curb, and another car identical to theirs filled with more bodyguards immediately followed behind. “Gina’s been lying low at the hospital. She’s distracted.”
“It’s unlike her but good. Hopefully, that will make tonight’s meeting a little easier.”
“You know, no matter how this turns out you’ll have a different showdown with your sister.”
“That’s been inevitable since the day we came out of the womb. How long before we get there?”
“It’s about half an hour once we get out of the city.”
Jonah smoothly maneuvered the car into a tunnel that led out from the city. Suddenly, the car lurched. Two vehicles appeared from nowhere and sandwiched them in between. There was a third that blocked the entrance of the second car following them.
Nina screamed. “What the hell is happening?”
“I can’t outrun them. Hold on.” Jonah shifted gears initially trying to stop their car. He hoped that the other cars’ momentum would keep going and that it would dislodge them from in-between.
Nina’s men who were in the back seat took out their weapons readying them for what was about to happen next. One of them attempted to hand Nina a gun. Her eyes were the size of saucers. “What am I supposed to do with that? I pay you so that I don’t have to handle a gun!”
The car on the right side of the sandwich sped ahead so that the car on the left could force Nina’s sedan into the wall. The metal scraping against the tunnel and the sparks flying everywhere was unreal—something from out of a movie. It was hard to see with all the dust and smoke. Their car slowed until it came to a complete stop. Otherwise, it would have flipped over.
All Nina could hear was the clicking of safeties being switched off on guns. Moments ticked by and there was no movement and no sound. Then, suddenly there were flashes of light as glass shattered all around them.
Nina put her hands to her ears, ducked low and screamed.
“Shit!” Jonah looked into the back seat, and when the smoke cleared their guys had been shot multiple times and were most likely dead. “Stay down, Nina.”
The back door was yanked opened to Nina’s car at the same time as the front.
*****
Gina Lee-Xiou
She shouldn’t have been surprised to see me on the other side of the door. I didn’t give her driver a chance to use his weapon. As soon as the door flew open, I used the butt of my gun and smashed it hard against his temple knocking him completely out. Gunfire erupted in the backseat of the car. There was now no doubt that the men in the back were dead.
Hahn dragged Jonah’s unconscious body out of the driver’s side onto the ground, took his weapons, and secured him as I got into the car next to Nina.
My eyes glittered with rage. “I warned you. I told you I was coming for you. Your ass should have hopped on a plane when you had the chance.”
It was an act when Nina lifted her chin in defiance. I was capable of anything, so she was right to be scared, but she was prepared for this too. “I knew you would pull something like this. You won’t hurt me. I . . . I’ve got insurance.”
“The only reason I haven’t strangled the last drop of air from your lungs is because I promised Ang I’d help him get his daughters back. Where are they?”
Nina raised her chin a little higher. That’s all it took to make me
