Page 35 of My Merciless Don

Ignorance was dangerous. The faster I got some information on what we were dealing with, the better.

“This is weird for the Chinese though, isn’t it?” George said to me as he traced the activity on all security cameras for the previous evening. “This isn’t their style.”

I had to agree. I hadn’t ever heard of the Triad sending a note written in Mandarin before. At this juncture though, I had to take it at face value and react accordingly. I wasn’t going to be caught slipping once again.

“Where’s Audry?” I asked.

“I assume she evacuated with your fam. I saw her with Lucia earlier.”

“Mmm.” I nodded, making a note to go and check on them as soon as I had some time. I fished my phone out, wondering what was taking Valerio so long. How hard could it be to find a translator? I went down to the security office, wanting to double check that the patrols had been doubled as requested and that everyone was taking this as seriously as it deserved to be.

Time passed slowly, the adrenaline of anxiety slowly fading to exhaustion and still we didn’t know what the note said or what, if anything, was about to happen. I finally got in touch with Zhang through back channels and he had nothing for me.

“I have no knowledge of such a note,” he said.

The problem with that was, I couldn’t know if he was being honest or facetious. Just past noon, Valerio finally came back with an answer. “I located a Chinese interpreter, ex Triad, operates a secondhand goods store in Chinatown. He’s agreed to do a translation. I’ve sent a soldier to pick him up.”

I raised my fist in victory. “Now, we wait.”

“Harder daddy?” I asked in disbelief. “That’s what this note says?”

The trader nodded nervously; his shoulders hunched as if he expected me to beat him. I sighed inwardly, rolling my eyes in irritation as I thrust the note in his face, “That’s all this note says?”

He nodded slowly again, looking at me with scared eyes. I exchanged glances with George who, looked just as mystified as I did.

“Why would the Triad send such a note?” he asked.

I turned to the trader and nodded in dismissal, handing him a wad of cash. “My men will take you back to your store,” I said.

He gave me a farewell bow and left as I turned back to George with a sigh. “I don’t think it was the Triad that sent it,” I said.

“Who then?”

My mind went back to the first time I met Audry. When I put my arms around her neck she had leaned into it, reveling in her defiance. “Harder daddy.” she’d said.

I turned away from George and began to head to the bunker.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To find Audry.”

I marched away, an ember of anger glowing in my belly and growing with each step I took. If this was some kind of prank she was pulling, I was gonna throw her naked back into the dungeon. See how she liked it.

The bunker was located on the other side of the property and camouflaged behind foliage. There was a very specific set of actions I had to take in order to move the bushes out of the way and expose the doorway. Only members of the family knew the code. I knocked three times, and Lucia opened the door from the inside.

“Where's Audry?” I asked, my arms folded.

Her eyebrows flew up, “She's not with you?” She asked.

“No. George told me she came down here with you.”

Lucia shook her head, “It's only me and mom in here.”

I turned around, my brow furrowed, wondering where she could be. I returned to the house and went to her room. Her clothes – which I bought her – were neatly folded in the wardrobe but other than that, the room was pristine. No sign that it was occupied at all. Not so much as a chewing gum wrapper in the bin. She hadn’t arrived with much but it was obvious she’d cleared out.

It was then that I understood that the note was a diversionary tactic. She'd somehow managed to write it, stick it on the gate, and get away while we were all distracted.

“That's fine,” I said aloud to myself nodding as I looked around the empty room. “You want to play hide and seek? I'll play.”

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