Page 163 of Roberto

My mother walked into the foyer as I was about to leave.

“Mother!” I cried out, tears running down my face. “Please – ”

But she turned her face away from me, her expression hard as stone.

“You made your choice,” she said coldly.

I sobbed even harder as the two thugs gently ushered me outside to the car.

Of all the people in the house that day, they were by far the kindest.

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My life quickly fell apart.

My boyfriend was the first casualty.

I called him in hysterics when I got back to my apartment, but he didn’t answer.

I texted him it was an emergency –

And got back a text message:

I can’t see you anymore.

That was when Ireallylost it.

WHY?I texted back.

I called and texted him so many times that he finally showed me the reason:

A picture of his face with a swollen black eye and multiple scrapes and bruises.

Three gangsters jumped me coming out of my apartment this morning. They beat me up and told me they’d kill me if I ever talked to you again. What the fuck is going on, Mei-ling?

I apologized profusely. I told him my father was triad and that he’d found out about my secret life.

My boyfriend was understandably angry that I’d kept my father’s profession a secret.

But it’s over,I pleaded.He disowned me. He won’t ever bother us again.

I can’t take that chance,he replied.Please don’t ever contact me again.

That was the last I heard from him.

I tried contacting my brothers, but neither returned my calls or texts.

I realized after a few days that they had blocked my number.

Next up was my boss.

After crying all weekend, I forced myself to go back to work on Monday – only to find my badge to get into the building didn’t work.

Security called my boss, who came down with a small cardboard box full of my cubicle belongings.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but we can’t have those kinds of people showing up here again.”

He knew they were triad.Everybodyat work knew it.

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