Page 168 of Roberto

Then he walked out.

Just like the man in the pinstripe suit had said, I was released 30 minutes later.

The charges were dropped. Something about a faulty warrant.

Ordinarily, I would have had to go to court and spend tens of thousands of dollars before the cops would admit something like that – even if it was true, which I was guessing it wasn’t.

But that was the perk of having a triad boss as your father. Lots of crooked cops and judges on the payroll.

I got a call from the hotshot lawyer the next morning. I was still drunk from the half a bottle of vodka I’d drunk when I got home.

“What happened? By the time I got to the station, they said you’d already been released.”

I told him about the man in the pinstripe suit and the message from my father.

My lawyer already knew about my triad connections; I had warned him when I first hired him. It hadn’t phased him in the slightest.

“What are you going to do?”

“WhatcanI do?” I asked angrily. “I have to shut everything down. Otherwise, he’s just going to sic the cops on me until I’m ruined.”

My lawyer was silent for a long moment.

Then he said,“Don’t do anything just yet.”

“Why?”

“I know a guy. Let me talk to him first.”

I scoffed. “Unless he’s more powerful than my father, I don’t think it’ll do any good.”

My lawyer laughed.“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

69

And that was how I met Mr. Lau.

On Monday morning at 10 AM, I found myself in a minimalist office at the top of a 70-floor skyscraper, marveling at the stunning view of Hong Kong.

The man in the office looked like a kindly old grandfather. His Nehru collar suit, a throwback to a previous century, completed the image.

As we drank green tea from porcelain cups, he smiled benevolently. “Mr. Che informs me you have a bit of a problem.”

Che was my hotshot lawyer.

“How much did he tell you?” I asked warily.

“More or less everything. I hope that wasn’t indiscreet on his part.”

“Indiscreet? My father’s a triad gangster. I’m the owner of a BDSM club. I was just arrested for organized prostitution. There’s nothing ‘discreet’ about me.”

Lau chuckled. “That will be our first order of business: making you and your businessextremelydiscreet.”

I noticed he saidour first order of business.

Nothing aboutIF we work together.

“Che didn’t tell me much about you,”I said.

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