Page 258 of Roberto

“But I was in a bad mood when we met, and I was predisposed to think the worst of you. Then you surprised me by being kind and considerate… and quietly confident. And then youreallysurprised me.” She gave me a lop-sided smile. “I had no idea what you really wanted, not until you told me – and you had all sorts of layers I didn’t anticipate. It’s like you’re really bad at the surface-level chit-chat that doesn’t mean anything… but you’re pretty fucking amazing when it comes to the deeper stuff.”

I stared deep into her eyes.

She’d basically summed me up perfectly in just a couple of sentences.

Damn.

“You’re also a plotter,” she whispered, “so I assume you’ve been plotting.”

“I have,” I admitted.

“Care to tell me?”

I hesitated… then put my ego aside.

If she had wanted to betray me, she would have done it yesterday and told Lau everything.

I ran down the things that would need to happen for us to get out of the hotel.

She listened carefully and nodded.

“Do you think you can do those things?” I whispered.

“Absolutely.”

“We have to get to the plane. It’ll be here at – ”

Mei-ling grimaced. “I know. So does Lau. He was there when you called, and he listened to the voicemail.”

“Shit,” I groaned.

“He didn’t bother to do anything about it since he knew he was going to imprison you – but we can’t go to the airport. As soon as he finds out we’ve left the hotel, he’ll send Han to intercept us.”

“FUCK,” I hissed.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said absentmindedly as I kept thinking.

And then the solution presented itself to me, fully formed. It was beautiful in its simplicity.

“We go to him,” I said.

Mei-ling stared at me. “…what?”

“No – this is perfect. I might even be able to make him give back my family’s money.”

“The 50 million in Bitcoin?”

I stared at her in astonishment. “How did you know about that?!”

“Lau likes to brag when he’s won.”

“My family needs that money to fight the war with my uncle.”

Mei-ling looked thoughtful. “I think I know a way we could get it…”

She outlined a scheme that complemented mineperfectly.

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