Page 17 of Sweet Dominion

They’d made me late entering Lotus Blossom due to making me listen to their curses and threats for several minutes. I just stood there taking the verbal assault, knowing that once done, all would return to normal.

It was comical how they claimed in their rant to be old, defenseless women. . .when they had put twenty of my men in the hospital.

My crazy aunts.

And then to my surprise, my father turned to me. “Thank you for allowing this event to occur, son. I know it was hard for you to agree to this.”

I was momentarily taken aback by his relaxed words.

His tone was expectant, as though he were waiting for me to reject the sentiment.

But I didn’t.

I simply nodded, keeping my face neutral. “It’s what Moni wanted.”

“And you would give her anything she wanted?”

“Almost anything.”

“Love her as much as possible. I don’t think I showed you that in my love for your mother.” He let out a long breath. “I was. . .a stubborn, selfish man, only focused on what I wanted.”

I blinked.

“There were so many times when I ignored what Jing desired and simply did itmyway. It didn’t matter how much she begged.”

I thought back to when I was a kid and how my mother had cried all night before my fight to win the East’s throne. She’d begged him to call it off. Then, the pleading shifted to her throwing things at him, so pissed off and disgusted.

I eyed him. “You regret how you treated Mom?”

“Of course.”

That shocked me to my core. “I didn’t think you regretted much.”

“I could have been a better husband and father. Instead, I focused on being the best earner, and. . .Mountain Master.I thought money and power were important and. . .they are, but. . .”

There was so much left unsaid, but I knew I was lucky to get this much out of him.

“Lei.” He threaded his fingers together and gave me a sad smile. “You cannot kill Marcelo.”

What?!

I widened my eyes.

Which one of my men told him?

Chapter four

The Problem with Marcelo

Lei

Someone had told my father that I planned on killing Marcelo.

Hmmm.

There had only been five people in the room when I talked about killing Marcelo this morning—Chen, Duck, Hu, Bolin, and Fengge.

My mind raced through the possibilities, narrowing down the suspects.

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