Page 67 of Sweet Dominion

“Then, Uncle Leo shed two tears. Exactly.” Chen held up two fingers. “I counted.”

Lei rolled his eyes.

“And once he slyly showed those two fallen tears to each and every camera in the room, Uncle Leo explained how he had met Monique long ago while meditating under a tree and asking for God to bring a good woman to his son.”

Oh damn.

“He says that after ten minutes of deep prayer, Monique appeared, dressed in blue and reading her Bible.”

Now Leo. . .you know damn well I didn’t have a Bible with me. Not to mention the fact that you set that whole meeting up.

“It was there that Uncle Leo rose from the tree—”

“Like Jesus?” Lei narrowed his gaze at Chen.

“Well. . .Uncle Leo didn’t gothatfar, but he said that he left the tree, stopped Monique, and there they spent the day talking about scripture—”

“Alright. I’ve heard enough.” Lei guided me away.

No wonder the Mirage staff was greeting me all crazy. They must think I’m the Virgin Mary or something.

Chen called after us, “Uncle Leo said that you saw the heartbreak in Monique’s eyes over her mother and the Grand Mountain Mistress, that was why you took her out to the garden!”

“I don’t fucking care!” Lei increased our pace. “Just make sure everything is in place for the cookout and makedamnsure that my father doesn’t make a surprise appearance.”

“Yes, Mountain Master.”

As we headed up a grand swirling staircase, Lei finally loosened his grip on my hand. His eyes were unreadable, but I was sure there was a storm of emotions hidden behind them.

Leo, you keep surprising. . .

I considered it all—the lies, the deceit, and the picture-perfect illusion that Leo sold to the public.

Unfortunately, all that would have to die with Leo.

There was no way anyone would see me walking around reading a Bible unless I was actually reading it. And even then, I wouldn’t play with God like that.

No way.

If I were going to rule the East next to Lei, I would be keeping it absolutely real the entire time.

No fake talk.

No bullshit.

No made-up stories to account for this or that.

Hopefully, they all accept this shift to reality because I can’t stand there on camera and lie to thousands of people. I’m not built like that.

As we climbed higher, the sounds of the staff and our people faded behind us, until we finally reached the top level where there was only a set of double turquoise doors right before us.

Silent, Lei pushed open the double doors to a bedroom that felt like stepping into a dream.

Oh my.

The room was a perfect harmony of sky blue and white, so much so that when I stepped inside, I swore I was floating among the clouds. Soft, billowing white curtains framed theexpansive windows, allowing golden afternoon light to pour in and bathe everything in this heavenly glow.

Of course even the bedroom would be magically captivating.

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