Chapter 82
It seemed I had lost a lover…
And picked up a stalker instead.
The blue Camry started popping up everywhere.
It was there in the early morning hours when I left work for home…
And it was there every afternoon when I drove from the Summit to De Sade.
The only time I didn’t see it was when I delivered money to Lau’s office.
Every time I saw it, my heart broke a little –
But I also got furious.
Stupid fucking mafia asshole is STALKING me?!
God DAMN him!
I wasn’t ever afraid, exactly.
I didn’t think Roberto would hurt me…
But his behavior troubled me.
And…
If I’m being honest…
It turned me on the tiniest bit, too.
Finding out someone you still loved was obsessed with you?
It would have been flattering –
If I wasn’t so pissed off at him for being in the mafia and lying to me by omission.
(Except YOU lied to him by omission, too, didn’t you? About your connection to Lau – )
(SHUT THE FUCK UP)
Part of me, though, was worried.
What would happen if push came to shove?
Was Roberto so obsessed that he wouldn’t let me go?
I hoped I wouldn’t have to find that out.
I prayed he would lose interest –
But every time I looked in my rearview mirror, I would see that damn Toyota.
Then – on the fifth night of stalking me – Roberto got bolder.
I had a standing order for my security team to let me know when the Camry showed up each night, and if anything out of the ordinary happened.
Something out of the ordinary happened.
My head of security called me to the surveillance room. Once I walked in, I immediately saw why.
On the exterior camera feeds, Roberto was walking around the building, apparently looking for a back way in.
My stomach did a flip-flop.
Not only was he not losing interest in me, his obsession seemed to be increasing.
My head of security looked troubled. “You want me to take care of this?”
I knew exactly what he meant by ‘take care of this.’
“No,” I said. “Don’t do anything yet. Just let me know if it escalates.”
As I left the office, I realized the situation had become a problem and that I should probably tell Lau.
But the old man beat me to the punch.
When I came in the next afternoon to drop off the money, Gongsun leered at me like usual – then casually mentioned, “Mr. Lau wants to see you.”
I left Accounting and went to Lau’s office with a queasy stomach.
When I walked into his office, he was reading his computer printouts. He heard my footsteps, glanced up at me, and gave me that fake grandfatherly smile.
“Ah, Ms. Chan. So good to see you. Please take a seat.”
I sat down and waited for Lau to circle around the desk and perch above me like a fuckin buzzard –
But he didn’t.
Instead, he stayed seated with his hands casually folded on his desk.
“I understand you and Mr. Rosolini had a falling out,” he said sympathetically.
My stomach went from queasy to the verge of vomiting.
I knew exactly what was going to come next:
Lau would order me to start seeing Roberto again.
To start fucking him again.
What I wanted wouldn’t matter one bit.
“Yes,” I said in a tremulous voice, “but – ”
Lau held up one hand to stop me. I immediately went silent.
“I understand he’s following you,” Lau continued.
I frowned.
How the fuck did he know THAT?!
“Yes, but – ”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
“Do you feel like you’re in any danger?” Lau interrupted.
“…no… not really, no.”
“Good. Then allow him to keep following you.”
I stared at Lau in shock. “Why?”
“To keep him distracted for as long as possible.”
Shit…
So Roberto had been right about Lau stalling him…
Which meant he might be right about Lau working with his murderous uncle.
When I didn’t say anything, Lau smiled. “That is all.”
Then he went back to perusing his readouts.
Realizing I had been dismissed, I walked out of his office without a word…
But my thoughts were flying around at a million miles an hour.
I have to warn Roberto.
He needs to leave Hong Kong as soon as possible.
I was angry with him for not telling me about the mafia…
But I still cared for him.
A little too much, probably.
And I knew that whatever Lau had planned, it wasn’t good.
The only problem was that I couldn’t tell Roberto I worked for Lau. The revelation might send Roberto into a fit of rage, and God only knew what he might do in response.
But I had to get him to leave the city as soon as possible…
So I came up with a plan to frighten him off.
There was only one flaw:
I didn’t account for him not getting scared.