I quickly said, "No, no need. I'll just step outside for a walk to shake off the drowsiness."
Grace and I met up in the restroom and exchanged a few words.
Grace went back to the card table.
I slipped out the back door, planning to make my way to the car.
But Luna followed me out.
"Miss Rose, where are you going?"
I smiled sheepishly. "It's too stuffy inside. Just getting some air. What about you, Miss Luna? What brings you out here?"
She glanced at the incongruous watch on my wrist, worry written across her pampered features. "Miss Rose, there's something I'd like to say to you."
I thought for a moment. "Now?"
"Is this not a good time?" She frowned.
I looked out toward the courtyard. Besides the regular drivers each standing by their cars, there was one car crammed with four or five men in black.
"There's no problem at all. Why don't I drive you around for a bit? You know how it is—people come and go here. If someone overhears something private, it wouldn't be good."
She hesitated but eventually nodded.
I walked to the car and said a few words to Dan. He nodded and gave me the wheel.
She looked surprised. "You can drive?"
"A little."
We drove along the crowded streets.
I made a point of being friendly, telling her I wasn't great with words and asking her not to take offense.
She sat in silence, picking at her fingernails, seemingly building up courage for what she was about to say.
I checked the rearview mirror. The man in black and black hat who'd been staking out the back entrance was indeed following us in his car.
So I turned toward the riverbank.
7.
Luna spoke of the past: "The first time I saw him, I was twelve. It was at Grace's twentieth birthday banquet. After that, I never had eyes for anyone else."
I knew she was talking about her love for Victor. I also knew that from her perspective, I was a stranger who had suddenly appeared and snatched away the man she'd loved for eight years.
"Miss Luna, no one gets everything they wish for." I answered mildly, keeping one hand on the steering wheel.
"But I can't understand it at all—what exactly is so good about you?" Her voice grew thick with tears.
I gave a wry laugh. "I can't understand what's so good about Victor either..."
Worth my abandoning that safe and stable world...
I tried to comfort her. "You're only twenty. At your age, there's still so much that can change."
"Sister Rose, I'd be willing to be the second wife. As long as you agree..." She suddenly turned to look at me, her words earnest.
A woman who can't have the one she loves will stoop as low as it takes.
I found it almost funny. "It wouldn't matter even if I agreed, would it? Don't you have to ask Victor first?"
Her eyes dimmed, and she lowered her head again.
I watched the growing number of cars in the mirror, my heart tightening with every passing moment.
I had no room left for sympathy toward this spoiled young lady who was still losing herself over unrequited love.
I teased her instead: "You don't need to be so desperate. Maybe I won't even manage to marry Victor before he changes his mind. What comes easy goes easy. If we fall in love fast, it might end fast too. Then you can swoop in—maybe Victor will realize you're the better match for him after all."
Her tear-filled eyes stared at me, astonished and angry, as though she couldn't believe those words had come from my mouth.
She searched my face for any trace of veiled triumph or bragging.
But I was genuinely trying to instill in her the concept of "change."
Nothing was ever set in stone.
For instance, the original plan today was for Dan to go to a bakery outside and call Victor.
But when I spotted the agents tailing us, I had to be the one driving in circles while Dan seized the moment they were away to go on foot.
The car crawled through the city streets, eventually reaching the abandoned factories by the river.
Further ahead, there was no more road.
The men following us finally realized I was leading them in circles.
The car was forced to a stop.
I got out with my hands raised. The river wind was strong, and in the distance came the horn of a passenger liner.
More than a dozen burly men stepped out of four cars, each carrying a firearm, their faces menacing.
The leader was a barrel-chested man in a flat cap, his unshaven face half-hidden beneath the brim.
He spat out his cigarette butt and surveyed the desolate surroundings.
He muttered a couple of curses.
Hands on his hips, he walked toward me.
Luna was terrified, curling into herself, her long lashes wet with tears.
I winked at her. "Don't be afraid. Victor will come save us."
The words had barely left my mouth when snipers concealed in the old factory opened fire, each shot finding its mark with devastating precision.
The gunfire was deafening, bullets raining down, dense and rapid.
Though they struck the enemy with surgical accuracy, I still instinctively ducked behind the car, hands over my head.
The bravado I'd put on to reassure Luna evaporated completely.
The men who hadn't yet been hit scrambled for cover, but returning fire from ground level against elevated snipers was pure fantasy.
One of them spotted Luna and me—two convenient human shields.
The man in the flat cap yanked me up roughly. I cried out in alarm.
Before he could press his gun to my skull, a familiar figure appeared beside me, seemingly from out of nowhere.
Victor reached out and in two swift motions disarmed the man of his pistol—but he didn't use it.
He tossed the gun aside, intent on taking the man alive.
The man in the flat cap put up a desperate fight, pulling a dagger from his sleeve in a final, futile effort.
Victor slammed him face-first into the ground, half his cheek pressed into the dirt.
A few soldiers hauled off several half-dead survivors as well.
Back to prison—they would suffer worse than death.
But Victor didn't leave with them.
In silence, he got into the car, reached out the window, and patted the roof, signaling us to get in.
I helped the shell-shocked Luna into the back seat.
Victor drove me back to the General's Estate.
I thought Victor might at least praise me—say I was clever, quick on my feet, worthy of being his woman.
Instead, his face was like ice, tendons standing out on the backs of his hands, not a single word.
He dropped me at the gates of the General's Estate and drove off with Luna.
Oliver had already brought Grace back earlier.
Seeing Victor's car make a U-turn, he didn't hesitate—grabbed his weapon strap and followed with two carloads of guards.
Grace sat with me in the inner hall, holding my hand.
Her hands were still cold. "Rose, why did you end up driving out like that?"
It seemed Oliver hadn't told her what happened yet.
So I told her everything from start to finish.
When Grace and I had met in the restroom, she'd told me that calling from the Sterling residence might tip off anyone listening. She'd wanted me to let Dan know, so he could go to a bakery and use their phone to contact Victor.
But before I even stepped outside, I'd already spotted that car crammed with men in black. The drivers waiting outside worked one per car—they wouldn't pile into a single vehicle like that.
And there could be more than one surveillance car like that.
So I told Dan to get out, find a place to hide, and wait until we'd drawn most of them away before going to make the call himself.
This arrangement was because I feared they might leave a few tails behind. I could draw away the majority, leaving only two or three that Dan could handle on his own. But if even one agent stayed on me, I'd be powerless.
So it had to be me taking the risk.
Dan found his opportunity and informed Victor that Declan's wife had returned to Shanghai, and also told him I'd be driving to the old factory by the river.
When Victor received the news, he and Oliver split into two forces—one to rescue me, and one to eliminate Declan's wife.