“Hey. Don’t say that,” he said. “This is the real deal, Julie. This is gonna be the spark that lights the fire within you. When you look back, you’ll know this was the moment that started everything.”
“Fuck you. I can’t believe you fucking did this to me.”
“Trust the process. Now you’re gonna fight for those stacks. And you’ll find now that your mind’s sharp and ready to look for any opportunity to get your hands on ten grand, that ten grand is gonna come to you.”
Ten? Ten. Shit, he didn’t even know how much he’d put me in debt. Maybe I’d gotten lucky with five. “You’regoingto pay this back.”
“And then once you’ve done that, that money’s gonna keep flowing to you. Like I said, trust the process. A king don’t worry about the details.”
I was going to pass out. I wasn’t a king. I was worrying about the details. “I fucking hate you, Kingmaker,” I said, my voice wobbling.
“Hey. Easy, girl. Don’t cry. You’ll ruin your makeup.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, this was expensive makeup.” I held in the tears. Just for that. Each tear would have been, like, twenty bucks.
“The event’s coming up. Now that you’ve got your fire in your belly, it’s time to put it to good use. Remember, no way out but through now. It’s time to become a king.”
Chapter 3
Helena
“Change of plans, Ms. Warrick,” Linyue said, catching me at the door on my way out of the building, dressed in her lavender suit jacket that, in all my years with her as my agent and manager, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her without. That and the round glasses that were almost comically small for her face, and—a dignified woman in her late forties, I thought her rather pretty, all things considered, except that the glasses were… well, let’s say not flattering. But she wore them so often, I probably wouldn’t recognize her without them. She pushed off from the corner of the wall, attaching to my side as I walked like a shadow.
“Well, well. Not even ahello, nice to see you?” I said, looking to either side to make sure it was clear before I stepped out onto the sidewalk. I wasn’t a big enough name I had to worry about being papped every minute of the day, but I’d been planning to be a bit… stealthy today. Getting caught by Linyue was already more than I wanted. Photos? Not what I needed.
“It’s always nice to see you,” she said, in her short, curt voice that put a fine point on everything she said. “And I’m sureyour shoot went well, as it always does, because you are your father’s daughter and you see to it that the work gets done. Now, speaking of work,” she said, “Cheng Shiyi is coming to New York. Something of a last-minute decision. You’ll be receiving him at his residence in the Upper East Side tonight.”
I stopped, my stomach sinking, as I turned to her in the glow of the streetlights, cars rolling by just past us. “Tonight? This was specifically scheduled as a free evening for me. It’s been weeks since I got one.”
She was immediately on her phone, my schedule up on the app. “We’re canceling your attendance at the gallery night tomorrow,” she said. “So you can have that free evening then instead. I’ve arranged for a massage.”
My heart broke over silly little things. It shouldn’t have been a big deal—there would be other opportunities—but it was about more than just a party. I’d been so looking forward to it, which was silly because half of the work I ever did was going to parties, butthisone was different. This one was my own volition, my own crowd, my own scene, instead of being Dad’s tool, Linyue’s tool.
I shouldn’t have been complaining. I liked my job, my life, really. But times like this made me feel like a caged bird.
“I had plans for tonight,” I said, even though I never made any headway arguing with Linyue. She’d been working with my father for eighteen years now and had known me since I was a kid, and she’d been my agent for so long that some days I wasn’t sure I knew how to buy dinner without her. And so far, I wasn’t sure I’d won a single argument against the woman. But nonetheless, I persisted. “Is there nobody else who can meet Mr. Cheng?”
She raised her thin eyebrows high. “You had plans? What plans did you have? There’s nothing in my calendar.”
“I know how to make my own plans, too, Linyue, I’m a full-grown woman.”
“Then why is it not in my calendar?” Her Shanghai accent popped out more, like it always did when she was trying to scold me. I sighed, my shoulders dropping.
“I was spending the evening with Estelle.”
“Oh, Ms. Fong.” She relaxed. Probably she was just making sure I wasn’t sneaking off for a date. She knew how that went the last time. “Ms. Fong will still be there another day. Cheng Shiyi is a big investor in the parent company. It’s very important to receive him gratefully. You are the daughter of the head of operations in America. You will be expected to be there.”
“Why won’t Dad beexpected to be there? Heisthe head of operations in America.”
She dropped her arms by her sides. “Your father has plans.”
Yeah, yeah, I saw how it was.
Well, his plans were objectively more important than mine. The parent company, Shiyun Group, had been putting the pressure on him lately—the Chinese market had been stagnating, and they were trying to squeeze more out of their operations in Paris, New York and Tokyo to make up for it, so Dad had been working overtime lately trying to keep up with their demands.
Me, I was trying to sneak out to a rooftop party across the river to hang out with tech startup founders. That wasn’t as important. But it was important tome.
I relented eventually, and Linyue told me where to catch my car and when, and she was off again, disappearing into the crowds of the SoHo streets like water disappeared into the river. I still had a bit of time before I needed to catch my car, so I walked moodily to the café at the corner to sit on a small terrace with a decaf espresso, and I texted Estelle to ask if we could call.She didn’t even answer, just called me, and I could hear I was pouting in my voice when I picked up.
