Page 60 of Billionaire’s Heartbreak

Dannie had been away for a long time. Long enough for people to get used to his absence. Long enough for someone to start telling them he wasn’t coming back. And now, with Laura and Roger making their move, the rumour suddenly had a purpose.

Mario’s eyes lit up. “I have an idea.”

That expression alone made me nervous.

“Since we’re trying to take over a triad anyway…” He paused dramatically. “Why don’t we just take over the whole thing? Monopoly.”

June stared at him. I stared at him.

June started laughing, and I couldn’t help it. A laugh escaped me too.

It sounded ridiculous. Completely insane. And yet, beneath the joke was something that made an uncomfortable amount of sense.

If Roger wanted the triad, and Laura wanted the triad, and Dannie wanted to keep it out of their hands, maybe the answer wasn’t to fight over the pieces. Maybe we needed to change who controlled the board.

The thought should have terrified me. It did.

Because for the first time since I’d arrived in Hong Kong, I wasn’t thinking about how to help Dannie survive.

I was thinking about what it would take to win.

Win big.

11

June

Wake up.

I opened my eyes.

Darkness.

My heart tightened as a small wooden hut appeared in the middle of nowhere.

I had just escaped from it. At least it had been a shelter.

I took one hesitant step toward it. Then another.

Should I go back?

Maybe I should have stayed. Maybe I should have waited. Maybe someone would have paid for my life.

I turned away from the hut and kept walking.

I didn’t know how long I walked. Minutes. Hours. Maybe days. There was no sun. No clock. No sense of time.

Then I saw it.

A lake.

Someone was inside.

Calling my name.

I bent down, but the water distorted everything. Faces appeared and disappeared like reflections on broken glass.

A little girl appeared.