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"What about her apartment?" Damien suggests.
"Well, the guard Frank still has posted there says she hasn’t been back. And honestly, I think she'd rather sleep on the streets than go back there."
Damien nods, they know everything. He even gave me a few ideas on what my security team might be able to do to find her.
My-Linh turns the kettle on, pulls a packet out of her pocket, and pours it into the teapot.
"What’s that?"
"It’s chamomile, catnip and valerian root. It’s a new blend my mom just made, it’s meant to help you relax. I brought you a whole tin as well.
"Can I overdose on that?"
"You could try, but it basically has a laxative effect if you drink more than four cups a day. So, if you want to be running to the bathroom every five minutes, go for it."
She brings the pot over and gracefully pours three cups. She picks one up and brings it over to me instead of just pushing it across the table. "Drink this. Please. I'm really worried about you."
I take it from her and lean over and give her a soft kiss on the cheek. She smells like cherry blossoms and older sister love, even though she’s younger than I am.
"Thank you. And thank you for being here."
She goes back to sit next to Damien who picks up a cup of tea and hands it to her, and she grants him a smile as a thank you.
"You need some sleep. You look fucking rough,” Damien adds, in case I needed convincing.
"What I need is to find her, then I can sleep all the live long day."
My-Linh checks her watch. "Sleep until like 6 a.m. and then we'll all get together and make a game plan. Hong Kong isn't that big and you know almost everyone."
"Everyone in our circles, maybe, but she... isn’t a part of that world. Her best friend is a former card shark and hustler, for fuck’s sake."
Ananya has been texting me intermittently to let me know she hasn’t heard from Kiara either. She also gave me a list of places and numbers where she thought people might know where Kiara is. With Kiara out, she's had to take up most of the slack in the training the girls.
"We just have to search this entire country until we find her."
"And if we don't?" my brother asks.
"Raze it to the ground."
I think the tea is doing things that My-Linh didn’t tell me about as my eye lids droop and I start to fade in and out of the conversation.
"Kylian, get up." Someone gently nudges me some time later, but they were right, I needed sleep.
"Kylian!" This time there’s a kick to my leg and I force one eye open.
"What? Make up your mind, do you want me to sleep or not?"
"It's Kiara's business partner," Damien says, ignoring me, and holds out a phone.
"Ananya?" I snatch the phone out of his hands. "Ananya! Do you know where she is?"
"I shouldn't be telling you."
"It's too fucking late for that now. If you know where she is, you need to tell me."
"She didn't say exactly," Ananya hesitates. It's a struggle between what she's been asked to do, and what she thinks is best. And those two things often don't agree.
"Okay, well, what did she say to you? You talked to her?"
