AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Anya—One Month Later
Bo and I pull up to an abandoned warehouse just outside of the city. Everything is either covered in graffiti or rust. Not a soul lingers. We walk around the corner of the old building, and Bo knocks on the scrap metal. The sheet moves open, and I can see there’s a hidden door behind it as it opens. An older gentleman answers the door, and his eyes grow wide immediately as he tries to bow and open the door. Bo nods at me and gestures for me to enter before him.
As I walk in, my hand instinctively reaches behind my back for my Beretta. I look around, and there are three men guarding another door; they look young, no older than thirty-five, maybe. When they spot me, they immediately bow. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just nodded at them. They stand back up straighter than before.
“Ma’am,” the all say in unison.
That’s going to take some getting used to. I look over at Bo, and he gives me a reassuring look.
“Names?” I ask.
They each take turns speaking.
“Jimmy,” says the shorter one with tattoos on his face.
“Kai,” says the second one. He’s tall, handsome, perfect skin, and long dark lashes.
“Tao,” the last one finally says. He’s tall, buff, definitely someone I want on my side.
I look at them and make a mental note on what their roles might be: bad-cop, brains, muscle. Bo reaches for the door, and they all nod at him with respect as well.
You got this.I take a deep breath before I descend the stairs and enter a larger room underground. Tables and chairs are set up, and men are gathered around, standing and seated from Illinois to New York. That’s why it took a month for this meeting to take place. There had to be at least two hundred and fifty men in here. When they see me enter, most bow and stand straight right away, while a few others look angry and stay seated.
I memorize their faces in my mind. I don’t have time for disrespect or the possibility of there being a rat or traitor in our midst.
When I reach the only leather chair that’s placed in the front of the room facing the men, I assume it’s the chair reserved for the dragon head. I turn, survey the room, and face my men. That still feels weird to say.My men.Taking one more look at the assholes who refused to stand and bow, I finally take my seat. The rest of the men follow. Bo stays standing next to me. We’re all silent for a moment.
“We are gathered here today to introduce to you our true leader, the rightful heir, daughter of the late Peter Liu. Anya Meilin Liu-Delucci,” Bo announces proudly.
I scan the room to see their reaction to not only a new leader, but a young female.
“Italian whore,” someone coughs in the back, and I narrow my eyes.
“Ta zhi shì yi gè nu hái zi!”She’s only a girl! a pudgy, short man yells.
“Ta tài nián qing le!”She’s too young! Pudgy number two next to him yells.
“Zhè shì ta de quán lì.”It is her right,Bo says.
“Ta yin ggai jiao gei xià yi gè you nán xìng jì chéng rén de zuì qiáng dà de jia zú!”It should go to the next strongest family with a male heir!Pudgy number one cries out, and the room fills with voices of men chattering.
“Bié zài shuo le.”Stop talking, I say flatly, and the room silences immediately. “Nín méi you xuan zé.”You don’t have a choice.“I am Anya Liu, daughter of Peter,The Mad Dragon and Nina Liu. But I promise you haven’t seen crazy yet.”
It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.
“And what do you have to offer? You’re a child,” another man in the back yells, lips snarled and nostrils flared.
“You don’t know any of us, our traditions, or what the Triad stands for.”
I scan the room again, noting the hierarchy. They’re right, I don’t know, but I’m a quick study. I can already tell who the men are gathered in the three front tables; the ones brave and stupid enough to open their mouths are the captains of their respected regions.
“As far as I can tell, the Triad has been bleeding cash faster than you’ve been making. You won’t last the next five years without me. I have the chemist who will be making all of our drugs moving forward, I have access to all of the shipping docks on the East Coast,andI have the firepower of not only the Triad but the Chicago Outfit and the Cosa Nostra. Does anyone have anything further to offer? Or would you all rather be homeless than let the one person who can turn things around do their job?”
Maya was right. Max made the best shit. Stuff I’d never even seen or heard of. We were still working on the names, but I’d hire her to be my pharmaceutical chemist for one of my shell companies I’d just opened up. It comes with a killer salary, multiple underground labs, a team for her to boss around, and the visa she needs to stay in the states. We are going to make a lot of money with her.
The Triad used to be a force. The name itself would instill fear. I learned we ran the largest black-market weapons ring and produced the best assassins in the world. That was until my idiot uncle apparently drove the business into the ground and threw us off the map. While all mafias hated each other, they had to work together. If you wanted anything shipped, you needed to go through the Cosa Nostra. If you wanted an official elected or a bill passed, the Outfit was the answer, and if you wanted banned weapons of war or a contract killer, you came to the Triad. At least, that’s how it used to be.
I was furious when Bo told me we used to have tens of thousands of men across the states when my grandfather and father ruled, but they all slowly jumped ship because my uncle was losing the business so much money and getting sloppy. A lot of them were useful, too—politicians, doctors, lawyers. So many left at once that Andrew couldn’t keep up, so he let them go. It’s not like he could kill thousands of men.
