“I read the case reports,” he repeated, his signs even more precise, even colder than I remembered them. “All of them. You set me up from the beginning. You even planted that story about your brother to lure me back to Tokyo from Hong Kong. You were so relieved when you were finally able to contact your father with something he could use against Red Diamond—that’s what you said in your recorded statement.”
A sick sensation filled my belly. “What? No, that’s not how it went at all, and I only said those things because—”
His expression went from cold to enraged in a blink of an eye.
“Try to tell me one more lie,” he threatened, his hands slashing through the air like knives. “Claim even one more time that you were innocent in all of this. And I will not leave your mother off the list of people I will kill if you do not accept my sentence. Or Lena. Or any man you even think of entering into a relationship with for the rest of your life. Until you pay this debt, no one you love will ever be safe.”
The calm intensity in his eyes left no room for doubt. The raven who sat before me was even more powerful and ruthless than the boy I once knew. These were not threats but promises, the promises of a man who now hated me enough to destroy everyone I loved.
Icy terror hollowed out my stomach.
“But Victor, I…” I broke off because how could I finish that sentence?
The truth would not only be dismissed by the monster sitting across from me but could also bring on my mother’s death.
In the end, all I could come up with was, “You can’t do this. Ten years. It’s too much. And how do I even know you’ll let me go after that? That you won’t just kill my dad and everyone I love after all of this is done.”
The enraged monster transformed back into a beautiful statue in an instant at my words.
“Unlike you, my word is bond. Ten years is what I require.” He regarded me, his expression solemn. “As long as you don’t get pregnant, in ten years on May 26th, you will be free, and your family will be safe. This I vow to you on my life.”
On his life.
I believed him, but ten years….
“Victor,” I whispered. “Please, don’t make me do this. There’s got to be another way. Let’s talk or anything but this. Please—”
Victor dead-eyed me for a few seconds, then he announced, “You have five minutes to make your decision. Then I will put in a call to my cartel friends.”
Without signing anything further, he climbed out of the car. And left the door open. As if he expected me to follow.
So after about a thousand “What in the entire fuck”s, I did. I mean, what was the alternative?
He knew where my father was embedded for his undercover assignment.
And apparently, Victor could have him killed with just one call. He could also have my brother shot by some petty gangster with just one call—maybe the same call.
Maybe there was some way out of the situation, other than taking his deal. But if there was, I couldn’t see it.
2
Instead of following the signs that pointed toward the marriage license counter, Victor led me up a set of wide stairs inside the town hall. And by led, I mean he plunged ahead, seeming to trust that I’d follow behind him like a good little threatened dog.
He was right. I had no clue where Victor had been for the last few years or what he had done. But I believed that he would hurt my family just like he killed the guy in the garage.
Without blinking an eye.
We entered a door toward the back of the second-floor hallway without knocking and found a judge in full robes, sitting behind a large desk made of dark wood.
He stood to greet us with a hearty, “The future Mr. and Mrs. Zhang! Great to meet you!”
The judge had what I privately called a character look. A ring of white hair laid neat and combed around his otherwise bald head. And a pair of little round reading glasses sat perched on the end of his nose like they lived there, even when he slept.
My fingers itched to draw him as I took my turn, shaking his hand. I’d been ignoring those kind of drawing urges for the last four years. And today, it felt especially inappropriate, given the circumstances.
After confirming with Victor that he would be signing all of his responses to the ceremony questions, the judge gave me a wink. “I don’t understand sign language, but you’ll tell me if he messes up, right?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer.
But the judge didn’t seem to expect a response. He launched straight into the ceremony without pausing for me to laugh. And way too fast, we got to the part where he told us it was time to exchange rings.
