32 - Tiny drop

Lian's POV

Taipei - At night.

"KNOCK, KNOCK"

"Come in."

"Mr. Wang, you have an unscheduled visit."

"Who is it?"

"Mr. Vegas Kornwit Theerapanyakul"

I was expecting that sooner or later the minor family heir would get to me...but I didn't imagine it would be so soon.

"Let him in"

Vegas calmly enters my office accompanied by my assistant.

He politely thanks her, who exits the room flushed by the gallant man's cordiality.

Khun Kan's son is a few years younger than me.

Vegas exults in dominance, yet his charisma camouflages his real intentions.

Any ordinary person would fall for the good-looking, soft-spoken young man.

But he's no different than me, or any other mafia heir that arrived in this city recently for the chess room meeting.

He'll soon see that there are several smart ones.

...

Vegas' POV

"Welcome to Wang Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Kornwit. What can I do for you?"

The man behind the desk rises to greet me with a polite smile.

We shake hands.

"How about we don't pretend we don't know about each other, Mr Wang...or should I say, White King."

"Pease call me Lian since we are not completely strangers...somehow. Have a seat, Mr. Kornwit."

He cordially points to the couch and pour a glass of whiskey to me.

"You can call me Vegas. I'm not very fond of Kornwit."

"Have a seat, Vegas."

"Oh...I got the "W" logo now...Wang...White...not so creative though."

We smile cynically at each other.

"I apologize...I must take this constructive criticism to my marketing department."

I raise my glass to him.

"May I ask how you got to me so quickly? I should probably call Assistant Lee attention for her carelessness."

"You don't have to blame her. I thought it would be easy to find the owner of a Mil MI-26 helicopter among the Asian mafia families on the mainland. But I was wrong. No Asian mafia family has this helicopter. Nor rich Taiwanese families. You hide your toys very well, Lian."

"I try to be discreet. But how did you find me then?"

"I have my means, but I can't tell you, I'm sorry."

"I remain curious then."

"Careful...curiosity killed the cat." (in English)

"Ah..." He raises his glass to me.

"But I'm a curious person myself...and I'm not afraid of death..."

"Let's see if I can satisfy your curiosity then"

"Where's Pete?"

"I don't know."

"What do you want him for?"

"To find someone"

"Who?"

"My partner"

"What kind of partner?"

"All senses partner"

"Why Pete?"

"Because he has the necessary skills."

"Who is this person?"

"I can't tell you."

"How did you get to Pete?"

"My grandfather chose him."

"Among my uncle's bodyguards, when did Pete join the main family?"

"I do not know when."

"Why did you give us those keys to the chess room?"

"Because they belong to you."

"Assistant Lee said that my father handed over the black king to you so that you would hand it over to me."

"Yes, he gave me the black king key. And I granted his wish when he died, as I committed myself to."

"Why the black king, if it belongs to the main family?"

"I don't know."

"Why did you grant his request?"

"Because I owed him."

"Why?"

"He saved me."

Strangely Lian Wang answers my every question serenely, bluntly.

"Saved you?!"

Lian gets up and goes towards the huge wall of glass, looking at the illuminated modern city.

"Or spared me... he never told me for sure."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was a kid he saved me from drowning after my parents and I were shot and thrown to the sea. I don't remember what happened exactly. Just flashes. I was too young. But I remember this man who spoke Mandarin with me, but with a peculiar accent."

"Was it my father?"

"Mhmm...he said 'calm down, you'll be fine'. I was scared...and I struggled to let go of him."

Lian Wang turned to face me.

"He said 'I won't hurt you, kid. You remind me of my son.'"

"..."

"Touching, right?!" Lian lets out an ironic chuckle. "After that, he handed me over to my grandfather and kept in touch with me on my birthdays...sending gifts...praising my accomplishments...things my dad would probably do if he were alive. I assume he did it for you, right, Vegas?!"

"..."

"No?!...tsk...what a shame...I suppose he gave love to another child then."

"Maybe...your Thai is pretty good, by the way."

"Thanks to your father. Meiling and I learned your language. The irony is that I don't even know if it was Khun Kan who received an assassination order to kill my parents and me. I don't know if it was the red queen...or the black king...or any other piece and color on the damn chessboard."

"I never heard my father talk about you or any relationship with a Taiwanese mafia family other than the Tang clan"

"Khun Kan was very careful."

"Do you have contact with my uncle too?"

"At some point...only business. We do business with all main mafia organizations worldwide, actually, but I don't relate to anyone directly. I'm the face of this perfectly legal company, you see."

"Wang Pharmaceuticals...I bet it's not Sanya that produces new generation drugs. It's your company...he's just your intermediary."

"Mhmm...well observed. Drugs to remember...drugs to forget...drugs to addict...drugs to kill...you name it. We have them all. Such a profitable business dealing with human physical and mental frailty and its dependence on medication...illegal drugs... or even distribute to national armies and criminal organizations...for the good or for the bad, it makes no difference. Theerapanyakul family is a good foreign customer by the way."

"Your drug almost killed our son."

"Sanya doesn't have a heart. I will apologize to Pete for that and I offer our brightest doctors to help in the treatment of the child. I feel somehow responsible."

"You won't get near any of them"

"I'm not the one Pete should be afraid of."

"If you mean the order to kill Pete, it wasn't negotiated by Minor Family. Pete belongs to my family now. The red queen key was inside my uncle's safe box."

"So Mei-ling told me."

I get up from the couch and walk towards him.

"It is the only truth. If Pete is the person who can help you find who you're looking for, maybe whoever doesn't want you to find your partner wants to kill Pete. Doesn't this seem more obvious?!"

"Yes, it is a possibility that has always existed. That's why there's a delivery order for Pete. For him to be under our protection."

"I can protect him"

"You can't protect either of you. You have your own problems to solve, don't you, Vegas?! I suggest you concentrate on them and leave Pete to us."

He seems to know everything that happens around us.

"I can put my attention on more than one thing. And Pete is my priority. Everything I do is for him."

"So you have an entire city to place your focus on and find Pete. Are there any more questions?"

"You tell me everything I ask but I'm sure you don't tell me everything you know, Lian Wang."

"I'm sure Khun Kan's son is smart enough to dig further by his own. If I don't help with any more questions..."

"Thank you for your time."

Lian nods with a slight smile.

He escorts me to the door.

"Oh...by the way..."

"POW!"

...

Assistant Lee's POV

"Don't ever touch Pete again." The coldness of his gaze reinforced the threatening tone of his words.

"WTF, Vegas!"

I hasten to position myself between Lian and Vegas as soon as I enter Lian's office, pointing my gun at the visitor.

Lian gets on his feet. Blood seeps from his cracked lip.

"You could have joined the conversation sooner, Assistant Lee, instead of watching everything through CCTV". Vegas smirks at me.

"You have some nerve, boy..."

"Calm down, Lee."

Lian makes me lower my gun.

"I thought we were having a good, honest conversation, Vegas"

Lian speaks while adjusting his suit and wiping his lip with a tissue, calmly.

"This is me being honest."

Vegas walk away through the door.

"Do you remember, Vegas, that I said I don't know if your father killed my parents or not?"

"..." Vega turns his face to Lian.

"But there is something I know."

"What?"

"Whoever killed my parents killed Pete's mother too."

"...W-what?"

"Don't mind asking me why....I wonder how Pete would feel if he knew that his lover's father killed his mother and left him an orphan in the world..."

"..."

"Have a nice evening. Enjoy the city."

Lian turns to his desk to sign papers as nothing happened.

Vegas leaves.

"Why did you tell him this, Lian? Aren't you risking too much?"

"It only takes a tiny drop to sway water in a glass, Lee...now his glass is full of troubled waters"

"Tiny drop? You poured the entire pacific ocean into his glass..."

"Be patient...and follow him"

"And about Pete?! Pick one! I can't split in half."

"I want Vegas."

"Wait...you fooled me...it wasn't Pete you wanted in Taipei...it was Vegas, right?!. That's why you weren't mad at me for bringing him with me... You incited Pete to come after the chess room as a bait. Why? What are you planning?!"

"You better run, Lee... he must be leaving the building by now."

"Shit, Lian..."

...

Macau's POV

"Why is he taking so long?! I'm tired of being in this car." Tankhun complains.

"Why did you come in the first place? You should have stayed at the hotel spa."

"I'll stay right behind you two brothers like a shadow until we find Pete and Arm."

"Khun Vegas is leaving the building." Pol points to my brother.

"Drive to him, Pol." I ask, sitting on the passenger side.

My brother gets in the car with a serious face after hanging up a call.

"Is it blood in the back of your hand? How hard is that for you to have a civilized conversation, Vegas?!" Tankhun scowls at my brother who sits next to him in the backseat.

"I had a civilized conversation. It was just a final message." My brother cleans his hand with a tissue.

"Well, at least there were no gun shots."

"Hey, Bro... what happened in there? Did you find the guy you were looking for?"

"Yes...Arm was quite accurate."

"I can't believe Arm called you to say where to find that white king. He's really trying to impress his brother-in-law. huh!" Tankhun mocks us.

Arm got in touch with my brother in the morning and passed along information about who the white king would be.

Vegas spent the day collecting information on a certain Lian Wang and at night decided to come to this guy's company.

However, Arm would not reveal where he and Pete are or what they plan to do. Arm wouldn't talk to me even my brother saying I was along.

"And then? Is this CEO the right guy? What did he say?" Tankhun asks.

"Nothing important."

"You're lying..." Tankhun frowns.

"He doesn't know where Pete is. This is the only important information for me. I want to keep him this way. We are one step ahead with Arm contacting us."

"What do we do now, Hia?"

"Let's meet a friend at a nightclub tomorrow night. He just arrived in Taipei too. "

"Who is he?" I ask curious.

"Kamol (1)."

...