Chapter 12

Dinner was a blur. The men discussed business while we women remained quiet. My eyes kept drifting toward the ring on my finger. It felt too heavy, too tight, entirely too much.

Damn. Fu Shao had marked me as his possession.

After dinner the men moved on to the lounge to drink and smoke and discuss whatever else needed to be discussed. I returned to my room, but couldn't fall asleep.

Eventually, I put a bathrobe over my pyjamas, slipped out of my room and crept downstairs. In a fit of craziness, I took the passage that led to the secret door behind the wall in the lounge.

My Grandfather thought it was necessary to have secret escapes in the office and the lounge because that's where the men of the family usually held their meetings.

So I wondered what he thought would happen to the women after the men had all fled through the secret passage?

I found Qina with her eyes pressed against the peephole of the disguised door.

Of course, she was already there. She whirled around, eyes wide but relaxed when she spotted me.

"What's going on in there?" I said in a bare whisper, worried the men in the lounge would overhear us.

Qina moved to the side, so I could peer through the second peephole.

"Almost everyone's already gone. Father and 2nd Uncle have details to discuss with the Master Fu. It's only Fu Shao and his entourage left now."

I squinted through the hole, which gave me a perfect view of the chairs crowded around the table.

Fu Shao leaned against the marble ledge of the table legs casually crossed, a glass of vodka in his hand. His brother Fu Heng lounged in an armchair beside him, legs wide apart and that wolf grin on his face.

As Fang and the second bodyguard they'd called Xu during dinner sat in the other armchairs. Xu looked to be the same age of Fu Heng, so around 18 years old too. Barely men by society's standard, but not in our world.

"It could have been worse," Fu Heng said, grinning.

Thought he might not have looked quite as deadly as Fu Shao , but something in his eyes told me he was only able to hide it better.

"She could have been ugly. But, amazingly , your little fiancée is an apparition. That dress was stunning on her. That body too. That hair and face. Despite of her young age, she is a seductive and stunning," Fu Heng whistled.

It seemed as if he was provoking his brother on purpose.

"She's a child," Fu Shao said dismissively.

Indignation rose in me, but I knew I should be glad that he didn't look at me like a man looked at a woman.

"She didn't look like a child to me," Fu Heng said, then clucked his tongue.

He nudged the older man, Fang.

"What do you say? Is my big brother gone blind?"

Fang shrugged with a careful glance at Fu Shao.

"Young miss, I didn't look at her closely."

"What about you, Xu? Do you got functioning eyes in your head?"

Xu looked up, then quickly looked back down to his drink.