The Last Heiress

Chapter 4 - Heiress In Hiding

Chapter 4

"But why my grandmother? Can't I hide out in Paris?"

I felt much better after I washed up and changed into my usual high-waisted dress pants with a cropped designer jacket. I barely had time back at my spare apartment to throw some clothes into a travel bag before Mr. Pu hurried me alone, back into the L5. All I had with me was a single suitcase and a Chanel flap bag. It was hardly anything, especially compared to the amount of luggage I usually traveled with.

"She needs you, angel," my father's voice sounded tired, but even so, it leaked anger from every syllable. It wasn't his anger that frightened me. It was what lay underneath it. My father was not an angry person — especially not with me — something had changed, something that I didn't understand the full extent of. Maybe I whined because I wanted him to yell at me, threaten to cut off my credit cards, and scold me for being a very irresponsible child. Instead, he did something worse. He calmed down and whispered into the phone. "And you need her."

The anger faded as the conversation continued. It was replaced by sadness, and that scared me more than words could say. My father was the type of man who was ten steps ahead of everyone else. How else would he take the family business of selling ancient medical herbs and made it into Yagerin — the biggest company in the world?

So, there were always the naysayers who pointed out the rare disasters to cut us down in the media. There were reports that unpurified Black Waters had seeped into the local rivers and contaminated the drinking water. This wasn't my father's fault. The factors leaders my father appointed were all conscientious, good, hard-working men. Yet, sometimes, accidents happen. At least, as far as I knew, all the leaks have been contained and dealt with.

For the amount of good Yagerin did the world, could one or two tiny accidents mean that my family needed to pay with our lives?

No, these criminals who had come after us were just misinformed fools. And as Ming confessed to me, they weren't morally against the use of Black Waters and its enchanted properties. They just wanted a piece of the pie. They wanted to know the secret of how my father's company purified the toxic poison and made it into medicines and elixirs.

Little did they know, I never cared to learn about the secret behind my family's fortune. It always seemed like something I could put off until tomorrow. There was always another vacation to plan for or another party to attend.

I wondered if the sadness in my father's voice meant that it was too late. There wasn't time for him to tell me all the secrets I needed to know. Now, I had to get them from my crazy grandmother.

"Who were these criminals? Have you heard of this White Pheonix Brotherhood before?" I asked, looking down at my bandaged hand. It had stopped throbbing, but the memory of shooting Ming still lingered every time I flexed my fingers. Was I a killer now? It was in self-defense, wasn't it? I wish the car were stocked with some whiskey so I could drink and forget. Poor Mr. Wang, he would never enjoy his Tsingtao again. "Were they sent by your enemies?"

Tomorrow, all my friends would read about my death in the papers. Such a tragic death, they'd say. She was so young, so innocent, so naive. Her body was found under her loyal bodyguards as he tried to shield her from the fire. She didn't even have a boyfriend to shed tears of regret that he wasn't there for her at the very end.

I wondered if my best friend Linda Li's mother would shake her head and say, "What a shame, she was twenty-one and never had a boyfriend. She was practically expired goods. This is why a woman must find a man to marry in college. Otherwise, she'll end up being murdered randomly by the mafia."

"I'm investigating them," my father replied though his voice sounded tired now and utterly devoid of anger. "They won't follow you to Manna City. You'll be safe there if everything back here believes you are dead."

"Will everyone think I'm dead?" I ask, a touch more sadly than I intended. In the past, I liked to project an image of stoic narcissism because the alternative would be that of weakness. Weakness makes one a target. "Even Wang Su? Granny Teng? My mother?"

I whispered the last part about my mother. My father and I hadn't spoken about her since she abandoned us ten years ago. I didn't expect my father to acknowledge that I had a mother anymore, but he grunted in assent.

"Yes, they'll all have to believe you are dead. Everyone has to believe. I'm sorry, Angel. I know this is difficult, but you are safer this way."

"I'll be fine!" I offered in the most chipper tone of voice I could muster. "Take care of yourself. Remember to take your blood pressure medicine, Papa. I'll see you soon."

I added that last part about seeing my father soon more out of wistful longing than any kind of practical promise. I wanted to see if he would reply with a concrete plan of when our family could be reunited. No such response came.

Instead, he merely sighed.

"I'll contact you soon. Don't be afraid."

The phone call dropped after that. My father's last words lingered in my mind — Don't be afraid. What did I have to fear? He said the White Pheonix Brotherhood was out of our hair now. What else was there to be afraid of?

What wasn't he telling me?

There was no time to call him back. Our car had gone under a tunnel; through was a secret passageway to an airfield reserved for the elite. I knew all the major airports had long been shut down since there were reports that drinking the city's water was giving people waking nightmares. This wasn't my father's fault. I hadn't seen any proof any of this was happening. However, about two weeks ago, my father made me leave the city for our vacation home in Fengxian.

The streets of Jiaxing were full of cars looking to escape the city, but I knew there was nowhere left to go. There was widespread panic everywhere. Perhaps it wasn't the water that was making people into monsters. Maybe it was their own imagined monsters.

We left the city's lights behind, and the silent darkness of the tunnel overtook us. Amidst those honking cars and men screaming their throats raw in the hot summer air, I felt a sense of foreboding. I knew there wasn't any reason to be afraid. My father had reassured me multiple times that the reports of Black Water contamination were greatly exaggerated.

Yet, everywhere I looked, I saw terror and despair. The city was in chaos. There was furniture being thrown out of windows, garbage littering the streets, and pets being set free to fend for themselves while their owners fled.

If the reports were true, and the people were being turned into flesh-eating demons, was there any hope left for this city? And, even if I fled to Manna City, was there any hope left for me?

The papers called me a spoiled pig, a parasite dripping in couture, the princess of the fuerdai. In my view, at least here, the papers talked about me. Who was I going to be if I got on that plane? Was the price of safety worth fleeing from everything I had ever known? What kind of life would I have with my decrepit grandmother in Manna City?

"Your father said to make sure you took this with you," Mr. Pu pointed at the briefcase on the seat beside him. "Maybe it's extra spending money."

Despite everything that had happened in the last couple of hours, I reflexively wrinkled my nose at the old box leather briefcase. Its surface was dotted with blisters from being left out in the rain. The edges looked scraped beyond repair, and the gold latch had flaked off to show the rusted metal underneath. I didn't want to be seen carrying that old thing.

"Take it. It could save your life one day," Mr. Pu insisted as we approached our destination. I sighed and wrapped my hands around the handle of the briefcase. He followed me up the ramp of the private plane and made sure my belongings were secure before he retreated into the darkness.

"Goodbye, Mr. Pu. May my father give you a raise for working at this difficult time."

Mr. Pu laughed and lit up a cigarette. As I settled for the flight, I saw its light flicker in the endless night. The cabin lights were off, and I couldn't tell if anyone else was nearby. We took off secretly, so I understood the need for pitch darkness. In the distance, I saw Mr. Pu get back in the car ad turn off his headlights. And then, as the last embers of ash were carried away by the heavy, suffocating wind, he was gone.

My father always said they'll come for us one day. For once, he was right. Even before I found out about my father's arrest the next day, I knew I would never see my father or our home in Beijing again.