As I expected, the majority were from Mandy. But amongst them was one text from Ang Lee. “I can only keep Amanda in HK for 72 hours. After that, you are on your own. If she asks, I will tell her where you are, as you both need to talk.”
I knew it wouldn’t take Mandy long to trace my credit card trail, and with Ang Lee helping her, I doubted there was anywhere I could hide. That wasn’t my goal; I just wanted a few days to consider my options. There were different routes she could take that could bring her here in half the time it had taken me. Now that I’d had a couple of days to calm down, I felt it was time we talked. I had questions, and I wanted some answers.
I dialed her number and heard the call tone, it rang for a long time, and I was expecting it to go to voicemail. I was mentally preparing the message I would leave, but I was wrong; she picked up.
“Alex, is that you? Where are you?” Mandy’s voice was soft and difficult to hear over the bass-heavy music playing in the background. A quick calculation told me it was 11:00 pm where she was. While I hadn’t expected her to turn into a nun, the laughter, music, and loud conversations, I could hear indicated she wasn’t pining for me, either. It seemed she was out partying with her friends. So much for the “I miss you” and “Please don’t leave me” messages on my phone.
“Yeah, it’s me. It sounds like you are doing okay,” I replied, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.
“It’s not what you are thinking; I’m at a business thing, one I wasn’t able to avoid,” she replied hurriedly. In the background, I heard an Australian accented woman’s voice say. “Is that Alex, Mandy?” I recognized Sian’s voice.
A business thing or not, it sounded like her friends were there. “Couldn’t, or didn’t want to? It sounds like you have your girlfriends at your business do.”
“Alex, please let me explain. Yes, Sian and Roo are here, but they are here because this is a reception for the launch of Roo’s uncle’s new business venture. I’m here as one of the bank’s representatives.”
“By uncle, I guess you mean the high and mighty Ang Lee,” I interrupted. “And is your husband there as well?”
I could hear Mandy’s sigh, “Yes, Alan’s here, so is the chairman of the board and half of the bank’s directors, it doesn’t mean anything. Ang Lee is one of the bank’s biggest clients. I’m his account manager, so I have to be here.”
I was about to respond when I had a thought, and it was a disturbing one. When had Mandy known about this event? We should have been on vacation, yet if I understood what Mandy was saying, this was an event she couldn’t miss.
“So, you’re at a business meeting you had to attend?” It was hard to keep the sarcasm out of my words, and I’m not sure I was successful.
“Yes, I’m representing the bank as Ang Lee’s financial advisor,” and she paused before continuing, preempting my next question. “And it’s only because I’m in Hong Kong. If we’d been on our vacation, I wouldn’t be here.”
“So tonight has nothing to do with the reason Alan insisted you to be in Hong Kong this week?” I asked, recalling what Ang Lee had said to me. “And if I were still there, would you have gone?”
“He mentioned it, but it wasn’t the main reason,” she admitted. “I’d have asked you to come with me.” I realized that the background noise was much lower, and I was able to hear the suggestion of doubt in her voice. Mandy must have found a secluded spot to carry on this conversation.
“I could have, but as I’m not there, it’s not an issue, is it? Just for interest, how many of the people there tonight know about you and me? If I’d been there, how would you have introduced me? I suspect only a select few know you are not living with Alan. Having the same address must be convenient to keep up the charade.”
I could sense her anxiety as she understood she was fighting to keep her place in my heart. “Alex, I know I fucked up. You were my secret, and yes, only a few of my closest friends know about you. There were loads of occasions I could have come clean. I should have told you when we first met that I was in a relationship. Christ, I told Alan about you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I wanted to know.
“I was scared you’d react the way you did,” she replied. “I knew I wanted more than a casual relationship with you that first weekend. The guy who brought me to your party had told me about your last girlfriend. I thought saying I was single would be less complicated. Because as far as I was concerned, Alan and I were finished, we had been for some time. I thought I could resolve the problem before you ever found out, then the bastard went back on his word; he wouldn’t give me the divorce he promised, and to make it worse, he got the Patriarch to back him, so I was screwed. One lie just led to another. I decided the safest thing was to keep my two lives apart until I could solve the problem.”
“Safest for you,” I pointed out. “I’ve been a part of your fantasy world ever since I met you. No wonder you kept your life over there separate, and how much fun was it to make a game out of my annual proposal of marriage? Let’s let the poor sap offer you his heart on a chain and keep him hanging.” Even I was surprised at how bitter I sounded.
I heard her sob. “I’m so sorry. I got no pleasure in it at all,” she said. “I kept trying to tell myself that you were joking when you asked me because the truth was too painful. I thought because I loved you so much, it wouldn’t matter that you’d always forgive me. I knew how deep the hole was I’d dug for myself. I pleaded with Ang Lee to force Alan to live up to his promise and let me go. All he said was once my fifteen years were up, I’d be free of all my obligations, but I had to wait.”
“Do you even begin to understand how I feel at the moment? I bared my soul to you, kept nothing back, and in turn, you’ve been lying to me.”
“I lied about one thing, and only one: my marriage. But I swear that when I met you, it was a marriage in name only. I told you that the first time I flew back here that you were the one. You were the only man for me, and I’ve kept that promise.”
I looked out into the night; lights along the side of the paths led inward towards the glow of the main house. Mandy’s voice echoed in my ear, but I was struggling to comprehend the enormity of the betrayal I was feeling. I’d given her my body and soul, kept no secrets, and it turned out I’d sinned by falling for a married woman—one who had kept me hanging on with half-truths and promises.
Yet, as I ignored the voice in my ear, I accepted that I still loved her. I knew that the margin between love and hate was as small as the distance between the two sides of a coin, and I was still unable to turn the coin over.
“Enough,” I said. “I need time to think,” and I ended the call. I was upset, and, I realized, hungry. I didn’t want to be disturbed, so I left my phone on charge in my room. Then made my way along the path to the restaurant in the main building. The food was excellent, my choice of a bottle of wine not so much. As I left, I was able to collect the keys and documents for the hire car, a small SUV, as requested.
I asked Terry if he had a number for the Corals Dive School, the school that Paul ran with his girlfriend, now wife, Angie. He did, and I gave Paul a call.
Paul sounded happy to hear from me and told me that he had an advanced course starting the following day if I was interested in updating my dive certificate. I told him to sign me up, and I’d see him the next day. He wanted to know if Mandy was with me, so I was forced to give him the briefest of explanations, just saying we argued, and I was on my own.
Jet lag and the events of the past few days caught up with me, and I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow. The bright sunlight streaming through the open shutters woke me in the morning.
I hadn’t bothered to check my phone after I got back to my room last night. There were several messages, and I glanced through them. A couple was from Mandy saying she was sorry, and she still loved me. One was from Roo, warning me that her uncle had told Mandy where I was.
Then unexpectedly, there was a voicemail from Sian.
“Thought you’d be interested to know that Mandy had a standup row with Alan at the party last night. Told him that she was sick of him trying to manipulate her constantly. Roo’s uncle had to calm things down as we thought she was going to physically hurt Alan, she was so mad at him. Roo and I took Mandy back to our place after he said he would deal with Alan. He also told Roo that he knew where you are. Mandy has to go and see Roo’s uncle this morning, so don’t be surprised if she turns up sometime soon.”
I’d been expecting something like this; I was intrigued that Sian kept calling Ang Lee, Roo’s uncle. Did this mean she didn’t know of the relationship between him and Mandy? That was a question for another time. Given Ang Lee and Mandy’s contacts, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d turned up that evening, but that wasn’t the case.
I was having a drink after the last dive of the day. It was the third day of the course, and I’d completed my re-certification as an advanced open water diver the day before. I felt I was living on borrowed time, and I intended to make the most of it before real life intruded.
There were six of us around the table in the bar next to the dive shop. There were Paul and Angie, and Sara, Angie’s sister. The other two were students, Mike and Fiona, on their honeymoon. We were all tired but happy after two enjoyable dives that afternoon, content to relax and drink the local beer as we watched the sun dip below the horizon.
“Are you sure I can’t interest you in taking the Divemaster course?” Paul was saying.
“I’ll give it some thought,” I replied. “But it’s a bit more commitment than I’m interested in at the moment. I’m just happy to go out with you and get some quality dive time.” I wasn’t sure how much time I had before Mandy arrived, and things got complicated. I just wanted to enjoy myself in the time I had left.
“In that case, are you still considering buying a full-face mask? I asked around and can get hold of one for you tomorrow if you are.”
I’d mentioned to Paul after my first dive that I found the standard dive mask a little uncomfortable, he’d let me try his full-face mask, and I’d been impressed with its comfort and ease of use. Paul had offered to see if he could get hold of one for me.
I gave him a grin and swallowed what was left of my beer. “Sure, can you get it in time for me to try it out tomorrow?”
“I’ll give the guy a call; it’ll be here in time.”
Angie said, “That’s enough business. My bottle is empty. Go get us a fresh round,” she told her husband. She looked at the last curve of the red sun and said. “Wait for it, if we are lucky, any second now.”
We all looked, and as the sun disappeared from view, there was a green flash; the sunset had come up trumps.
“Sundowner time,” Sara said, and those of us still with any beer in our bottles saluted the death of the sun and the promise of rebirth tomorrow morning.
My phone chimed with an incoming message. It was from Ang Lee, “She’s leaving HK tomorrow. Things have changed. You need to hear her out before you do anything rash. I’ve told her that she needs to tell you the truth.”
I wasn’t able to keep the concern from my face, and Sara gave me a questioning look. “Bad news?”
I shrugged, “Not really. It’s what I’ve been expecting for a few days. It looks like real life is about to catch up to me.”
As the only two “single” people on the boat, we had gravitated together. Sara was staying with Paul and Angie for an extended break after her boyfriend of several years had broken off their engagement without warning. She seemed to have sensed that I had issues, and I’d given her an abbreviated PG version of my problems. We’d both offered the other a bit of mutual support.
Sara hadn’t understood why her fiancé had broken off their engagement without any warning. I’d put my professional hat on and spent an hour talking through her recollection of the last few months. It’s difficult working with only one side of the situation. If her recollections of her ex-fiancé actions were accurate, it sounded to me that he’d been actively pulling away from Sara. Either he’d got cold feet or met another woman, but I didn’t hear anything in Sara’s story that indicated she was at fault, and that’s what I told her. It didn’t take her pain away, yet she seemed a bit more relaxed.
“Mandy’s on her way?” Sara asked.
“Looks like it. It could be interesting. She has some news for me.”
“Good or bad?”
“What’s good for her doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for me,” I pointed out. “This is the same person who thought that concealing a marriage was in my best interest. In any case, have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“I think I’ve got to go home. They won’t hold my job forever, and I’ve been told that Scott hasn’t moved out of my flat. I need to go and kick his ass into touch.” She looked at her sister, “Plus, I think I’ve outstayed my welcome.”
Her sister and brother-in-law were quick to assure Sara that she could never outstay her welcome.
“I know, but it’s time to face up to Scott and get on with my life. I had a good talk with Alex, and he’s made me see it wasn’t my fault.” She leaned over and gave me a brief kiss on my cheek. “Thanks, Alex. You have your problems but were willing to listen to mine. I’m going to check out flights home tomorrow.”
I invited all of them back to the guest house, where I was able to get a table at the restaurant. We celebrated new marriages, resolution and resolve, and a successful business.
As they were about to leave, Sara pulled me to one side. “Thank you for everything. In another time and place, I’d be dragging you off to your room and making you fuck me until exhaustion made us both collapse. Unfortunately, this isn’t that time or place, but if you and Mandy don’t make it, look me up.” She sealed her offer with a kiss.
I watched as they all climbed into a minivan. Mike and Fiona were flying out in the morning for the second part of their honeymoon, a game safari in Kenya. I’d see Paul at the dive shop, but I suspected that Angie and Sara wouldn’t be there.
The morning proved me right; only Paul and his shop assistant were at the dive shop when I turned up.
“The girls have gone shopping in Port Louis,” Paul said after he greeted me. “I’m not expecting them back until this afternoon. I’ve got a couple of novice divers coming in later, and your mask turned up a few minutes ago.” He gestured towards a Pelican case on the counter with the logo of the manufacturer embossed on the lid.
“Nice,” I said, then I gave him a grin, adding, “and it looks expensive.”
“You wanted the best, and the best ain’t cheap.”
“Then it’s a good thing the girlfriend’s bank is paying for it,” I replied. Well, Alan was, and he worked for the bank, so it was almost the same thing. I’d checked my bank account before I’d left, and the £10K Mandy had insisted he pay me as compensation for our canceled vacation had come through.
The mask was a great piece of kit, and Paul wasted no time in unboxing it and checking it out for me. He adjusted the mask and fitted it to my face. Once he’d finished, I happily paid the not-insignificant price.
The shop phone rang, and Paul answered it. From his side of the conversation, it sounded as though someone was looking to dive this afternoon. That was good news for me as it meant Paul would be more likely to take the second dive boat out.
“I’ve got Anton coming in this afternoon to look after the novice couple until Angie gets back,” Paul told me after he finished the call. “The hotel says the guest asking for a dive has her open water qualification. I’ll be taking her out to the inner reef. Are you interested in coming?”
“I’ve got my new toy to try out, so of course, I’m coming.”
“Two o’clock on the dock. I’ll rig your mask up so you can give it a proper test.”
I agreed and then headed off. I took a drive up into the hills, stopping at a roadside bar for a bite to eat. The Black River Gorges National Park is a nature reserve, and the cafe’s extensive terrace looked down the long rainforest-clad valley that gave the park its name. A troop of macaque monkeys congregated along the tree line, individuals making the occasional foray up to the multi-level terrace looking for easy pickings.
I found it amusing to watch. I’m not sure the American couple at the nearby table was of a like mind. Half their fruit platter was stolen while their attention was on a mother and her tiny baby.
I was waiting on the dock by the dive boat as Paul arrived on his own. He didn’t look amused and was quick to vent his anger. “I hate when hotels muck me around,” he snapped. “The taxi I sent to pick up the novice couple was also supposed to pick up that other customer at her hotel. The stupid receptionist sent it away, and it’ll be another hour before I can arrange for another car. I can’t pick her up as Angie has the car. The hotel’s other cars are picking up guests from the airport.”
Paul wasn’t going to leave without the other person, and I wasn’t keen on waiting, so I offered to collect the missing diver. The woman was staying at a hotel about twenty-five minutes up the coast.
Paul gave me a grateful look, “If you would, that would be bloody amazing. I’ll give Anton a hand with the other two, and they can come out to the reef with us for their first dive.”
“I should be back in an hour,” I told him.
The hotel was one of those small ultra-expensive, all-inclusive resorts, and that should have given me my first clue. The all-inclusive part included its dive school, so why would this woman want to use Paul’s school? In hindsight, I should have considered the guest was Mandy, but why would I? As far as I was concerned, Mandy knew where I was staying, and I’d fully expected her to head there as soon as she arrived on the island.
“I’m here to collect one of your guests who booked a lesson at the Coral Reef Dive School,” I told the receptionist.
“The guest’s name?” I was asked. I realized that in my hurry, I’d forgotten to ask Paul that useful piece of information.
I was fumbling for my phone to call him when from behind me, a very familiar voice said, “That’s all right. I’m the guest he’s come to collect.”
“Mandy,” it was both a question and a statement, and I fought my instinct to turn around.
“Yes.” A short and concise answer.
I gave in and turned to face her. She looked the same, yet at the same time different, and I couldn’t put my finger on what was changed. I just knew she was.
“You’re staying here.” An obvious statement. Yet I couldn’t think of anything else at the moment. I was hurt that she’d decided to stay here and not seek me out at my hotel. Irrational thoughts, I accept: I was the one who’d walked away, but I had honestly thought she would have followed me to my hotel. Was this a statement of her intent?
I got my answer, at least the answer as to why she was staying here. “The place you are staying at is fully booked,” she told me. “This hotel is part of a group owned by one of the Sung clan’s corporations. Ang Lee booked my room for me and had me flown here in his private jet.”
“Christ, don’t tell me he’s here as well?” I involuntarily asked. The implication of what she was saying hit me. The hotel management would know she was associated with the owner, and yet had been unable to find her a car after the taxi was sent away. Now I understood why Mandy wasn’t using the resort’s dive school; she’d known I was using Paul’s, which meant she either spoken to him or…
I kept my thoughts to myself and said, “The car’s parked in the driveway, have you got everything you need?” I tried to sound professional, but I wasn’t succeeding. But then, I was sure she was manipulating me again.
Mandy held up a backpack and started towards the exit. I had to hurry to catch up with her.
We were both quiet for the first couple of minutes of the drive back along the coastal road. Mandy was seemingly fixated on the passing scenery while I was concentrating on driving. At least that was what I was trying to do, her presence, her closeness, was threatening to overwhelm my senses, and I was squeezing the steering wheel until my fingers were white. I should have hated her for all the lies and false promises, but I couldn’t, and that hurt even more.
I broke the silence with a question that I was sure I already knew the answer to, “You’ve been tracking me through my credit card transactions?”
“I promised I’d never lie to you again, so yes. It’s why I convinced you to take out that low-interest credit card from my bank years ago. I get charge alerts for copies of all your statements.” She looked across to me, forestalling the question I was about to ask. “And do you want to know why?”
She didn’t wait for me to respond and continued, “It was so that if you ever booked a flight to surprise me in Hong Kong, I’d know almost immediately. I had your card transactions flagged, so if ever there were any travel-related charges, I’d get an alert within minutes.”
The more I heard, the less I knew about the woman I’d lived with for so many years. And on top of everything else, I was going to have to cancel my credit card.
“Jesus, Mandy, what else did you do to hide your second life from me?”
“I did everything to keep you from learning my secret. I had too much to lose.” She gave me a sad look. “All I had to do was to keep a lid on everything for another year or so, everything would have worked out, and you wouldn’t be any wiser. What’s happening now is exactly what I feared would happen if you found out about my marriage to Alan and all the rest of my problems.”
“How did you expect I’d react?” I risked a glance at her before looking back to the road.
She shrugged and took her time to repeat, “Like this, but I’d hoped you would understand why I did it. I haven’t been a wife to Alan since that weekend we met, and I wasn’t much of one for the year before that.”
I drove in silence as I considered this. “How many people knew you and Alan had separated?”
“Only my closest friends knew…”
I snorted at that statement; for years, I’d thought we had been closer than the closest of friends.
Mandy had the decency to blush, yet carried on. “I promised Alan I would keep quiet about the fact we weren’t living together. I agreed to keep on accompanying him to official and work-related social events, and I’d let him introduce me as his wife.”
I’d lost my enthusiasm to go out on the dive boat, so I pulled over to the side of the road to call Paul. Mandy didn’t question what I was doing; she just sat and watched me.
“Paul, something has come up; I’m going to pass on diving today. I’ll drop off the diver I picked up, then I’ll head off.”
She grasped my arm and said quietly, “I don’t want to stop talking. There are so many things we still have to discuss, and there are a couple of things you need to know.”
I nodded and returned to my call with Paul. “Your client turned out to be Mandy; she and I have some things we need to work through. I’ll pay for today’s trip, and I’d like to come out with you tomorrow. I’ve still got my new mask I want to try out.”
“So, it’s Mandy. I thought I recognized the voice. Bring her with you tomorrow. I’d like to meet the woman who’s gotten so far under your skin.”
“I’ll see how she feels about it,” I told him and finished the call. Mandy was watching my face intently; hers was reflecting her nervousness.
“So we need to talk. Do you want to start?” I said.
“Okay, but not here,” and to enforce her suggestion, the car shook as a lorry loaded with sugar cane thundered past. I agreed this was no place to have a serious talk.
“Any preference?” I asked.
“Not your hotel, nor mine. Somewhere relaxing,” Trying to ease the tension, she added, “I’m going to need every advantage I can get.”
I had no idea. Then I remembered the place I’d had lunch. That should do if we could get a table on the terrace.
The drive took us forty-five minutes, and we rode in silence. As luck would have it, there was an isolated table free on one of the lower levels of the bar’s terrace. We ordered drinks and some of the local delicacies. We waited for the food and drink to arrive before getting down to business.
I started, “Ang Lee mentioned that you had some news for me. Things that I should be aware of before making any decisions. He also said you would tell me the truth.”
Mandy didn’t say anything, just slid the sleeve of her top, up her arm, and turned her wrist. The tattoo on her wrist had been transformed. The three original tiny Chinese characters, claiming her clan allegiance, had been transformed. They were now incorporated into the body of a miniature red and green dragon, no larger than a mouse. The dragon’s scales were outlined in gold, and the tail wrapped around her wrist. The skin around the tattoo was still inflamed; the ink was new.
This must be of great importance to her, but it signified nothing to me. “This means what?” I wanted to know.
“That the debt I owe the Sung clan has been written off and that the clan has officially forgiven me. That dragon is Ang Lee’s family crest.”
Did that mean she’d shifted her allegiance from the clan to Ang Lee? I’d been upset when I’d learned the original tattoo was a visible sign she was owned by the clan. This new one seemed to confirm that she’d transferred her loyalty to Ang Lee, and I didn’t know what was worse.
“I don’t know what looks uglier, the original or the new one,” I said matter of factly.
She gasped and gave me a shocked look. “What do you mean?”
“Both label you as belonging to someone else, and that person isn’t me.”
“But that’s not what it means,” she insisted.
“It’s what it looks like to me.”
“I thought you’d be pleased.”
“Of course, I’m happy you don’t owe them anymore. But not that you thought I’d be pleased to have to look at that.”
“Ang Lee got the best tattooist to do it, it’s a piece of art,” she said defensively.
I looked at her arm, and it was a fantastic piece, but that wasn’t the point; she hadn’t done it for me. “It’s good,” I acknowledge. “But, I would have been happier if you had the original removed, not embellished.”
She gave me a sad look. “It would have taken too long, I thought you would understand why I chose this to cover up the original.”
Something Ang Lee had said to me in the hotel lobby surfaced. “When we talked, Ang Lee called you his daughter,” I pointed out. “If that the case, why did you have this done now?”
“That’s how he thought about me, but he and the clan never formalized the relationship. Now he, and it, have. I am now a member of his family.”
“Where does that leave us then?”
“Nothing has changed…” she started to say.
“Like hell it hasn’t, as far as I can see, all that’s happened is that you’ve changed one master for another.”
“You’re wrong; it’s good for both of us.”
“How?
“For me, it is. The adoption comes with several bonuses. One of which is this.” She pulled out a folder from her backpack and passed it over to me. The folder contained several sheets of paper; the top one was labeled, ‘Petition to dissolve the marriage between Alan James Davis and Amanda Julia Davis.’
“Ang Lee and his wife didn’t give Alan a choice. They sat the pair of us down and asked me if I wanted a divorce. When I said yes, Ang Lee produced that paperwork and told Alan to sign.”
“Did he?”
She gave a brief nod, “After a few complaints, he has agreed to, but he wants his lawyers to check it. My lawyer says it’ll take three months to be final once he signs.” She looked at me, fear written across her face, and she played nervously with the engagement ring on her finger. “I know I’ve damaged our relationship. I just don’t know if I’ve damaged it beyond repair. Do you want your ring back?”
She made to pull it off, but I placed my hand on hers, stopping her. “You can keep on wearing it for the moment,” I told her. “But I’m not sure how this changes the fact you made me live a lie all these years.”
“It wasn’t a bad lie. It’s not like I was having an affair with another man, and we had a lot of fun, didn’t we?”
“But you were having an affair. You had one with me. Only, I was the poor sap who didn’t know.”
I could hear the anguish in her voice as she replied, “I can’t help that I fell in love with you and would do anything to keep you.”
“You could have told me the truth. I would have accepted it if you’d told me you were in a toxic relationship and were trying to get a divorce.”
“I did think about it, but then I would have to tell you about my problems with the Sung clan and my massive debt. Do you understand how many oaths to the clan I would have broken if I had? And if I did, then I would have put both of our lives at risk. I don’t care about me, but I couldn’t let them hurt you, and they would have!”
I thought back to the implied threats from Ang Lee, and I could believe Mandy’s fears. That raised another question, “Who do you work for? Is it the bank or the Sung’s?”
“Officially, the bank; unofficially, I’m also the clan’s financial representative.”
“But, I thought that was what Alan did?”
“He does,” and she glanced down at the tattoo on her wrist, “and so do I. But the big difference is they owned me. Alan’s first loyalty was to the bank; they held mine in their hands. Even until recently, if I screwed up, my next stop would have been the whore house in Macau.”
For a second, I thought she was joking, but one look at her face told me she was telling me the truth.
“So, what happens now?” she asked.
“We need to decide where we both would like to be in a few months,” I suggested. “I don’t want to throw everything we’ve achieved away. I still love you, my feelings haven’t changed, but they’ve taken one hell of a battering.”
Mandy said, “And I still love you, too. You are the most important thing to me. I want this damn divorce to be finished so we can start planning our wedding, and you?”
I looked her in the eyes and said, “I want a girlfriend who doesn’t spend a third of the year away from me. One who isn’t constantly keeping secrets from me.”
“No more secrets,” she promised. “But if you are asking me to give up my job, that’s going to be impossible. Ang Lee won’t let me.”
I sighed; her job, and the hold Ang Lee had over her, was always going to be a stumbling block. “If we are to stay together, then I need to know that you would be willing to put me first. I keep remembering all those times I’ve had to change or cancel plans and realize they were the probable reason. Then there the countless invitations I’ve had to refuse or attend on my own because you wouldn’t or couldn’t change your travel plans. At this moment, I feel like I’m dragging up the rear, and surviving on the scraps from Ang Lee’s and Alan’s tables.”
I looked across the table and saw the tears running down her cheeks and heard the quiet sobs. “I’ve always tried to put you first whenever I was able,” she whispered. “You don’t know how many times I spent the flight to Hong Kong in tears because I felt I was letting you down.”
“Yet you still went,” I pointed out.
“I had no choice.”
I placed a finger on her tattoo. “Will you have one now, or will you always be at their beck and call?”
“That’s what I need to sort out. Alex, you have to trust that I’m doing everything I can so that we can return to where we were.”
I shook my head. “But that’s the point I’m trying to make. I don’t want to go back to where we were. Especially if that means you are going to carry on with the same travel schedule. I don’t want to live with a part-time lover.”
Worry flashed across Mandy’s face, and I guessed what she’d say next, and I was right. “I’m going to have to travel for at least the next few months. I can’t change that.”
“Can’t, or don’t want to?” I asked. As I said that, images of the evening in the nightclub surfaced, and I found it hard to forget how popular Mandy had appeared.
“Remember, you promised to tell me the truth. So is it the job, or that you don’t want to give up your friends and lifestyle in Hong Kong?”
She looked away, staring down the valley; she stayed frozen in place for several minutes.
“Mandy,” I said, and she started, settling her gaze back on me.
“Sorry, I was trying to organize my thoughts. I have to be in Hong Kong for the divorce to go through without a hitch, but I don’t need to be there full time. It’s the same with my job. There will be times I have to be there.”
She took my hand and squeezed it, saying, “I’ve lived in Hong Kong for half of my life. I love the place, and I’ve got some very close friends, but I don’t love it or them anywhere as much as I do you and our cottage.”
Our waiter walked over to us, and Mandy stopped talking. He inquired if we wanted anything else to eat or drink. I realized our glasses were empty and the plates clean, but I couldn’t recall touching any of it. Mandy nodded, and I asked for some more drinks and snacks. We waited for the waiter to leave before continuing our conversation.
“I don’t know what else I can tell you,” she said as soon as the waiter was out of earshot. “I’ll do everything I can to make things happen as quickly as possible. The bottom line is that it will take time.
“But you are not telling me what you intend to do in the long term?”
“I can’t be much more succinct than I’m being. I love you, I don’t love Alan, and I’m happy he’s finally agreed to the divorce. But I don’t want to give up my job. I’ve worked too hard to get where I am now.”
“So, does that mean you still intend to travel?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to anymore, now that I know how much it upsets you. But what do I do if the bank insists?”
I paused as the waiter returned with our drinks and then said, “I can’t tell you what to do. But I can tell you my feelings if you don’t cut back on your traveling. I’m not asking you to stop, I’d like you to, yet I’d be willing to accept an occasional business trip.” At that, I saw a glimmer of a smile appear.
But it was gone just as quickly as I continued. “But I’ve had enough of the current situation, and if that’s what you want, then I think we need to reconsider our relationship.”
She sobbed, saying, “I keep trying to explain, it’s not what I want, but I don’t make the decision, they do!”
Now it was my turn to enjoy the view while I pondered my next course of action. I had boxed myself into a corner. If I persisted with my demands, there was a fair chance I’d lose her. But if I didn’t take a stand, then Ang Lee and the bank would continue to demand that Mandy complied with their wishes, and I was far more concerned about Ang Lee’s influence than the bank’s. I kept going over our various options, not that there were many, and all seemed risky.
One thing I was sure of was that if I kept making demands of her, I’d be the one that was the loser. I kept circling one train of thought and decided to take the gamble.
“You asked me what I want. I know I’m not going to get everything. What I am going to propose is this: I’m going to give you the three months you say you need for the divorce to go through. But I want you to stay in Hong Kong for them, and I hope that you will be able to use the time to resolve any other issues.”
Mandy’s eyes were fixed on mine; if she blinked, I didn’t see it. “Does that mean you want my ring back and for me to leave the cottage?”
I shook my head, “That’s not it. I’ll keep your stuff safe. What I’m suggesting is that you take a three-month time out and concentrate on fixing your problems. I want you to keep wearing the ring. It’s just that I don’t think I can cope with seeing you on a part-time basis, knowing what I know now.”
“I’m still the same person you’ve been living with.”
“I know, and I’m sure you still love me as much as I love you, but I can’t help worrying about your second life, the one you’ve admitted wanting to keep hidden from me.”
“It’s because I love you, I felt I needed to keep it hidden. You were always in my thoughts, but I just couldn’t risk you finding out about Alan and my other issues. After Ang Lee found out about my infatuation with you, I was warned that if I ever mentioned anything about the clan’s finances or my situation, then both of our lives would be at risk.”
Even though I knew that the threat no longer existed, her words sent an icy chill down my spine.
“I’m leaving the island on Friday,” I told her. “How long are you going to be here?”
“Ang Lee’s plane will be here on Friday; it will take us wherever we want to go.”
“I’m going home, and you are going back to Hong Kong,” I told her.
She shook her head, “I have to be in London next week. I’ve got meetings with the bank’s executive board on Monday. I’m not going to fly to Hong Kong just to catch another plane to London. It’s silly for us to take different flights. Please come with me.”
It did seem silly, so I agreed; the idea of flying in a luxury private jet rather than a cramped commercial plane did influence my decision. As it was getting late, I offered to drive her back to her hotel.
“Thanks, I need to collect my things,” she said and gave me her cutest smile.
“Ahh, I meant… oh, forget it.” I sensed this was one battle I stood no chance of winning. Technically, we were still on holiday, so I’d give her this one and enjoy the next few days.
It was raining on the drive to Heathrow airport, a miserable overcast grey afternoon that matched both of our moods.
Mandy’s meetings at the bank’s head office had gone on for a couple of days, and now she was booked on the Wednesday evening flight to Hong Kong. She wouldn’t discuss what the meetings had been about; the one on the first day had gone on into the evening, and she had come home in a foul mood.
She spent an hour at the kitchen table, hammering away on her laptop, interspersed with phone calls. Finally, after slamming down the lid in frustration, she looked at me.
“When you suggested I should take the next few months to sort out the issues, I thought you were overdramatic,” Mandy said. “I couldn’t see how difficult it would be for me to wrap things up, and now I don’t think it will be long enough.” Then she whispered, “and I’m not sure it’s ever going to be long enough.”
I let her work out her frustration, but her attitude was worrying; had she thought I was joking about my goals? I loved her, but if anything, these last few days had reinforced my desire to have an everyday life with her.
I parked the car in the terminal 5 short term car park. We both got out, and I found a cart for her luggage. When Mandy packed, she’d been meticulous in letting me see that she was leaving her favorite things behind. I knew it was a promise that she expected to be back shortly. She only packed a few clothes and a half a case of documents from her home office.
She checked her cases at the first-class check-in counter. We took a stroll to the security lines. Before Mandy entered the first-class priority line, she turned to face me and pulled me close for a kiss.
“I will spend every second fixing my problems,” she said after our lips parted. “Expect me back before the three months are up!”
“I’ll be waiting for you,” I told her, and we kissed again, a mute promise of our love.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she turned and slowly walked away. She handed over her documents at the desk and was waved through. At the last moment, before she disappeared from view, she turned to face me and raised her hand in a hesitant wave. I returned it, and then she was gone from sight; my last image was her back and her long red hair.
I turned away and walked back to the car, only pausing to pay the parking fee. I slid behind the wheel and let my head slump forward and rest on the cold plastic. Only time would tell if I’d made the right decision as I couldn’t help feeling that the lure of Hong Kong would be hard for her to resist. After a moment, I started the engine and drove off.
One hundred and seven days later.
Mandy’s three-month deadline had come and gone, and there was no sign of her.
Coming home had felt like a bit of a misnomer; the cottage was an empty shell without Mandy. And it was worse because, for the first few weeks, I kept coming across intimate reminders of her presence. So much so that I ended up packing them up and storing them in her office. My feelings about her hadn’t changed; I was still desperately in love with my version of Mandy, the question that haunted me was how much of that Mandy still survived.
Mandy insisted on setting up a couple of things before she left, so I would know what she was doing and where she was. She gave me access to her agenda app and made sure I was aware she used it for all her appointments, business as well as personal. I wasn’t interested in the countless daytime business meetings, the only ones I took a passing interest in were her out of hours personal commitments. She had also wanted to enable a GPS tracking app on her phone, overruling the bank’s security team’s objections. But I couldn’t see the point, either I trusted her or I didn’t— and in any case, it would only tell me where her phone was.
I’d gone back to work and buried myself in my caseload, not wanting to think about having to go back to the empty cottage. Several new patients had been admitted while I was away. Most were teenagers whose main issue was their antisocial response to overbearing parents, who believed that their precious angels needed some tender loving care. But one was a local kid who did need my help, and I was grateful to be able to concentrate on his issues.
In the beginning, Mandy was careful to call every day. She sounded upbeat, but as the days passed, I could sense the growing frustration in her voice. But for the life of me, I couldn’t work out if the frustration was at the situation she found herself in, or me!
For the first few weeks, she was reasonably confident, feeling that she was making good headway in her negotiations with both the bank and with the Sung clan. The only fly in the ointment was Alan; after agreeing in principle to the divorce, he kept throwing up roadblocks.
“I’ve told Ang Lee what Alan’s up to, and he said he will talk to him again,” she told me one evening, the frustration evident in her voice. “Now he wants me to give back my apartment, and I don’t see why I should. He gave it to me, and I don’t see why he would expect me to give it back.” She sounded equally hurt and pissed off.
“Does it matter?” I wondered. “I thought the plan was for you to move back to the UK full time, so why would you need it?”
“I know, but when I’m working out of the London office, I’ll still need to come out here for a few days, every couple of months. And when that happens, we will both need somewhere to stay, as I’m never coming here again without you. Even if I don’t need to, we can always sell it. I had it valued, and even though it small, because of its prime location, it’s worth almost two million dollars. That’s American dollars, not Hong Kong.”
“That’s probably the reason he wants it back,” I pointed out. The money wasn’t important, and I tried to get her to see that. If giving back the apartment to Alan was the key to resolving their divorce, then I was all for it. But she wasn’t convinced.
It wasn’t long after that, her calls began slipping to every other day, and I noticed that when I tried calling her, most of my calls would go to voicemail. After the third unanswered call in a row, I started to believe my suspicion that the lure of Hong Kong would be too great for her to resist was proving correct. Not that her lack of communication mattered, I was getting updates on her from other unsolicited sources.
I stopped calling her and resisted the urge to check her calendar. It was another week before she called, and this time I let it go to my voicemail. Before I returned her call, I checked on a few things, none of which surprised me.
I called her back, using a video call, as I wanted to see her face while we talked. She looked haggard, and there was a brittleness to her voice that I’d never heard before. “Alex, I’m so sorry. I keep meaning to call you, but I’ve been so busy.”
“I know you’ve been busy,” I replied. “The question is, at what? You stopped calling or answering the phone.”
“I have been busy; nothing is turning out to be as simple as I thought it would be.”
“So, is there any progress?”
“Some,” she said. “Alan is listening to reason and signed the divorce papers last week.”
“That would have been nice to know.”
She gave me a guilty look, “Christ, I’m sorry, I should have called to let you know.”
“That’s alright, I’m getting used to being the last person to know anything important about you.” I couldn’t help the bitterness in my voice.
I saw her suck in a breath, then after a pause, she said, “That hurts, but I deserve it. How close am I to completely fucking everything up, Alex? I don’t want to lose you.”
“Only you can know that. Do you want to tell me what’s been going on, why you haven’t been keeping in touch?”
“I’m doing everything I can to fix things so I can come back to you. All I’m doing is going to work and sleeping.”
“So, you haven’t been going out in the evening?”
She blanched, “No, well, Sian and Roo made me go out with them a few times. But all we did was have a few drinks.”
I shook my head slowly. “Is that so…” I paused, waiting to see if she’d add anything to her statement, which didn’t gel with my other information.
Both Sian and Roo had found me on Twitter and insisted I follow them so I would be able to see their posts. Their idea was that I would be able to see what Mandy got up, or more importantly, didn’t get up to when she went out with them. They keep tagging me in their tweets. Their tweets were usually innocuous, but it was the comments on them that revealed so much. Did you know that Twitter will translate Chinese into English? I hadn’t, but I do now.
“You might want to review the comments on your girlfriend’s tweets before you say anything else,” I added after waiting for her to say anything about her nights out.
“Wait, what?”
“Your friends have been posting about your evenings out with them. Did you know that their friends call you the party girl?”
I recalled one of the comments on a photo of Mandy dancing with a Chinese man, and quoted it, “Great to see party girl out enjoying herself again. We missed her.”
Mandy’s expression froze, and only her eyes moved, and the image shook. She must have been checking her friends’ Twitter feeds, and the look of horror told me when she started reading the comments.
Which after a few moments of silence, led me to ask, “Have you any intention to come back? Should I just pack your things up and send them to you?”
“Don’t you dare. Of course, I’m coming back to you. I admit I did a bit more than have a few drinks with them, but nothing you would be worried about. I just wanted to let my hair down and burn off some of my frustration.”
“So Party Girl means nothing then?”
“It’s a stupid name that Sian gave me when we were at university because I was bouncy and enjoyed dancing, not for any other reason. She carried on using my nickname when she moved to Hong Kong. Roo and our Chinese friends picked up on it and started using it if we went out clubbing. I love you, Alex, and I haven’t and will never betray you. I’m still wearing your ring, and I don’t intend to take it off.”
She waved her hand at the camera so I could see the ring.
“Good,” was all I could think of to say.
Mandy smiled, then she looked serious. “Alex, this is going to sound I’m making excuses, but I promise you I’m not. Please don’t panic if I don’t call often. It’s not that I don’t love you, but I’m missing you so much, and it’s so hard hearing your voice and know that I won’t be able to see you until it’s all sorted out.”
I understood what she meant; hearing and seeing her, knowing she was half the world away was hard, very hard. “I understand, but I want you to keep in touch even if it’s just a text each week.”
“I’ll try, only the next few weeks are going to be even more manic. On top of everything else, now I’ve been told I have to train a man from the clan to act as my assistant, and it’s an upward slog. Intelligence was not the prime consideration when Ang Lee chose him, family loyalty was, and it is making my task even harder.” She gave me a cautious look, hoping to see any hint of what I was thinking in my expression.
Failing to do so, she continued, “I’m going to tell the girls that I won’t be going to any clubs with them, and yes,” she said before I could point out the issue with that, “I know you are going to point out that as I know about the tweets, I could just tell them to stop. Well, I won’t, I promise you nothing will happen.
I considered what she had said, “I’ll take you at your word then. I’m not going to call again,” I told her. “If you call or text me, I’ll reply, but if you are going to be as busy as you say you will be, I see no point in me calling if I can’t guarantee you are going to answer.”
We had that conversation over a month ago, and she’d texted twice and called once. Her self-imposed three-month deadline came and went, and there was no sign of her. A week after the deadline, I broke my own rule and tried calling her. She didn’t pick up, so I left a message.
“Mandy, I love you, but I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m running out of patience. You’ve had more than the three months you said you needed. I’ve no idea if you ever intend to come home. I can’t carry on like this. I’m going to pack up all your stuff next week, and I’ll put it in storage. When you have the time, call and let me where you want me to send it.”
I thought for a couple of seconds and added, “There’s no point calling unless you mean to come home. No more, just a few more days, no more, just one last thing to resolve. Only call if you have your flight booked; in fact, only call when you are about to board. If you are not here in ten days, I will know where I stand.”
I hung up with mixed emotions. It felt good getting my frustration off my chest, but on the other hand, I wasn’t leaving Mandy much wriggle room, and it could all backfire on me. And the bottom line was that I missed her, I wanted to believe I’d be fine if she never came back, but even I knew how big a lie that was.
If I was honest with myself, I was my own worst enemy. Ever since Mandy’s past had come to light, I’d been trying to play the hard man. Trying to overcompensate for what I’d perceive as a betrayal of our relationship. But now I’d had time to consider the situation Mandy was in, I wasn’t sure if I would have reacted any differently to the way she had.
How could I condemn a teenage girl who took the only way out of an intolerable situation and had been manipulated by the important men in her life? I wasn’t happy that she’d kept so much of her life a secret from me, but I believe she had finally come clean—and I was convinced she had told me the truth when she said I was the only person she’d slept with since we first met.
Another week passed, and my phone didn’t ring. I went through the cottage and reluctantly packed up the last of Mandy’s belongings, and they joined the rest of her stuff in the office. I looked at all her stuff I’d packed away, but I couldn’t take that last step and rent a storage unit for it.
After I placed her last box on the shelf, I sat at her desk, surrounded by all her stuff. I felt the tears rolling down my face as the harsh reality of the situation came crashing down on top of me. A situation that was as much my fault as it was hers. I couldn’t help remembering all the good times we’d had. I wasn’t sure if I could have survived been all the trials and tribulations Mandy had gone through since her father’s death. A death she was still convinced was a suicide, but I knew it had been an execution. I can’t imagine what she must have been thinking when Ang Lee’s uncle was threatening to drag her off to the brothel. And then to find out the marriage to a man she had looked up to was nothing more than a business deal.
Then we’d met, and both of our lives changed. I could understand how she had felt, stuck in a world, and a marriage she had little or no control over, and then suddenly, she could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was the same, a lonely, bitter man, and then this red-headed ray of sunshine appeared the world looked great again. All she had to do last out until the fifteen years of her servitude were over, and she could have the life she’d always wanted with me. And I’d fucked it up for her because I’d gotten on my high horse over a spoilt vacation
I had been going to wait one last weekend before calling the removal company. But now I decided her things could stay here for as long as it took for her to make up her mind.
That Friday, I was on call at the clinic, and a new patient was admitted halfway through the evening. A fifteen-year-old girl who’d tried to commit suicide was transferred from a private hospital in London. Her parents thought she was just attention-seeking, but as soon I spoke to her, I knew that her suicide had not been a cry for help but a serious attempt to end her life. I got no sleep that night as I attempted to understand her motivation.
Under normal circumstances, I would have allowed the girl to get a good night’s sleep before starting any treatments. But she wanted to talk, and I wasn’t going to stop her. She talked until exhaustion got the better of her, and she fell into a deep sleep to the sound of the dawn chorus. Her revelations had drawn my ire, and I struggled to maintain my professionalism.
She was still fast asleep when my replacement came on duty at eight o’clock, and my shift ended. I gave a shift report and my suspicions about the young girl to my colleague, and then with a sense of relief, I drove home. I was exhausted by the time I staggered upstairs, collapsing fully clothed on the bed, and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
It was late afternoon when I finally woke up. I showered, and, feeling refreshed, headed downstairs. Nothing seemed to have changed. I took a container of cold cuts and a bottle of beer from the fridge. I went out onto the patio and sat down at the table.
The late afternoon sun was warm on my face, and leaning back to enjoy it, I looked up. The blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds, and bisecting it was the sharp white line of a jet’s contrail.
The line brought me back to earth; it cut through the sky like the line I’d drawn in my relationship with Mandy. It was looking more and more like I’d wasted seven years of my life on a relationship that was probably doomed from the start. I thought back, only four months ago, I was content in a relationship that, while it had the odd flaw, was the best thing that had happened to me.
Now she was on the other side of the world, and I had no idea what her intentions were. For years I thought we were the perfect couple, only to find out she’d been married for as long as I’d known her.
I took a long swallow from the bottle of beer and savored the bitter, cold liquid as it slipped down my throat. Then I pinched the bridge of my nose at the sharp stabbing pain in my sinuses, damn it, bloody brain freeze.
“Shit, shit, that hurts.”
“I was going to ask you if there were any more in the fridge,” a familiar voice asked. “But seeing your reaction, I’m not sure I want one now.”
“It’s good, just too bloody cold,” I gasped, wiping the tears from my eyes. Mandy stood in the open doorway. She looked tired, her face haggard, and she looked thinner than I ever remembered. But the smile on her face was the same. There was a bandage wrapped around her wrist that extended halfway up her forearm, the one she’d had tattooed. I thought it would be the first thing she mentioned, but I was wrong.
“You didn’t call.”
“I tried when I got to the airport, but your phone was off.” She was right, I’d switched it off the previous evening, and I didn’t think I had switched it back on. I wasn’t sure where it was.
I nodded, “I had it off; I was busy with a patient last night,” I explained.
Mandy stepped back into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with two fresh bottles of beer. She sat down beside me and took a cautious sip. “Cold, but nice,” she said.
“When did you get in?” It seemed odd talking so casually after so long apart.
“A few hours ago. I saw your car, so I knew you were here. I checked, and you were fast asleep, so I lay down on the sofa. I must have dozed off; I woke up when you came downstairs.”
How had I missed her? But then I recalled going straight to the kitchen after I came downstairs.
“I see most of my stuff has been packed up.”
“Seeing it lying around was getting painful,” I admitted. “I haven’t got rid of it; it’s all in your office. The question is, are you here to collect it, or unpack?”
“I’d like to unpack if you’ll have me. This has been the hardest three months of my life.”
I didn’t move; I needed to know more before I let her get back under my skin.
“Are you going to tell me what happened, why I haven’t heard from you for the past few weeks?”
She took a long pull from her bottle, finishing the contents, then placed the empty bottle on the table. “I want you to know how much I love you. I can’t count the number of times these past months I’ve picked up the phone to call you or the emails I’ve written, but each time, I couldn’t make the final move. I didn’t keep in touch because that was the less painful option. Everything I was trying to fix just seemed to be hurting our relationship.
She looked at me, “I thought it would be easy. I had three things to sort out: the bank, my responsibilities to Ang Lee and the clan, and the divorce, and then I could come home. The bank was simple. After a couple of weeks of being difficult, I threatened to resign and pointed out that if I did, then it was highly likely that Ang Lee would move all the Clan’s accounts. That would have been the tip of the iceberg; if he did, then hundreds of others would probably close their accounts. And if that happened, it would have taken years for the bank to recover, if it even could.”
“But that would have made you even more dependent on Ang Lee.”
“That was the lesser of two evils. The bank had offered me a promotion to senior manager of foreign investments based in London, with minimal travel. I only had to make one concession and agree to attend the bi-monthly management meeting in Hong Kong.”
That explained why she wanted to keep the apartment. “So, one down and…?”
“Alan,” she said bitterly. “I underestimated how angry he would be at the divorce. When we first separated, I had agreed to keep up the impression that we were still together. I’d go out to dinner, and social events with him, things like that. Living next door to him made it easier for him to maintain the facade. The problem is that because I was willing to keep up the facade, Alan began to believe there was still hope for us.”
This was something I’d been concerned about ever since I’d learned that she was married. That she and Alan still had feelings for each other, and if hadn’t been Alan, from what I’d observed, she didn’t lack in eligible companions to keep her occupied the weeks she was in Hong Kong.
She gave me a nervous smile, “I had to have all the locks changed after he started dropping in uninvited, and I had a security system installed, and that didn’t amuse him.”
“How far did you have to go to keep up the appearance of being married?” I asked.
She gave me an intense look. “I told you that from the day we first met, I’ve been faithful to you, and that hasn’t changed. There have been numerous opportunities to stray, but I was never tempted.”
She reached across and clasped my hand. “You have been the most important person in my life for the past seven years. Please don’t throw all that away because I’ve been such an idiot.”
I squeezed her hand back, and a look of relief flashed across her face.
“The main reason I had never wanted you to join me in Hong Kong,” she admitted. “Was because of the stupid promise I’d made to Alan, that I keep up the pretense that he and I were still happily married. I was convinced that the first time you came with me, someone would tell you I was married. I thought Roo was going to tell you that evening at the club. A few of my closest friends knew the truth, and only Sian and Roo knew about you. As far as the bank and our casual acquaintances were concerned, we were a happily married couple. The result was that on several occasions, I’ve had to share a room and even a bed with him when we were on business trips together.”
“What does that mean?”
“Just what I said. If Alan and I were to be at the same place on a business trip, the bank would only book one room for us. Fortunately, they’d usually book a suite, so there would be two beds. But occasionally, there was only one, and we’d have to share. But that’s all we ever did.”
“Okay, but why didn’t one of you get another room?”
“Because of our stupid agreement, I had to pretend I was his loving wife. So getting a second room was never an option.”
I wasn’t convinced, but I decided to leave it. “So what was the issue with the divorce? I was under the impression you and he had agreed to it, at least that’s what you told me.”
“I hurt his ego; he knew I’ve been talking about a divorce for years, but he’d convinced himself I didn’t mean it. We had an agreement when we got married that I could ask him for a divorce if I met someone else, but when I asked after meeting you, he wouldn’t talk to me about it. Then Ang Lee told me I should wait until my fifteen years were up.”
Yes, those damn fifteen years kept rearing their ugly heads.
Mandy had continued, “I’ve been telling him he should start preparing our friends for the inevitable, but when I wasn’t around, he kept insisting that we were fine. Christ, earlier this year, the silly bastard was telling our friends that I was going to move back to Hong Kong full-time as we were trying for a family.”
A suspicion tickled the back of my neck. “When earlier this year?” I wanted to know.
“Oh, maybe six months ago,” she replied.
About the time she was asked to extend some of her trips, I realized. Ang Lee had mentioned that Alan was the reason we’d had to cancel our vacation and triggered all this. The bastard had been manipulated her for months.
“So that’s what he was up to,” I mused
“Who was up to what?” Mandy wanted to know.
“Alan, he’s been doing his damnedest to split us up for most of the past year.”
“Are you sure?”
“Why else would he have done what he did.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. When I went back there after our holiday, the first thing I did was make sure I told everybody about my relationship with you, and that he and I had been living separate lives for years. He went completely off his head over that, telling everyone that I was delusional and refused to talk to me to discuss anything about divorce. He demanded I move back in with him and started legal action to force me to give him my apartment. He claimed he’d never given it to me. I had to get Ang Lee to speak to him.”
Christ, how many favors did she owe that man? “What happened?”
“Ang Lee invited both of us to a meeting with him to try and resolve our issues. Alan couldn’t stop making ridiculous demands and kept insisting that I still loved him. That stopped when Ang Lee simply pointed out that if he was dead, then I’d be free to marry whoever I wanted, and I’d inherit everything.”
“Would he have done it?”
“Of course, he would have; my father committed suicide rather than face Ang Lee’s wrath. He would have arranged Alan’s death without breaking a sweat, and Alan knew it. That’s when he signed the documents.”
If I need any more proof of how much power and fear Ang Lee wielded, I’d just heard it. He could have casually arranged for Alan’s death with a snap of his fingers. Hell, he had arranged her fathers. What had the cost to Mandy been?
I looked at the woman sitting beside me, who was nervously twisting the engagement ring around her finger.
“And last but not least, Ang Lee, what’s happening with him?” I asked. “Has he released you from your servitude?”
“Yes and no, as he told you he would, he formally wiped out the debt my father created. But he asked me to stay on as his financial advisor, his and the clan’s.”
“And do you want to do it?”
“It was fun being on both sides of the camp. The bank knew I had Ang Lee’s trust, that’s why they put me in charge of his accounts. But they weren’t aware I was the one in his organization they were dealing with. But I’ll give it up in an instant if it causes any problems between us. I don’t think you trust Ang Lee.”
She was right; I didn’t trust his motives when it came to Mandy. Worse, he scared the living daylights out of me. He reminded me of a used car salesman I’d known, smiling as he screwed you out of your savings. And if you complained, then he was quite happy to have the problem permanently removed.
“What would happen if I said I’d prefer you don’t take up his offer. Weren’t you training up a replacement?”
She shrugged, “I was. Then that’s what I will tell him. I’ll offer to mentor the clan’s replacement for the next few months and let Ang Lee know I’ll carry on keeping an eye on their bank and investment accounts.” She fell silent, and without looking, I knew she was intently watching me for any indication of my decision about her future.
The silence stretched out until she broke it. “I feel that I’m in a good place, Alex. I know you are still upset with me, and I wish to God that I’d told you the truth from day one. I knew after our first weekend together that I was in love with you. Despite everything that’s happened since my feelings for you haven’t changed.”
“And what’s happened to your wrist?”
She glanced down at her bandaged arm. “There wasn’t enough time to have the tattoo removed. The best I could do was change it.” She started to remove the bandage, “He only finished it yesterday, so it’ll look a bit raw and inflamed.”
The last of the bandage came away, and all was left was the transparent plastic film that covered the changed artwork. Now the dragon sported a collar and chain. The chain was held by a man who looked a lot like me. The dragon had been subtlety changed to look like it was cowering. The whole thing was only six inches in length.
“You own my tattoo, you are its master,” she said. “Can I come home Alex, can I unpack my things?”
“I’ll give you a hand,” I said as I stood up.
The end.