Kiss and Die

Chapter 36

Victoria moved to her bedroom to answer her phone; it was too noisy to talk in her lounge. She lived in a luxury penthouse apartment on the road to Stanley. She was giving seven of her top lieutenants a special treat – she had provided her men with the entertainment. They were simple creatures; easy to read, easy to please. Tonight was a victory celebration of sorts. It was to celebrate the beginning of the end. The beginning of a fight that would take her all the way. There was no stopping her now. She would court the best of the lieutenants in the Wo Shing Shing. As each of her pieces slotted into their roles she controlled them like a conductor played an orchestra. They were the new breed. They were loyal to her father, loyal to the organization but they would want a new Dragon Head when she showed them her power. Victoria sat on the chair in her bedroom in the semi-darkness. Her black leather cat suit traced her strong curves like a second skin, her diamond earrings caught the flash of lightning as she turned her head towards the window and watched the storm coming in.

‘You have done well, my daughter. But we need him broken before he can be rebuilt. Push for the prize now. Use every weapon you have. The Mansions are proving a suitable testing ground for you. You have been courting the right people. You have turned them on one another.’

‘They all want the same thing. They want money, power. They want bigger, better. They don’t think of the consequences. They don’t think of tomorrow. The Outcasts are unique, fearless. They are easy to please. There is one amongst them who is the most talented and most ruthless I have ever known; she will stop at nothing and yet she wants nothing in return except to be allowed to serve. I only have to suggest something and it’s done. I only have to dislike someone and they are dead. She sees me as her saviour.’ Victoria laughed at the notion.

‘Be careful, my clever daughter. He who treads softly goes far.’

‘Trust me, Father. I know what I am doing. But when I have done it, will you be ready to hand it all over to me?’

‘Yes. When you have proved yourself.’

Victoria closed her phone and walked back through the lounge. There was an orgy going on in her apartment. Two naked Russian girls snorted cocaine from her expensive glass table. Another sat on a man’s lap as he played cards, eyes rolling in his head. She was passed one to the other. A girl in her early teens danced naked in the centre of the room, so tired she lurched as she twirled. Her nose was clogged with methamphetamine; her head was buzzing but her body spent.

Victoria passed through and came out to stand on her balcony to look out to sea. Out on the balcony the air was charged with the electricity of the storm. The gales were picking up, caught on a typhoon’s tail. She held tight to the railing as the gusts tossed her hair into the air. Victoria smiled to herself. The night had been a good one; it would be over soon. Victoria turned back to face the wind. It took her breath away as it picked up her hair and whipped it across her face. All those years arranging flowers, holding dinner parties, watching her husband lavish his concubines with expensive gifts. All those years she took the pill without him knowing. There was no way she was going to bear a child of his. There was no way she would allow the tyranny to continue. Lucky for her he had never managed to father a child elsewhere. Now she was free and now she stood and tossed her head in the wind and laughed with the exhilaration of it all. Yes, Mann had done her a huge favour when he took care of her husband and whether he liked it or not they were joined to each other. She and Mann would rule the Triad world together. One day he would have nothing left but her.

The balcony doors slid open. The young dancer stood there naked, trailing a blanket behind her. ‘Come here, Lilly.’ Victoria beckoned her closer to the railing. The wind began to subside. They looked out as the first signs of dawn began to change the light and bring a mauve tint to the stormy sky. ‘You are a good girl, Lilly, beautiful and clever.’Victoria stroked her hair. ‘I have a present for you.’

Lilly shivered. Victoria unclasped a gold bracelet from her wrist and clipped it on Lilly’s.

‘We have achieved much but there is still some left to do. We have to seal the deal. Then you will have so much jewellery, so many fine things and you will be by my side always.’

She wrapped the blanket around Lilly’s shoulders.

‘There’s just one more thing I want you to do for me.’