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“You spent the day with that old woman,” Mother says. “The tea shop owner.”
“That wasn’t—it was only an hour or two, and only because—”
“Shut up,” Father says quietly. He never raises his voice, not even when he’s angry, which somehow makes him all the more terrifying. “And listen to what you are going to do to make this up to us.”
Millie shakes her head. “Please, don’t. She’s a poor old woman who lives on her own. I don’t want to—”
“Want?” Mother says. “Since when does what you want matter, Daughter?”
Millie thinks of the sweet, warm laughter between Vera and everyone she knows. Normally, Millie would cower and say, yes, she’ll do it, whatever they ask of her. But when she thinks of that moment back in Vera’s teahouse and what Father and Mother want her to do to Vera, she can’t bring herself to say yes. “I won’t do it,” she says.
Father and Mother exchange a glance. “Then maybe the time has come to teach you a lesson,” Mother says. She reaches out for Millie.
There is only enough time for Millie to squeak, “No,” before she is yanked forward, painfully, unforgivingly, and then she finds that she can’t say anything at all.
Twenty-One
VERA
“What the fuck, Vera!” Selena snaps as she storms inside Vera’s teahouse.
Vera gapes at her in shock and horror. “You talk to mother-in-law like that?”
“What?” Selena says. “You’re not my—”
Tilly slides in front of Selena, standing between her and Vera. “Never mind that. Ma, Selena is just really worried about you. You didn’t tell us about your shop getting vandalized. Oliver called and told Selena about it earlier.”
“Yeah,” Selena says, craning her neck to glare at Vera over Tilly’s shoulder. “What the fuck? We’ve been over this, Vera. You’re not a PI, and you can’t let something like that go unreported. This is really dangerous. Someone out there wants to hurt you. How could you not tell us?”
Vera is still horrified by Selena’s show of extreme disrespect—when Jinlong’s parents were still alive, Vera had been the picture of perfect filiality. She practically bowed to them every time theyspoke, and she never once called them by their names, never! It was always “Ma” and “Ba,” and she spoke to them with the deference one kept for deities. And here is Selena shouting at her and saying “fuck” to her. Unheard of!
“Ma,” Tilly pleads. “We’re really concerned about your safety.”
Vera gives herself a little shake, focusing on Tilly. “Don’t be silly. Why you have to be concern? I am okay. I can take care of myself.”
“You clearly can’t,” Selena says. “You need to come stay with us for a while, until we catch the perp who did this to your shop.”
Ever since Tilly moved out, all Vera has ever wanted was to be invited to be a part of his life again. If anyone had told her last year that she would one day be invited to stay at his house by his girlfriend, she would’ve cried with joy. But now, all Vera can think of isTHE DISRESPECT!
“No, thank you,” Vera says icily.
Tilly closes his eyes for a moment. “Ma, I know you’re angry right now, and we can absolutely talk about it, but for now, can we put that aside, and let’s start packing your things, okay?”
Vera narrows her eyes at him. That’s his lawyerly tone of voice that he uses when he speaks to a difficult client. He’s trying to handle her. Hah, well, she’ll show him that Vera Wong is unhandleable. “Thank you for kind offer, but no. I am able-body adult, I don’t want to impose.”
“You won’t be imposing.”
“You know what is imposing?” Selena says. “Imposing is you doing your own investigation into an ongoing case when you have no authority and no expertise, and then getting yourself tangled up in the mess.”
“What you mean, no expertise? I solve Marshall Chen case,didn’t I? You all think his death is accident only, and if not for me, you would not have find out it is murder.”
Selena takes a deep, frustrated breath. “Yes, and we thank you for your service, but that was just a one-time thing. You’re not a trained detective, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.” The anger in Selena’s voice gives way to sadness. “Vera, you mean so much to so many people. You take such good care of everyone around you. All I’m trying to do is convince you to take better care of your own safety.”
The ice that has wrapped around Vera’s heart thaws a little. She sniffs. “Hmph. Well, I appreciate that. But I don’t want to stay with you.”
“Ma, why not?” Tilly groans.
“Because, how you can have sexy time with me around?”