Chapter 148
Wang dragged the cigarette until it burned close to his fingers. “You gave the order to move her.”
Lucien’s gaze sharpened. “Careful.”
“I don’t mean you sold her yourself,” Wang said quickly, shaking his head. “But your name… your crest… was stamped on the crates that left Pier Nine that night. Everyone in the syndicate said the girl was part of the deal you made with the Southern Bloc. That she was… collateral.”
The word hung like a noose.
Lucien’s expression didn’t flicker, but inside his chest, a storm churned. He remembered the deal, steel shipments, arms trafficking, blood money. But a girl? He had never authorized that.
“Who spread it?” he demanded.
“Han knows,” Wang rasped. “That’s why he’s sniffing around. He thinks the Zhao heiress wasn’t just collateral. He thinks she’s alive. And if he’s right, then everything you’ve built...”
Wang didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.
Lucien’s hand shot out, snatching the cigarette from Wang’s fingers and crushing it into the desk. His eyes were like shards of obsidian.
“If Han believes he’s found Meilin Zhao…” Lucien’s voice dropped to a lethal whisper, “…then he’s not hunting me. He’s hunting Serena. Because the two of them were inseparable before she vanished.”
Wang’s lips parted in a grimace, but he didn’t deny it. “That’s why it’s dangerous, Feng. If Serena learns that you...” He cut himself off, swallowing hard.
Lucien’s silence was more terrifying than violence. His shadow loomed over Wang, swallowing him whole.
“You’ll keep breathing only if you continue to remember things useful to me,” Lucien said softly, but there was no softness in his eyes.
Wang sagged back into his chair, sweat beading his forehead. He knew what that meant.
Lucien turned, his coat brushing against the air like a blade. His phone vibrated in his pocket, one of his men reporting in.
He didn’t answer yet. His mind replayed Wang’s words on a loop.
Collateral. Crates. Meilin Zhao.
And Serena’s face overlapped every image.
Lucien didn’t move right away. He stood over Wang, his shadow sharp against the concrete wall, his silence more unbearable than a shouted threat. Wang shifted in his seat, jittery, his cigarette already forgotten in the ashtray.
Finally, Lucien’s voice cut through the stale air.
“What else?” His tone was low, restrained, but every syllable carried the weight of violence. “You’ve given me fragments. I want the whole of it. And tell me exactly what you passed to Han.”
Wang licked his lips, throat dry. “I didn’t… I didn’t give him everything.”
Lucien arched a brow, cold amusement in his gaze. “Everything? You just admitted there is more.”
Wang flinched. “The folder… the one Han always has with him. That’s not all he has. He made copies, backups. He’s not stupid.”
Lucien’s jaw clenched, the muscle ticking. “I asked what you told him.”
Wang swallowed hard, voice faltering. “I told him about the Pier. About the shipments. That your crest was stamped on the cargo that night. I told him people in the syndicate whispered the girl, Meilin Zhao, was moved with those crates. That she was… handed over.”
Lucien’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
“And?”
“And…” Wang’s gaze darted around the room like a trapped animal. “I told him about Serena.”
The temperature in the warehouse seemed to drop.
Lucien’s voice was sharp as glass. “What about her?”
“That she was close to Meilin. That if he wanted the truth, if he wanted leverage, he should dig around Serena’s old connections… her past before she married Ethan Zhao. Han thinks Serena might hold the key to where Meilin really went, even if she doesn’t know it herself.”
Lucien’s silence was suffocating. He stepped closer, his presence pressing down on Wang until the man’s breathing grew shallow.
“You painted a target on her back.” It wasn’t a question.
“I.. I had no choice!” Wang stammered. “Han doesn’t leave loose ends. He said if I wanted to keep breathing, I had to give him something. And you.. Feng, your empire isn’t untouchable. Everyone’s waiting for the crack. Han thinks Meilin’s the crack.”
Lucien’s lips curved in a humorless smile. “And you think I’ll let you crawl out of here after feeding him that?”
Wang’s eyes went wide with panic. He tried to rise, but Lucien’s hand shot out, shoving him back into the chair with terrifying ease.
“What else?” Lucien demanded again, his voice dropping into a growl. “I don’t want smoke. I don’t want whispers. I want names, dates, details. Every lie you told him, and every truth you shouldn’t have.”
Wang was trembling now, sweat dripping from his temple. “Han knows about the southern routes. He knows about the arms shipments that vanished into the sea after that deal. He thinks Meilin was smuggled out with them. He thinks you traded her for steel and favors. He said, he said if he can prove it, he’ll tear your empire down piece by piece.”
Lucien’s jaw tightened, but his eyes blazed with something colder than rage, calculation.
He bent close enough that Wang could see the edge of his smile. “Then let him try. But you.. you will feed him nothing else. If you so much as breathe a half truth in his direction again, I’ll see to it you vanish in ways no one will ever unravel. Do you understand me?”
Wang nodded furiously, his breath ragged.
Lucien straightened, sliding his phone out at last.
Lucien’s bootsteps echoed sharply against the cracked concrete floor as he exited the warehouse. The heavy metal door slammed behind him, muffling Wang’s uneven breathing inside. Outside, the night was cool and clear, a cruel contrast to the heat still seething beneath Lucien’s skin.
He pulled his phone from his coat pocket, ready to check his men’s reports, when a different notification flashed at the top of the screen.
Serena: “Are you okay? You’ve been so serious since you left… I can feel it, even when you’re not here. Did something happen?”
Lucien stopped in his tracks. For a moment, all the noise in his head, the creak of Pier Nine, Meilin’s pale face, Han’s smirk, Wang’s trembling voice, went silent.
Her message was so simple. So Serena.
He closed his eyes briefly, pressing his thumb against the phone as if he could anchor himself with her words. She had no idea that at that very moment, her name was already inked into Han’s blackmail, her history with Meilin twisted into a dagger waiting to be turned against him.