MARRY YOUR KILLER
Chapter Thirty: The Meeting
---
The warehouse at the edge of the Port of Manila was dark when Jay arrived.
She came alone, her car cutting through the night, the city lights falling away behind her. The gates opened. The guards stepped back. She drove into the belly of the building where the walls were steel and the floor was clean and the air smelled like salt and secrets.
She parked. She killed the engine. She sat in the dark for a moment, her hands on the wheel, her face calm. The ring was on her finger. Keifer had put it there. She hadn't taken it off.
She stepped out of the car.
Freya was waiting at the door. Her arms were crossed. Her face was sharp. She looked at Jay's hand. She saw the ring. She didn't say anything.
"They're waiting," Freya said.
Jay walked through the door.
---
The meeting room was a converted shipping container, welded into the warehouse structure, soundproof and windowless. The lights were harsh. The table was steel. Around it sat the women who kept the Mariano empire running when the sun went down.
Freya took her place at Jay's right hand. Rakki was sprawled in her chair, her feet on the table, her face lazy. Mica was at her laptop, her glasses on her nose, her fingers still. Ella was at the far end, her hands wrapped around a cup of coffee that was probably cold. Lyra was in the corner, her face in shadow, her presence more felt than seen. Care was beside Grace, her medical bag on the floor, her hands empty. Grace was beside her, her eyes scanning the room.
Ci N was at the table. He was young. He was small. He was the only man in the room. He didn't look out of place.
Felix was beside him. Quiet. Watching. Waiting.
Jay stood at the head of the table. The ring was on her finger. Her mother's pearls were around her throat. Her face was calm.
"Close the door," she said.
Freya closed the door.
---
The room went quiet.
Jay looked at her girls. Her family. Her army. The women who had been with her through everything.
"My uncle has been moving money for weeks," she said. "Mica found the trail. It leads to Singapore. To Meridian Group. To the people who have been funding the war for thirty years."
Mica looked up. Her face was pale.
"The money goes through seven shell companies," Mica said. "Three in Hong Kong. Two in Macau. One in the Caymans. One in Singapore. The Singapore account is the main. It's where everything ends. And it ends with a name."
She turned her laptop. The screen showed a photograph. Old. Faded. A man in a suit, standing in front of a building, his face turned toward the camera.
Jay looked at the photograph. Her face didn't change.
"Who is he?" Rakki asked.
Mica looked at Jay. "He's her father's brother."
The room went still.
"Her uncle's brother," Mica said. "The one who died. The one who was supposed to have started the war."
Rakki's feet came off the table. "He's dead."
"He's not dead." Mica's voice was flat. "He's been in Singapore for thirty years. Running Meridian Group. Funding the war. Keeping both families fighting while he got rich."
Ci N stood up. His chair scraped against the floor. His face was pale.
"Jay," he said.
She held up her hand. He stopped.
"The war," she said, "was never about my uncle. It was never about the Watsons. It was about two brothers who wanted the same thing. One of them died. The other disappeared. And the war kept going because someone was paying for it."
She looked at the photograph. At the man who was supposed to be dead.
"Find him," she said. "Find out where he is. Find out what he wants. Find out who he's been paying."
Mica's fingers started moving. "I'll find him."
Jay looked at her girls. At Freya's sharp eyes, Rakki's still hands, Ella's steady face. At Lyra in the shadows, Care with her bag, Grace with her fists. At Ci N and Felix, the boys who had been with her since the beginning.
"This war ends," she said. "Not in two years. Not when the contract says. It ends when I say it ends."
She looked at the ring on her finger. Gold. Thin. A circle that meant something now.
"And when it ends," she said, "we're going to be the ones standing."
---
The meeting went on for hours.
Mica laid out everything she had found. The money. The accounts. The names. The connections that led from Manila to Singapore to Hong Kong to places Jay had never heard of. Her uncle was a soldier. A pawn. The man in the photograph was the king.
Lyra moved from the shadows. Her voice was low. Her face was cold.
"The Shadow Market," she said. "They're the ones who move the money. They're the ones who move the weapons. They're the ones who have been keeping the war alive."
Jay looked at her. "You know them."
Lyra's face didn't change. "I was one of them."
The room went still.
Ci N's hand moved to his pocket. His phone. His recording. His hand stopped.
Lyra looked at Jay. Her face was calm. Her eyes were not.
"I was sixteen," she said. "My father sold me to them. I was there for two years. I know how they work. I know who runs them. I know where they hide."
Jay walked to her. She stood in front of her friend. Her sister. The woman who had been with her through everything.
"You never told me," Jay said.
Lyra's voice was quiet. "I was ashamed."
Jay took her hand. Her fingers were cold.
"You're not alone," Jay said.
Lyra looked at their hands. Her face didn't change. But something shifted in her eyes.
"I know," she said.
---
Ci N found Jay after the meeting.
She was standing in the small room at the end of the warehouse, the room with the desk and the chair and the photograph of her father. She was looking at the photograph now, at his face, at the man who had taught her to be strong, the man who had been lying to her her whole life.
Ci N stood in the doorway.
"You're going to find him," he said. "The man in the photograph."
She didn't turn. "I'm going to find him."
He walked into the room. He stood beside her.
"And then?"
She looked at the photograph. At her father's face.
"And then I ask him why."
Ci N took her hand. His fingers were small. They always would be.
"I'll be with you," he said. "When you go. I'll be there."
She pulled him close. She held him. He was so small. So warm. The only person in the world who had never asked her to be anything but herself.
"I know," she said.
---
The night was ending when Jay walked out of the warehouse.
The sky was gray. The city was waking up. Her car was waiting. Her girls were gone. Freya had left first, taking Rakki with her, their voices low, their faces sharp. Mica had gone with Calix, her laptop under her arm, her fingers already moving. Ella had driven Care and Grace home. Lyra had disappeared into the shadows, the way she always did.
Ci N and Felix were in the back seat. Ci N was asleep, his head on Felix's shoulder. Felix was awake, his hand in Ci N's hair, his eyes on the window.
Jay sat in the driver's seat. She looked at her hand. The ring was there. Gold. Thin. A circle that meant something now.
She started the engine.
---
The house was quiet when she got home.
She parked in the driveway. She walked to the front door. It opened before she could knock.
Keifer stood in the doorway. His face was tired. His eyes were dark. He was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. He hadn't slept.
"You're back," he said.
"I'm back."
He stepped aside. She walked in.
The house was dark. The living room was empty. The study was empty. The kitchen was empty. Keiran was asleep in his room. Keigan was in his room, his light on, his door open.
Jay stood in the hallway. Keifer stood behind her.
"You found something," he said.
She turned. His face was close. His eyes were steady.
"I found everything," she said.
---
END OF CHAPTER THIRTY