Chapter 4
When the car finally comes to a stop I'm already on the verge of sleeping in the back seat. I feel the door open by my side and hands reach out to lift me. I blink my eyes open but I can't seem to recognise where I am. I hear a woman's voice.
"Get this out of here. He probably has a tracker on it." The woman says in a stern voice. I moan and stretch my arms, the person who's holding me moves me downwards and I feel grass beneath me. I hear the sound of a nearby car driving away.
"What the-" I begin, cut off by a sharp prick in my arm. This causes me to thrash my hands about, warning signals once again echoing in my intoxicated thoughts. I open my eyes and try to understand my surroundings but whatever was just injected into me is quickly taking control of my conciousness. I feel myself slipping into the darkness that clouds my vision.
"Shh, Lena. Rest." The woman says, I feel her stroking my hair. I try to speak but my words come out in unintelligible mumbles.
–
"Lena, wake up." I hear Felix' voice and feel my cheeks being lightly slapped. I thrust my eyes open quickly and sit up, only to feel the sudden urge to throw up. I go very dizzy and have to lie back down again.
"You look so glamorous right now, Mrs Gao." I hear Li say sarcastically. I open my eyes and feel a painful headache come on as my eyes adjust to the sunlight. Felix is holding a water bottle out in front of me and I take it to sip with a nod of gratitude. I look around to see that I'm in dusty room with torn wallpaper and old run-down furniture.
"Where am I?" I ask, leaning back on the couch I've been placed on.
"I thought you would remember, seeing as you paid the driver a large amount of your allowance for him to bring you here." Li says, moving to sit on the spot next to me, where Felix was once sitting.
"What?" I look over at him and my stiff neck aches with pain.
"We're in an opium den, Lena." He shakes his head, bringing his buzzing phone out of his pocket and to his hand.
"I didn't ask to be brought here. The woman did." I furrow my eyebrows, struggling to remember the events of the night. I get flashbacks of kissing William and feel my cheeks flush with heat. I look up and Felix is studying my face curiously.
"What woman?" He asks, sitting on an armchair near me.
"I don't know who it was but she knew my name." I tell him.
"What did she look like?" Felix asks, looking at me with concern.
"I don't remember." I shake my head.
"Of course you don't." Li says, rolling his eyes. "Lena, I wish you weren't so childish." I look at Li and he widens his eyes at me, clearly he can tell his comment has put me in a worse mood than I'm already in.
"I'm not lying, someone stuck a needle in my arm." I move to look at the ruined sleeves of my dress but see that there is no puncture wounds at all.
"What the hell?" I furrow my eyebrows again. I look up at Li and he shakes his head in disbelief. I then turn to Felix and get the impression that he, too, doesn't believe me.
"If you are having a problem with substance abuse then you can tell us, Lena. Just don't make us worry by staying out all night and then lie to our faces." Li says, a serious look on his face.
"What?!" I would stand to show my anger at his comment but I might fall over. "When I'm not with you I'm cooped up in that house all day- you would know if I was developing an addiction!" I look to Felix in desperation for someone to side with me. He keeps his eyes on mine but eventually looks to the floor silently.
"I can't believe this." I shake my head.
"If you insist you're clean then you won't mind a trip to Dr Wang." Li stands, placing his phone in his pocket.
"Fine, whatever." I push myself up from the sofa and Felix moves to my side, placing a steadying hand on my arm. I pull my arm away from him as punishment for his disloyalty and he sighs at me, moving close by my side anyway. When Li opens the room door his assistant is standing on the other side with sunglasses for both Li and I as well as a baseball caps for both of us.
"If the media hear about this little mishap we're going to have a serious problem." Li says, looking at me sternly. I put on the sunglasses and hat and Felix hands me his leather jacket to wear over my ruined party dress. We sneak out the back entrance and a little old man scurries after us and calls out something in Chinese. I don't recognise what he says but it appears to annoy Li. When we get into the car waiting in the ally Li informs me of what the man said.
"You're welcome back there any time." He grumbles. Taking off his glasses and hat and running his hand through his hair.
"Li, I'm telling you- I didn't go there by choice and I didn't take any drugs. Why do you suddenly distrust me?" I ask.
"I just keep being reminded that you're so young. You're still a teenager." He shakes his head, bringing his buzzing phone to his hand.
"Someone kidnapped me last night." I look at him sternly.
"Right. They kidnapped you and then called me telling me where you were, I'm sure." His tone is dripping with sarcasm.
"Who called you?" I lean back on the seat, still sipping on my water.
"The people that owned the drug den, they recognised you and knew that there would be money for their silence. I'll also remind you that you paid the driver a lot of money to take you there. You're becoming more of a liability to the company than an asset at this point."
"I didn't pay anyone anything, I was taken there against my will and probably drugged." I rub my hand over where I felt the stab.
"Lena, enough. Just be quiet until we get you tested at Dr Wang's." He rubs his eyes and his phone rings. When he presses decline I can tell he's already in a bad mood. It's then that my phone begins to buzz. I bring it out of my purse and notice I have a new message from Peter.
'I read an interesting news article today. Should I expect a 'save the date'?' The text reads. I sigh and place my phone in my purse; I completely forgot to mention the engagement to Peter.
Eventually we arrive at the lab where Li's family doctor works and I'm ushered inside to undergo a few tests. They take my blood, among other DNA samples, and I'm given some replacement clothes from Li's assistant. I dress in the jeans and blouse and wash my face and tame my hair in the lab bathroom. When I walk out to join the others Li is being talked to by the doctor and he looks annoyed. Felix is sitting on some of the waiting chairs and I walk over to join him.
"I didn't do any drugs voluntarily, Felix. Someone is out to get me." I look at him with seriousness and he looks back at me with concern. Before he can reply Li walks over to us with some files in his hand and he grabs his jacket.
"Let's go, we're going home." He orders.
"See? I told you I didn't do anything." I jump from the seat and hurry along behind him. He stops suddenly and waves the file in my face.
"They found something, Lena. It's not opium but it's something." There is a hint of worry on his face.
"What are you saying?" I raise an eyebrow.
"I think you were right. Someone out to get you; and I think it's the witches." He takes my arm with his free hand and leads me out of the lab.
"I told you." I mutter, trying to keep up next to him. We get to the car and Felix appears in front of us, blocking us from getting in.
"If Lena's in danger we need to leave, we can't just go hide at your family estate. We can't trust your drivers, either." As Felix says it he places his hand on my other arm.
"This is my personal driver, it's safe. And we're not going to the estate, we're going to my apartment in the city. I have guards there." Li says, pulling me towards him.
"Lena's safety is mine and William's responsibility. And ultimately it's Queen Cassiopeia's decision." Felix pulls me closer to him as he says it. I shrug my arms free from both of them and give them a dark look.
"When I made the deal with Cassiopeia she agreed that Lena would become my wife and I would secure the partnership between our businesses. We're engaged- she's my responsibility now." Li looks at Felix angrily.
"Wait, what?" I step back from them and cross my arms. Cassiopeia organised that I would go through with the marriage? She knew I would never agree to it. Li glances at me but looks straight back at Felix.
"You think you've got us all fooled, Gao, but I know all about your lineage. How am I supposed to know that you're not helping the witches? You are Wiccan yourself." Felix says it as if it's a judgement and the two square their shoulders, ready to throw a punch at any moment.
"Hey!" I rip off my bracelet and throw it in their direction, Li catches it quickly. That bracelet was given to me by Li and it stopped me from being able to turn into a harpy. I glare at Li and he looks at me like I'm a grenade, ready to go off and take them all down. I look to Felix.
"I know Li is Wiccan. I also know that he doesn't have any power, the magic trait stopped at his grandparents. That means that the only one with any power out of all three of us is me. So how about you both shut the hell up and listen?" After wearing the bracelet for so long it's very easy to get agitated. I should be very careful right now.
"Lena..." Li begins, looking at me with the same expression. "You need to put the bracelet back on and get in the car. We don't want you getting any more worked up." He glances around us quickly at the people walking by.
"I do agree that you should put the bracelet back on but, Lena, we should go. Li has secured his position as next-in-line for the role of CEO. Your part of the agreement is fulfilled." Felix says, reaching out a hand towards me. I feel sweat rise on my back from the heat thrashing about my chest.
"Except it's not, Felix." Li turns to me, "Lena, I'm sorry I wasn't truthful but your aunt wanted you to marry me. She wouldn't have agreed to our deal if she didn't think you would be safe and treated well."
"What the hell happened to it being my decision? I'm eighteen, If I didn't want to marry Peter, why would I marry you?" I take another step back from them and my nails begin to ache.
"You were going to marry Pan?" Felix asks, looking hurt.
"Your aunt didn't want you to be with Peter, he's not a suitable partner for you." Li says, taking a half-step towards me, extending the bracelet forward.
"How the hell would you know?" I step back from him.
"Because he's cheating on you, Lena." Li's expression is almost desperate now. I shake my head and almost laugh.
"Stop lying to me." I shout this and some people walking by turn to look at us.
"If I prove it will you put the bracelet on?" Li asks, standing straight. I look over to Felix who's eyes are fixed on the ground and notice a familiar face in my peripheral. A taxi pulls up and a hungover-looking William steps out, walking over to us.
"Felix I got your call- what's going on?" He stands next to me and looks at the uneasiness of our postures. "Woah, what did I just walk into?" He puts his hands in his pockets.
"Nice to see you Lena." He places a hand on my back and raises an eyebrow at me. "Wow, you're really hot." Felix and Li both snap their heads up to glare at him and I furrow my eyebrows at him.
"No- I mean your temperature." He looks between us three and withdraws a vial from his pocket. He takes my hand and places the vial in my palm.
"Where is your bracelet?" He asks. I uncap the vial and drink it quickly. As soon as it runs down my throat I'm able to once again feel the breeze on my skin. My fingernails stop aching and I feel myself becoming calm.
"Everyone get in the car." I order, walking forward and opening the door. The men follow along with my command and as soon as we're all in the car I tell Li to order the driver to take us to his apartment.
"When we get there I'm going to shower and we can discuss what's going to happen next. Am I understood?" They all nod to me and Li places the bracelet on my knee.
"I'm not putting that thing on again." I knock it off and lean back on the seat, looking out the window. As long as they're afraid of me they'll listen.