Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In the study, Shen Jiuyuan set down the phone, his brows faintly furrowed.

“Where is he?” he asked Ah Cheng, who stood off to the side.

Ah Cheng lowered his head. “I’m not sure, Master Shen. Maybe resting in his room?”

Shen Jiuyuan said nothing. His fingers tapped lightly against the smooth desktop.

What had happened today was a little too dirty. He didn’t trust a rookie like Ah Cheng to handle it.

He still needed to send that well-trained dog.

He pressed the intercom.

Haozi picked up-the one closest to me.

“Master Shen?”

“Tell him to come here,” Shen Jiuyuan said curtly.

There was a pause on the other end. Haozi’s voice sounded a little weak. “Master Shen, he’s… he’s not here.”

“Where did he go?”

Haozi was probably afraid Shen Jiuyuan would blame me for leaving my post without permission. In a moment of sheer stupidity, he blurted out, “He went to Blues! Said he wanted to try something new and have a little fun.”

Blues was the most famous male brothel in the city.

Dead silence filled the line.

Fuck. Wrong thing to say.

Haozi gripped the receiver, cold sweat breaking out all over him.

A few seconds later, Shen Jiuyuan’s voice came through, so cold it could have shed ice.

“Tell him to get his ass back here. Now.”

I was locked in battle with my fifth glass of whiskey when my phone started vibrating in my pocket like it was about to explode.

Annoying.

I pulled it out and saw two words flashing on the screen.

Master Shen.

Half the alcohol left my system on the spot.

My fingers went a little stiff. It took me several swipes before I managed to answer.

“Hello, Master Shen?” My voice was hoarse and guilty in a way I didn’t even notice myself.

“Where are you?” His voice came through the receiver, flat and without inflection, but pressed extremely low.

My throat went dry. I looked around at the chaotic scene of bodies writhing everywhere and braced myself. “Outside. Had something to take care of.”

“What kind of thing?” he pressed.

“A personal matter.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Then I heard him give the softest laugh, edged with undisguised coldness.

“Paying for rent boys counts as a personal matter?”

My brain buzzed, going completely blank.

Who the fuck told him?

“I…”

“You have ten minutes.” He cut me off, every word dipped in ice. “Get back here.”

Before I could answer, the call ended cleanly and decisively.

The beeping busy tone hammered against my eardrum.

I stood there clutching my phone as the noise around me instantly receded into the distance.

After glancing at my phone a few times, I saw Haozi’s text explaining what had happened and apologizing to me.

Fuck Haozi! Was he trying to screw over his own brother on purpose?

I shot to my feet, the chair legs scraping against the floor with an ear-piercing shriek.

I threw down a few bills and practically charged out of the bar.

The night wind hit me, sending the alcohol rushing straight to my head. My stomach churned violently.

But I ran as fast as I could. I couldn’t even care that the movement tugged at my wound and made it ache.

Ten minutes.

Shen Jiuyuan had said ten minutes.

I had to get back there like a dog answering its master’s call.