The Rules Series
She feigned ignorance. “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you. I took care of him last night. See father, I will do what is necessary to remove a threat.”Gina crossed her legs and looked at her boots while she took a sip of her juice. “Remember when I was in my teens and you tried to teach me a lesson about secrets? I kept the fact I was dating my horse trainer from you. Somehow you found out and met us at the stables. You had your people beat him in front of me mercilessly. They got his blood all over these boots.” She extended her foot as her father lay dying on the floor. “Blood and mud are so hard to get off.” Gina took another sip of her drink. “Anyway, I kept these boots as a reminder of your cold-hearted ruthlessness. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to die at the hands of family. In some circles, I bet that would be considered ruthless. You should be proud of me with all the lessons I’ve learned from you.”
She watched her father take his last breaths. Twenty minutes after he’d stopped moving, Gina got up, stepped over her father’s body, then picked up the phone on the accent table to call one of their servants.
“Can you please bring the car around? I have some shopping I need to do.” Without a backward glance, she walked out of the room.
Chapter 1
The Day of the Funeral of Chang Lee-Xiou
My eyes were closed tight. If it had been left up to me I would have spent the next forty-nine days holed up in this room; not because I was sad or melancholy, no, it’s because I had to pretend to be. That was going to be exhausting. As a matter of fact, I’d better start practicing some kind of sorrowful expressions for all the well-wishers. There were sure to be plenty of people to greet, along with the many business partners and friends of my father’s to thank for their condolences. After all, today was his funeral.
I could care less. Therein lies my problem. Pretending like I actually gave a damn when I didn’t. I didn’t feel anything actually. I’d been walking around like a zombie going through the motions. I was completely numb, and the warm body lying next to me did absolutely nothing to fix it. The only thing he gave me was a headache. His snoring was going to drive me insane.
I was cocooned underneath a mountain of comforters, but they couldn’t keep what sounded like the rumble of a 10.5 magnitude earthquake from my ears. Was he serious with all that noise? Gooooooood, he needed a doctor for that. What was I thinking bringing him here? Sleeping with your lawyer is never a good idea. Julian Hargrove was tall, dark, and handsome but lousy in bed.
I had hoped a little sex would thaw out the chill in my body. Sadly, it hadn’t, and I used too much energy that could have been better spent on the treadmill. The only reason I hadn’t kicked Julian out last night was because the Paparazzi had been camped outside my gates. It was better for him to leave when the sun was up than to have left in the wee hours of the morning. Tradition dictated, no sex for the next forty-nine days, and I needed to be seen as a delicate little flower mourning the loss of my father. The mere thought of that was laughable.
Julian threw his heavy leg over mine. He is not serious. He has to go. I removed my leg from underneath his and shook him on the shoulder to wake him.
“Wake up.”
Groggily, he cracked open one eye and smiled. His voice rumbled, still husky from sleep. “Ready for round two already?”
I rolled over laughing and reached for my robe. “Your attempt at humor is amusing.”
Julian’s smile faltered, and his face was frozen somewhere between a smirk and a frown. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”
“You were if you thought there was anything memorable about last night or that I would be remotely interested in repeating it again.”
His lips tightened. There was no witty comeback or sarcastic response. He just looked speechless. I couldn’t prevent my eyes from rolling into the back of my head. I had to have been desperate or drunk to do this. Hell . . . maybe I was both.
I stood, tying the belt on my robe, and without a backward glance in his direction, I continued to speak. “It’s time for you to go. You’ve got a lot of work to do on my case. Keep me posted when you get back to Washington.”
I needed a shower and headed off to the bathroom leaving him to get dressed and leave. I hoped he was a better lawyer than he was in bed. Rule number one, if you wanted to keep my interest, you certainly couldn’t be shitty in bed.
*****
The Day after the Funeral of Chang Lee-Xiou
This ridiculous meeting would be over soon enough, and then I could get back to business; three down and five more to go—well, after today, make that four. I hated that it had to come to this, but there was a seat at the table with my name etched in blood. Nothing and no one was going to keep me from it. At some point they would learn that Gina Lee-Xiou is not the chick you want to mess with.
These stairs are steep. I took my time taking them sideways, and one at a time especially since I was wearing