Xiu Chen and her girls were finishing the final touches of their make-up. Chen swiped Dior Trafalgar across her lips for a dark orange with a satin finish. Letiche followed her mother’s preference for Dior by selecting the pink rose from the makeup closet. Lanying had picked out her own lipstick: Manic Panic Lethal Lipstick had a sparkle from the case to the wax that she was enamored by. Lanying insisted she apply it on her own to disastrous results.
The chauffeur awaited them at the front of the manor with the BYD Han on the driveway behind him. He had been an up-and-coming model when an agent from Chen Laboratories came to him with an offer bigger than what he would ever make getting his picture taken. All he had to do was drive the car. The other staff on the manor premises had similar stories and they all wore just a vest as top.
Usually, whatever sketchiness involved was negated by the generous pay, lenient and flexible schedules, and free rein of the premises when the madame was away which was more and more often these days. But there have been rumors circulating about the madame that were much darker than the usual celebrity gossip and lawsuits.
One of those rumors came bursting out of the front door to hop up in down in front of him, followed by the other rumor holding the hand of the madame as she came down. There had been talk of affairs and trysts, with few of them being false, but the product of them never came to fruition; and, if there is truth to other parts of the current stories, there may be more to these children, and the madame, than meets the eye.
The chauffeur opened the backseat door for the passengers to hop. He could hardly put on his seatbelt before they tuned the karaoke machine to full blast. With the beachfront backdrop, the mistress and her daughter sang Ai, Cun Zai. Painfully off-key and out of sync. The other daughter did not sing; instead, she stared off into the sunset horizon.
“Letiche, are you worried about your father?” asked Ms. Chen, “do not fear. It will take more than death to stop him.”
There is a long history of the help, those meant to be seen not heard, being privy to the secrets of their lords. This chauffeur, however, wanted nothing to do with whatever the rumors were about.
He dropped them off at one of Chen’s hospitals and returned to the manor. Chen led her kids through the front doors into the public elevator. Though usually landed via helipad, the front desk needed no words to recognize her. She took the common route this time to maximize her daughters’ exposure: them to the outside world, and the outside world to them. Soon, they would no longer be forced to hide. Soon, they would be heirs to a kingdom.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
In the current fiefdom, Chen had called for a board meeting in this hospital. She had set in motion the preparations for the company’s most important project years ago and sent out a recent memo to finalize the rollout. Now was the time to synchronize the rest of the board with her plan.
She entered the room with most of the boys sitting around the big table. The rest were being projected on call. One of the older members was delighted to meet the children. Letiche was cold as ice even as her cheeks were stretched to the limit while Lanying giggled the whole time she was spun around. The windows displayed the last dying moments of the sun and the rising twilight of the city.
“Ahem,” coughed a relatively younger man, “the children are very cute, but there are concerns we wanted to address with you before we can begin the meeting.”
“They are all true,” said Chen as she gave a soothing rub to Letiche’s cheeks.
“All… of them?”
“The ones that matter to you; I’ve heard many interesting things about me but their veracity won’t be relevant for much longer.”
“Well… there have been reports that you… have dealings with terrorists.”
“The Immortals? Yeah, I’m their boss as much as I am yours,” she looked around when she said that.
“Ms. Chen, these are grave accusations being levied against you. This is no time for your usual flippancy.”
With a snap of her fingers, Lanying returned to her and the windows fogged up. The room was filled with collar-tugging humidity at first, but the gargoyles that clambered out chilled the rest of the board members to the bone.
They prowled about the room, weaving under and over the tables and around the chairs. With another snap, they came to their mistress who rubbed their heads and necks in turns. Finally, she shooed them to return to the windows and the fog faded.
“I hope you understand just how serious I am now. If you do not wish to follow me, then you can quit without consequence and full severance. If you stay, then the wealth and power of a world beyond your imagination will be yours.”