Page 121 of Havoc

“Can I ask you something?” Yen pulled away from the others when the girls arrived to entertain.

“Mm?” I leaned my head back and let the sun beat down on my face.

“I heard about Grim’s brother, Leo. I’m so sorry.”

“It was,” I kept my eyes closed, “devastating.”

Yen swam to sit next to me on the submerged bench by the bar. “Was that why you were so upset the other day?”

“Yeah.” I really didn’t want to talk about that. I just wanted to be out of my head for a bit and enjoy the pool and my yummy drink.

“You seem to carry a lot on your shoulders sometimes.”

“Sometimes.”

“Forgive me for overstepping, but just so it’s said, my offer for you to work for me in Hong Kong doesn’t expire.”

“You’re too kind, Yen.” I used my straw to play with the slice of lime between the ice. “I have a lot going on here, that’s true, but right now, I can’t even imagine walking away from it, but I’ll remember that.”

“I’ll do you one better.” He waved someone over who handed me an envelope. “Open it.”

I set my drink down and dried my fingers on a napkin. I tore the envelope open, and inside was a piece of paper with a phone number to his private pilot, a passcode to one of his penthouses in Hong Kong, and the name of a man who would be my private escort whenever I arrived.

“Of course, all the details have been emailed to you, but this was much more dramatic.” He smiled shamelessly. “The next time you’re having a bad day, or you just need to get away, you’ve somewhere to go for a change of scenery.” He tightened the tie on his teal, barely-there swimsuit. “And who knows, maybe you’ll love it enough to stay and work for me.”

“You sure know how to be persistent.” I gave him a hug. “Thanks, Yen, for showing you want me this badly.”

“This is nothing. Just wait until you come and visit. That’s when I’ll really win you over.”

“You know what? I believe you when you say that.” I grinned happily.

Yen shifted in his seat. “Grab your phone and snap a picture of this moment.” He waited as I tucked the information in my purse and opened my phone. “We’ll hang this up the day you sign.” He smiled wide and leaned in for the shot.

“It’ll be a wonderful memory.” I snapped our selfie.

“But first, let me see the picture, because if any wrinkles are showing we’re retaking history.” I laughed and swiped to show him the picture. At his indrawn breath, I glanced at the phone and realized I’d swiped back too far. He looked at the closeup of the drawing I’d snapped that had been left on Leo’s body. My face flushed at how wrong it felt that he saw it.

“Stop at nothing, outlast your enemies, be the fear.”

“Yen, what does that mean?”

“It’s the saying from the Potens.” He pointed to the photo, and I nearly dropped my glass into the pool.

“Potens?” I leaned my arm along the pool’s edge. “What’s that?”

“Not that,they,” he corrected. “Back in the late forties, early fifties, the mafia was raging here in the US. In the sixties you had the classics come up from New York. John Gotti, Al Capone, and my personal favorite Salvatore Maranzano. He led the Five Families.” He waved his hand as if to sayand on and on. “Of course, there were others in Chicago, Philadelphia, LA, but in ninety-seven, the FBI put something in place called the RICO Act that brought in harsher punishments, and that helped pull back the crime.”

“Okay.” I drew out the word.

“Sorry, I’m a history buff on crime.” He adjusted his sunglasses. “Good to know what kind of company you’re dealing with.” He gave me a sly smile, and I chuckled. We both knew great wealth came with a whole different playing field. “All right, while the FBI were trying to stomp out that crime wave, a new organization started to fester in LA. Started by a man named Jimmy Turner. Jimmy had family all over the US and had powerful pull in Mexico, El Salvador, China, places like that. When he saw what was happening here, he took the opportunity to move in and start the Potens.”

“Does it stand for anything?”

“Yes, Potens is a Latin word for powerful. From the wordpotentate,which for them referred to the Metriorhynchidae Potens.”

“You’ve lost me again.”

“May I?” He chuckled and pointed to my phone, and I handed it to him. “See this here,” he drew his finger to outline the rather sloppy drawing of a crocodile, “is actually this.” He went to a webpage and pulled up a photo of their logo.

---