Page 92 of If You Could See the Sun
While I scramble for some way to dissuade Xiaoyi from planning out any future weddings, my phone buzzes. I pick it up at once. Refresh my inbox:One New Message.I click on it and—
My stomach flips.
Even though this is what I planned for, it’s still slightly unnerving to receive a vague, passive-aggressive email from the Airington school board agreeing to meet as soon as possible.
“What happened?”
I start at Mama’s voice and look up to see everyone staring at me: Henry, with a grim, knowing sort of expression; Baba and Mama, with concern; and Xiaoyi, with bright curiosity. If I were to give her my shengchen bazi now, I wonder what destiny she’d predict for me. Where the events of today might lead.
“It’s the school,” I tell them, glad I don’t technically have to lie about it. Then I turn to Henry. “We have to leave immediately.”
19
“Andrew. Glad you got my message.”
Andrew She almost falls out of his chair when he sees me enter the school conference room. He’s seated at a giant oval table meant for at least eight people, but right now, it’s only the two of us in here. Just like I wanted. The place is perfect for private conversation; we’re far away from the classrooms, the door is shut, the entire room windowless, and the overhead heater is blasting loud enough to mask what should be a very interesting conversation.
“Alice,” Andrew croaks. Licks his lips. “What—what are you doing here? I thought you’d left the school.”
I don’t say anything. I grab the chair opposite him, cross my arms over my chest, and wait for my sentence to register. Watch him as he squirms.
One, two, three—
“Hang on.” His brows pull together until they’ve practically formed a single line, a dark slash over his forehead. “Youwere the one who messaged me? But I thought Henry—”
“Well, obviously you wouldn’t have come if you knew that I wanted to see you.” My words hang heavy in the air between us, and I’m both surprised and kind of thrilled by how threatening I sound. I’m not even acting, really; the anger comes easily. All I need is to think about Andrew’s kidnapping request and the fact that he’s been hanging out at school as if everything’s normal, as if he’sinnocent, while I’ve been sobbing alone in my room. “Did you get an email from the school, too?”
Andrew’s eyes go very round—then they narrow. “Yeah. I did. The school told me all about your accusations.” He shakes his head. “I—I can’t believe you lied about the app.”
“It wasn’t exactly a lie,” I reason, leaning forward and propping both elbows on the table. I may or may not have Googledbest power stanceson the car ride here with Henry, and he may or may not have laughed at me. But it seems to be working.“You literally hired me to kidnap Peter.”
“You—you were the one who kidnapped him.”
“Only under your orders,” I shoot back. “I may be complicit, but you’re the one who’s guilty.”
“As if. My family lawyer will be the judge of that.”
“No. They won’t be.”
Andrew blinks at me, his face going slack for a second. Clearly, he was expecting the fancy lawyer card alone to shut me up. Rich people can be so predictable sometimes.
“I have the right to sue you for false accusations,” he insists, though he already sounds more uncertain than he was earlier. “We could launch an in-depth investigation.”
“Youcould,” I agree, shifting into another one of the Top Ten Most Effective Power Stances of All Time, “but I personally wouldn’t.”
“What...”
With two fingers, I pull out the BMW keys I’ve been keeping in my pocket and hold them up in plain view, letting the shiny metal catch the artificial lights. Andrew’s face pales. The heater above us roars louder.
“Your men dropped these the other night,” I say pleasantly.
His mouth opens and closes like a goldfish. “Where did you—” He cuts himself off. Taps his nails on the polished table surface, eyes flicking away. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter. You can’t really prove the car—”
“Can’t I? What if I matched up the keys to the license plate N150Q4?” I speak over him, savouring the look on Andrew’s face when he recognizes the number. Wow, this feels even better than answering a Kahoot question correctly in front of the class. “Between that, the message you sent me on Beijing Ghost, and the lawyer Henry’s going to lend me, the evidence is kind of stacked against you.”
“Whoa, wait—he’s going to lend you a lawyer?Henry Li? You?” Andrew looks like he’s only just now realizing the nature of my relationship with Henry, and hates himself for the oversight.
I shrug. “Well, Henry’s company has twelve lawyers. All graduates from Harvard, Tsinghua, or Peking University. He can definitely spare one if things get messy for me.”
