CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Well, look who’s here,” Jared said as he took a seat directly across from Donovan. “I was wondering when you would finally pop up in Hong Kong.”

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” Donovan replied through clenched teeth.

“You’re sorry alright. Always have been,” Jared replied with disgust as he nodded towards the pale faced lackey he’d brought with him who quickly came over and deposited the stacks of chips in front of him. His eyes turned towards Ethan maliciously. “That goes for both of you.”

Ethan allowed his father’s insult to wash over him, letting it bolster the white-hot hatred he already felt towards the man. But despite the impressiveness of his poker face, he couldn’t keep his roiling emotions a secret from Kira. She could practically feel the animosity coursing dangerously through his veins.

“I think you’re right. I should leave. Would you take me home?” Kira asked in a whispered tone, hoping to get Ethan away from his father before something bad happened.

“I don’t think Channing would like that,” he countered, keeping his eyes fixed on Jared.

“I don’t care,” Kira said as she gripped Ethan’s arm, looking up at him pleadingly. “Just take me home.”

Ethan ignored the entreaty in her eyes as he pushed away from the bar and made his way back to his seat next to Donovan. Kira held her breath as she watched the two brother’s square off against their father.

“Isn’t this nice,” Jared quipped. “It’s like a family reunion.”

“Are we going to talk or are we going to play?” The pock faced Chinese gentleman seated next to Jared asked impatiently.

“Eventually,” Jared replied, “First, my sons and I are going to play a few hands amongst ourselves.”

“Like hell you are,” Channing countered angrily.

“Why don’t we ask Gan about that?” Jared replied nonchalantly as he directed his eyes towards Xaio's killer.

“Let them play,” Gan instructed the dealer, ending any more potential protests with a menacing glare directed at the other players.

Donovan shifted his gaze from his brother to his father and then back again before suddenly sliding the stacks of chips in front of him over to Ethan. “I’ll sit this one out.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Jared grumbled.

Donovan ignored Jared’s dig as he leaned back in his chair to watch the showdown that he’d just deliberately set up between his brother and father play out.

“So, it’s just you and me. Heads up,” Jared said to Ethan as he nodded to the dealer to begin play. “Let’s see what you've got, kid.”

Ethan nodded slightly in response as the dealer dealt two cards a piece to him and Jared. Peeling the corners of the cards off the table, Ethan’s face remained impassive as he looked down at the pair of Kings he held and waited for Jared to make the opening bet, posting the small blind by tossing a hundred thousand dollar chip into the pot. Ethan then posted the big blind by betting the table minimum of two hundred thousand dollars. When Jared matched his bet, Ethan raised that bet by tossing five hundred thousand dollars worth of chips into the pot.

“Aggressive move right off the bat,” Jared commented as he matched Ethan’s bet without so much as blinking an eye. “You must be pretty damned confident.”

Ethan ignored Jared’s commentary as he called, prompting the dealer to deal the first three community cards face up, keeping his face unreadable as the flop revealed another King an a 5 and 8 of spades giving him three of a kind.

“The thing about confidence is that you have to be wary of becoming over confident,” Jared continued on as he tossed another five hundred thousand dollars into the pot. “Take your mother for instance.”

“What about my mother?” Ethan asked, his voice coming out low and deadly as he raised Jared’s bet by another five hundred thousand dollars.

“As you and I both know she always had a problem with confidence,” Jared replied. “At first, her problem was that she had too little confidence. I mean, let’s face it, the woman was a total doormat.”

From her seat at the bar, Kira gulped as she saw anger flash through Ethan’s eyes like gunfire. Even from across the room, she could see the emotions beginning to roil dangerously inside of him despite his attempts to maintain his poker face, just as Jared no doubt intended. She glanced up at Donovan, who was now standing next to her at the bar, to gauge his reaction. To her surprised he remained as cool as a cucumber, watching the interplay between Ethan and their father with the analytical air of a teacher observing a pupil taking an exam and instantly Kira realized that is exactly what he was. He had set up the showdown between Ethan and their father to test Ethan in someway. The realization made Kira even more nervous.

Don’t let him bait you, she silently implored Ethan as she refocused her attention onto him.

“More like a punching bag,” Ethan replied as he glared at Jared, his eyes practically clawing at the other man like talons even as his body remained perfectly still.

Jared matched Ethan’s bet. “Use whatever metaphor you want, the point is that when it came to confidence, your mother ran on empty most of her life.”

“Call,” Ethan said tersely, conceding Jared’s point while indicating to the dealer his desire to let the current bet stand. In response, the dealer dealt the fourth community card which turned out to be another King, giving Ethan four of a kind and causing the previously hardened angles of his face to soften slightly, a tell that didn’t go unnoticed by Jared.

“But then one day she somehow got it into her head that fate had dealt her a winning hand,” Jared continued on in a mocking tone as he threw a cool million into the pot. “Like you, she thought that she could take me on and come out ahead.”

Ethan inhaled deeply, ignoring the jabbing pain in his hand as he squeezed a chip tightly within his fist in an effort to keep himself from ripping Jared’s tongue out of his mouth, any and all semblance of a poker face vanishing. Looking over at Jared, he noted that his father’s face conveyed the cool, detached air of a cat toying with a mouse, dispassionately studying it’s reactions to being swatted around before going in for the kill. If he felt any uncertainty about the strength of the hand he held he was doing a hell of a job of not showing it.

He’s bluffing, Ethan told himself as he took another peek at the two Kings he had been dealt and then at the two Kings on the board, You’ve got this bastard.

Acting on blind belief in his hand, Ethan shoved all of his remaining chips, totaling two and a half million dollars, into the pot with both hands. “All in.”

A nervous energy crackled in the air in response to Ethan's words. But it wasn’t the size of the pot that created the buzz of vicarious tension that vibrated through those watching the game. With the exception of Kira, all had seen far more money wagered on a single hand of poker. It was the instinctual realization that far more was riding on the next turn of the cards than the millions of dollars stacked in the middle of the table that had everyone on the edge of their seats. Even without fully knowing Ethan and Jared’s backstory, there seemed to be a shared awareness that the emotional stakes of the outcome of this battle between father and son far exceeded the monetary ones and that the fallout could be explosive.

No one was more aware of this than Kira as she stood motionless, her eyes zeroed in on Ethan. Like everyone else in the room, she could see the desperate need to best his father written all over his face. Unlike everyone else, she could also feel it. The mixture of pride and pain that churned violently in Ethan’s gut seemed to radiate across the room and penetrate Kira’s body by osmosis. Although beating Jared in a game of poker would hardly sate his desire for revenge against his father, doing nothing to deliver justice to Jared for the murder of his mother, it would be a symbolic victory proving to Ethan that both of those things could eventually be obtained.

That Jared Halifax could be beaten.

Sensing how invested Ethan was emotionally in what happened next, Kira literally held her breath as she waited for Jared’s next move.

Jared rubbed his chin contemplatively as he eyed his son, a sneer slowly twisting his lips as he shoved all of his chips into the pot. “All in.”

A grim smile slashed it’s way across Ethan’s hardened features as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the flip of the next and final card. With what seemed to be more than the usual fanfare, the dealer slid a five of spades next to the four other cards already on the table prompting Ethan to finally reveal his hand.

“Four Kings,” the dealer announced as he joined the two Kings in Ethan’s hand with the two that had already been on the board.

Ethan’s heart pounded in his chest as he waited for Jared to show his hand, quickening even more as he saw his father's hand briefly hesitate over his cards. Then with, slow, deliberate movements, Jared moved his cards to the center of the table and turned them over.

Ethan stared blankly at the four and seven of spades as the dealer slid, the remainder of the community cards over to join them.

“A straight flush. Mr. Halifax wins.”

The words sent a surge humiliation through Ethan's body.

Kira’s heart wrenched painfully inside her chest as she watched Ethan’s shoulders slump in the face of his defeat at his father’s hands. She had never seen him look like that before. Gone was the dashing rogue whose unwavering confidence alternately thrilled and infuriated her, in his place sat the wounded little boy who’s mother, as well as his self respect, had been cruelly snatched away from him by the abusive hands of Jared Halifax. She wanted to cry for him, to comfort him. To avenge him. For the first time she both felt and fully understood the powerful emotions that drove Ethan in his quest for revenge against his father for, in that moment, she could have killed Jared Halifax with her own two hands for what he had done.

“It seems that, like your mother, you overestimated the strength of your hand,” Jared remarked, twisting the knife sadistically as he gathered his winnings in front of him. “But don’t look so down. At least, unlike your bitch of a mother, your stupidity didn’t cost you your life.”

Ethan lunged from Jared as if propelled by a spring, scattering cards, chips and players as he dived across the poker table. Sending Jared and his chair crashing to the ground, he straddled his father, wrapping his hands tightly around the old man's throat. Donovan and Kira dashed to his side in unison, attempting to pry him off of Jared.

“Let him go!’ Kira pleaded as she clawed at Ethan’s fingers, desperately trying to peel them from around Jared’s neck. “Please!”

The fear that Ethan heard in Kira’s voice penetrated the blinding rage that had clouded his mind, causing his grip on Jared to loosen just enough for Donovan to pull him off.

“Get out of here!” Donovan demanded as he dragged Ethan to his feet.

Ignoring Donovan’s orders, Ethan continued to glower over Jared as he coughed and wheezed, looking like he was gearing up to pounce again.

“Let’s just go,” Kira implored as she grabbed Ethan by the arm and pulled him towards the door.

Ethan angrily jerked his arm out of her grip. It was bad enough that she had been witness to his humiliation, there was no way that he was going to accept the pity that he heard in her voice. “No. You stay here with your date,” Ethan said, practically spitting out the last word before storming to the door, the sound of Jared’s wheezing laughter mocking him as he exited the room.

Stung by his unexpected rejection, Kira watched in pained silence as he rushed out of the room to lick his wounds, alone.

“That boy is just like his mother,” Jared chuckled as he rubbed at his throat, clearly amused at the ease with which he had pushed Ethan's buttons. “Way too emotional.”

Rising to his feet, Jared straightened his disheveled sports jacket and smoothed down his snowy white hair as he cast an towards Donovan. “But you don’t have that problem, do you?” Jared observed, taking note of Donovan’s restraint during his taunting of Ethan.

“Not anymore,” Donovan replied, recalling the time not long ago that he too had been baited into nearly snapping his father’s neck. He had learned from that incident and vowed never to repeat it. Death is too good for Jared. When Donovan finally exacted his revenge against his father he wanted the old bastard alive to experience every agonizing moment.

“Then why didn’t you play against me instead of Ethan.”

“Because playing poker requires a certain amount of bluffing and I never bluff,” Donovan tossed carelessly over his shoulder as he strolled towards the door.

“Why do you keep sending your brothers in to do your dirty work?” Jared asked, a hint of unease underlying his voice. “Why don’t you just take me on yourself?”

“That day is coming, old man, and when I do take you down, you won't be getting back up,” Donovan said as he paused at the door, chilling Jared with an icy glare. “And like I said, I never bluff.”

***

Kira frowned at the sign taped to the door of the elevator in the lobby of her apartment building, the words scrawled in both English and Chinese not only conveyed that the elevator was out of order but also let her know that an already horrible evening had just gotten even worse. Channing had unceremoniously deposited her in front of the building like a bag of garbage he couldn’t wait to get rid of after spending the entire limo ride to her apartment building silently pouting with undisguised annoyance. Not that she could blame him after the way she had behaved at the VIP room. What man wouldn’t be annoyed by his date’s attempt to bail on him with another man? Kira inwardly cringed at her own rudeness. It was bad enough that she had used him to gain access to the VIP room to begin with, adding a good dose of public humiliation into the mix was inexcusable. All-in-all, the entire evening had been positively dreadful and she couldn’t wait to crawl into bed and put it all behind her. However, it appeared that she would have to wait. Grimly, she wondered just how long it would take her to hike fifteen stories worth of stairs. With a weary sigh she realized that she was about to find out as she headed towards the door marked “Exit”.

Kira had made it up three fights of stairs when she first heard the door of the fire escape open and shut behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a shadow moving towards her in the dimly lit stairwell. Unease rose in her gut and then quickly subsided. With the elevators out of commission it stood to reason that she wouldn’t be the only person using the fire escape, even at this time of night. Still, as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps rapidly approaching behind her, she found herself increasing her pace as she ascended the stairs. The clack of her high heel shoes as she increased her speed echoed loudly off the walls of the narrow stairwell. The first tremors of panic ricocheted through her like a bullet when she heard the pace of the footsteps behind her pick up in accordance with her own. Once again she increased her speed and once again the person behind her did the same. Before Kira could even process what was happening, she found herself being chased up the stairway.