CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kira eyed her unexpected guest warily as she handed him a cup of coffee. She had been none-too-pleased to find Donovan Chance at her doorstep first thing in the morning but curiosity had led her to invite him in. It was only after she felt his coolly calculating gaze zeroing in on her that she suddenly recalled the proverbial correlation between curiosity and dead cats.

“Why are you here, Donovan?” Kira asked as she settled onto a barstool to face-off with him across her breakfast bar.

“I have a proposition for you,” Donovan replied as he took a sip from his coffee mug.

“Said the spider to the fly,” Kira added dryly.

A wry smile softened the hard angles of Donovan’s face, highlighting a striking physical resemblance to Ethan that usually remained hidden beneath the grim expression he typically wore. “This isn’t some sort of trap, I assure you.”

“After everything that happened in Vegas, I’m sure that you can understand why I find your assurances less than reassuring.”

“I suppose,” Donovan replied unapologetically. “However, the circumstances are quite different then they were in Vegas. This time we have the same agenda which means that we can work together instead of against each other.”

Kira stroked her chin lightly, intrigued in spite of herself. “What makes you think we have the same agenda?”

“Well, I couldn’t help but overhear your phone conversation with my brother last night...”

“Probably because you were eavesdropping,” Kira added quickly, recalling the argument she and Ethan had gotten into the night before. He had presumably called to patch things up after their argument in the car but things had quickly dissolved into another fight about Gabriel, resulting in Kira hanging up on him.

“Probably. But regardless, based on what I overheard, it seems to me that you and I are on the same page when it comes to Yi’s, murder.”

“And what page would that be?”

“The one entitled ‘Gabriel didn’t do it.’”

Kira narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Do you really believe that Gabriel is innocent or does that scenario just suit your agenda?”

Donovan chuckled in the first and only display of genuine amusement that Kira had ever seen from the normally dour man. “You’re very astute. It’s no wonder my brother is crazy about you.”

Kira bit her lip in response to Donovan’s assertion that Ethan was crazy about her. She was sorely tempted to take the opening that Donovan had provided her to probe the subject matter more thoroughly but decided against it, reminding herself that it didn’t matter how Ethan felt about her or how she felt about him for that matter. As the events of the past few days had clearly proven, there was simply too much water under the bridge for things to work out between them.

“While I’m flattered that you find me astute, that compliment doesn’t answer my question so I'll re-phrase it. Do you really believe that Gabriel is innocent or are you simply looking for a way to pin Yi's murder on Jared?”

“I’m looking for the truth, just like you, and I’ve come up with a plan that just may help us find it but it requires your cooperation.”

“What’s your plan?”

“It’s really quite simple…”

A knock on the door interrupted Donovan mid-sentence.

“This place is like Grand Central Station this morning,” Kira grumbled as she climbed off her barstool and made her way towards the door. Peeking out of the peephole, her breath caught in her throat at the slightly distorted image of Ethan waiting on the other side of the door. Her initial instinct was to leave him out there but she decided against it, figuring that he would probably just break in.

“Before you start yelling at me again, I’ve come to apologize,” Ethan announced preemptively upon Kira opening the door, raising his hands defensively in mock surrender.

“Is that right? I thought maybe you’d come here to fetch your brother.”

Ethan dropped his hands to his sides as his previously ingratiating expression suddenly darkened into a scowl. “Donovan’s here?”

Kira nodded. “He’s in the kitchen.”

“Good morning, little brother,” Donovan chirped as he casually leaned against Kira’s breakfast bar sipping his coffee as if he had every right to be there.

“What the hell are you doing here, Donovan?”

“He’s propositioning me,” Kira replied as she poured herself another cup of coffee.

Ethan arched an eyebrow in Donovan's direction. “I beg your pardon?”

“Simmer down. It’s not that kind of proposition,” Donovan assured.

“Then just what kind of proposition is it. Exactly.”

“Donovan has a plan to figure out who killed Yi and he wants my help in pulling it off,” Kira explained.

“Oh, do you?” Ethan asked directing his gaze towards Donovan, the irritation that had been in his eyes at his brother’s presence in Kira’s apartment suddenly turning into something decidedly darker as his voice took on a dangerous edge. “Is there any particular reason that you didn’t mention anything about this plan involving Kira to me?”

“I didn’t think it was necessary,” Donovan replied with a shrug. “Ms. St. James is a grown woman. She is perfectly capable of accepting or rejecting my proposition without your input.”

“You know damn well that I would never let Kira get involved in one of your plans,” Ethan growled angrily.

“Let me?” Kira interjected indignantly. “Let’s get one thing straight, you don’t get to decide what I will or will not do. As Donovan pointed out, I’m a grown woman and I make my own decisions. Besides, you didn’t seem to have any problem dragging me into Donovan’s plans when you played me like a hand of poker back in Vegas.”

“Touche,” Donovan said with an approving nod.

“Stay out of this, Donovan!” Ethan snapped.

“No, you’re the one who needs to stay out of my conversation with your brother,” Kira said as she turned to face Donovan. “Tell me your plan.”

“Well, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, it’s really quite simple,” Donovan reached into the pocket of his gray suit jacket. Pulling out a carefully folded piece of paper, he handed it to Kira. “All we have to do is give this to Jeremy and watch the fireworks.”

Kira took the document that Donovan offered and, immediately recognizing the handwriting, raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“What is that?” Ethan asked.

“It’s a letter addressed to me from Yi, dated the day of his murder, incriminating Jeremy in the theft of The Dragon's Breath and providing information that he uncovered linking Jeremy to The Yellow Tiger Triad.”

Ethan shot Donovan a suspicious glare “Where did you get that?”

“I had it forged. And apparently I got my money’s worth considering that Ms. St. James was fooled by it. Now, all we have to do is wire Kira, have her present this to Jeremy, telling him that Yi arranged to have it delivered to her in the event of his death and then offer to keep quiet in exchange for a payoff. Then we just sit back and observe his reaction.”

“So you want to rattle his cage and see what falls out,” Kira concluded.

“Basically.”

“It’s an interesting plan,” Kira admitted as she mulled the idea over in her mind.

“If by ‘interesting’ you mean stupid and reckless, then I agree it is very interesting,” Ethan countered, fuming over the fact that Donovan would even consider involving Kira in such a dangerous scheme. “There’s no way I’m going to let you use Kira as bait,”

“As Ms. St. James has already pointed out, that’s not your decision to make,” Donovan reminded Ethan.

“Guess what, I just made it anyway!” Ethan barked as he grabbed Donovan by the arm and yanked him off the barstool. “Now get out!”

Donovan pulled his arm out of Ethan’s grip. “As much as I hate to agree with Jared about anything, he was right about one thing. You are way too emotional.”

“Get out before I physically throw you out, Donovan!” Ethan warned between clenched teeth, fighting the growing urge to put his fist through his brother’s face.

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Donovan pulled out a business card and handed it to Kira. “Call me when you’ve made your decision, Ms. St. James.”

“Please tell me you’re not seriously considering going along with Donovan’s foolishness,” Ethan asked Kira once they were alone.

“Why not? It seems to me that you’ve gone along with Donovan’s foolishness your entire adult life and to my eyes you seem to have come out unscathed.”

“If you think I came out unscathed you need to look again,” Ethan demanded, his voice thickening with emotion. “Going along with Donovan’s schemes cost me you. I’m not going to let it cost you your life.”

“I can take care of myself,” Kira replied, choking down the lump of emotion that had also swelled unexpectedly in her own throat at Ethan's words of regret.

Ethan made no attempt to hide the emotion in his voice. “I know you can. And I know that I have no right to tell you what to do. I’m just asking you not to put your life in danger just to prove that point to me.”

Kira looked down at the forged letter in her hand as the kitchen lapsed into a silence, the awkwardness of which was only alleviated when Ethan finally took it upon himself to vacate her apartment. She continued contemplating the letter and what, if anything, she should do with it long after she heard the door close behind him.

***

“That was prompt,” Jade observed as she stood in the doorway of her apartment, staring up appreciatively at Ethan from beneath coquettishly lowered eyelashes.

“I make it a policy never to keep a beautiful woman waiting,” Ethan replied smoothly, plastering his most charming smile on his face.

“Come in,” Jade said a she ushered him into her apartment with a quick flick of her head before closing the door behind her.

Ethan felt like he had just walked into an igloo as he stepped into the sunken living room of the apartment. Everything in it was a pristine shade of white, giving a very elegant yet cold feel to the space that seemed to suit Jade’s unique brand of cool refinement.

“I must say, I was pleasantly surprised when I got your call,” Ethan replied truthfully. He had been planning on following up on her invitation to meet with him regarding the sub-concession that day, hoping to use the meeting to also root out as much information about Gabriel as he could, but Donovan’s shenanigans with Kira had distracted him. He had just left Kira’s apartment on his way to rip his brother a new one when Jade phoned him to invite him to her apartment.

“Why were you surprised?” Jade asked as she settled onto the sofa, the darkness of the tight, black cashmere dress she wore contrasting vividly against the whiteness of her surroundings as she crossed one long slender leg over the other. “I told you that I was willing to help you reach a deal for the sub-concession with Gabriel.”

“That was before Gabriel was arrested,” Ethan said as he joined her on the sofa. “I had thought that having your lover facing murder charges would change your priorities.”

The pleasant expression on Jade's face turned into a scowl. “Gabriel informed me he'd told Kira about us. I should have known that she wouldn't keep our secret for long.”

“Actually, Kira didn’t say a word about it to me,” Ethan replied, not bothering to explain how he’d gotten hold of the information.

Sensing that she wouldn’t get an answer to that question, Jade didn’t bother to ask. “Gabriel’s legal problems are a separate matter.”

Ethan arched an eyebrow. “Is that so. Because it seems to me that with Gabriel effectively out as head of Gau Lung for the foreseeable future, your influence over who ends up with the sub-concession is non-existent.”

Jade laughed coolly. “If that’s what you think then you have greatly underestimated the extent of my influence at Gau Lung.”

Ethan caught a whiff of Jade’s perfume as she leaned in closer to him, absently noting that it lacked the enticing subtleness of the scent that Kira wore. As she stared up coyly at Ethan from beneath seductively lowered eyelashes Ethan noted that, despite her surface refinement, there was nothing subtle about Jade Vandercamp at all.

Ethan leaned in even closer to Jade, deliberately invading her personal space and not being at all surprised when she appeared perfectly happy with the invasion. “So you are telling me that you have sway over Jeremy?”

“You sound surprised.”

“Given how much Jeremy appears to hate you, I am.”

Ethan felt Jade’s breath against his chin as she laughed lightly. “Jeremy’s hatred of me is the equivalent of a school boy pulling the pigtails of the girl he has a crush on.”

“So you’re saying that Jeremy has a schoolboy’s crush on you?”

“Something like that,” Jade said as she picked a nonexistent piece of lint from the shoulder of Ethan’s brown leather jacket. “I'm certain it wouldn’t take much for me to get him to see things your way with regards to the sub-concession.”

“And you would do that for me?” Ethan asked, seductively lowering his voice.

Jade nodded as she ran her index finger lightly over the chiseled ridge of his jaw line. “If properly motivated.”

“So, exactly how much money would it take to properly motivate you?”

“Oh, baby. It’s going to take more than just money,” Jade murmured as she lightly brushed her lips over Ethan’s.

Ethan pulled his lips away from hers, ending the kiss before it got a chance to get started. “Why Ms. Vandercamp, I think you are trying to seduce me.”

Just like you seduced both Gabriel and Jeremy Wong, Ethan thought to himself but refrained from mentioning.

“Would you have a problem with that?”

“Why would I?” Ethan hedged. “You are a very beautiful woman.”

“So is Kira St. James,” Jade pointed out somewhat begrudgingly. “I got the impression that something may be going on between the two of you the night of the exhibition.”

Ethan fought off a pang of guilt as he stroked Jade’s cheek with the back of his hand, watching her through eyes that mirrored the calculation he saw in hers. “There’s nothing going on between Kira and I that would prevent you and I from coming to a mutually satisfying arrangement.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Jade practically purred as she moved in for another kiss. Ethan rose to his feet before she could make contact.

“We’ll delve into this matter more deeply after you get me that sub-concession.”