Hidden Impact (Safeguard #1)(2)
The Centurion Corporation took contracts internationally for more...potentially volatile situations. Their jobs had more to do with combat force augmentation, local populace liaison, community patrolling and “black bag” jobs that wouldn’t be explained or reported to the US citizens. There were other private organizations with divisions to handle situations like this woman’s missing sister. But he didn’t know of any with a likely price tag any normal individual would be able to afford.
“I’m gonna be honest, because you seem like a nice person and you’re still giving me no other choice.” He leaned forward, looming over her so his whispered words could be understood despite the blaring music around them but no one else would hear. “Save your money. Don’t give it to anyone who promises to get your sister back alive. Doesn’t matter how long they listen or what they promise you. If she’s out of the country, it’s going to take anyone way too long to get her back in one piece. Put it towards her memorial.”
Harsh. No one wanted to tell a person their loved one was probably already dead, and almost certainly would be before anyone could find them. But feeding her false hope wouldn’t do her any favors. And he really wanted her to walk away.
She’d stood absolutely still as he’d spoken. Hadn’t given any ground or shrunk away from him. As he straightened, he cast his gaze around the room in a safety check before looking back down at her.
Her face was frozen, but it was her eyes again. Sheer and utter devastation, shattered hope and some emotion bordering on hate welled up with her tears. Then dark lashes came down, releasing him from the shock of it, and when she opened her eyes again there was nothing but cold calm. “I won’t thank you for your advice, but I do for your honesty. Xiè xie.”
Thank you. In Chinese. Mandarin, he thought.
He didn’t know Mandarin or Cantonese but he knew the words for please and thank you in a lot of languages. There were a lot of situations where someone was saying those words to him or his people. He made it a practice to try to reciprocate when appropriate when out in other parts of the world. Sometimes with genuine sincerity, sometimes with sarcasm as they tried to kill each other.
He’d stop thinking along those lines for the time being.
She turned and walked away, head up and shoulders straight. Her hips rolled slightly as she strode with purpose in three-inch high heels—as if she had someplace to be and he hadn’t broken her hope to pieces. And wow but the silhouette of her very tight behind in the little pencil skirt she wore did awful things to his libido. If he wasn’t already going to hell in a handbasket, he definitely would be now.
“Trouble?” Marc’s voice murmured in his earbud.
Only if he ever saw her again. He lifted his wrist and spoke into the tiny microphone attached to his shirt cuff. “No.”
“Looked pretty tense from where I’m standing.” Of course Marc’d seen the exchange. They were positioned around the perimeter of the event. Each of them could survey the crowd and had direct line of sight on at least two of the others on their team.
“Keep eyes on her in case she does something crazy.” His first priority was the safety of his client, and wouldn’t it just suck if the woman went ballistic because he’d turned her down?
“Roger that.”
*
Qīng wā cào de liú máng.
That was a complete and total fail. Yet again, Maylin blinked back tears and struggled to maintain her composure. The party was over now and she’d only need to finish overseeing her team’s cleanup of the catering equipment. Then she could bury herself in a tray of egg tarts and try to figure out what her possible alternatives were at this point.
If there were any.
With every day, every hour, her chances of finding An-mei were dwindling. It wasn’t as if her family would be of any constructive help either, even if they did somehow realize the reality of An-mei’s disappearance.
Watching her staff carefully wrap up any leftover food and clear away the chafing dishes, she seized the thought of family to take her mind down safer paths for the time being.
Thank goodness her stepmother hadn’t been there to witness either Maylin making a fool of herself or the cursing to follow. Though with a body like that man had, she rather doubted the big bodyguard ever had to settle for frog-humping, curse or no. When she’d first approached him, she’d not realized just how big he was in the midst of all the milling party-goers. She’d thought he’d been standing on a step or part of a raised stage. Nope. Both his feet had been firmly planted on the same floor as hers and he’d stood head and shoulders over the crowd. It’d taken her by surprise, made her stutter like an idiot.
First impression was key.
A lesson from her mother, her real one. And one she should have kept in mind rather than blowing her last chance to find someone to listen, to help her find An-mei.
“Cleanup is complete, Miss Cheng.” The young man didn’t come within arm’s reach. Not that she’d ever strike out, but her entire catering staff was familiar with how clumsy she could get when distracted. Few ways to be more distracted than humiliating oneself at a high-profile event thrown by one of her best clients. Luckily, no one seemed to have noticed her discomfiture but her own staff, and they were like family. The kind of family a person chose instead of having been born into. When it came to relations by blood, only An-mei had been the family of her heart. Maylin would do anything for her little sister. Anything to get her back.