Xo Novel
Chapter 69
And that was how I met Mr. Lau.
On Monday morning at 10 AM, I found myself in a minimalist office at the top of a 70-floor skyscraper, marveling at the stunning view of Hong Kong.
The man in the office looked like a kindly old grandfather. His Nehru collar suit, a throwback to a previous century, completed the image.
As we drank green tea from porcelain cups, he smiled benevolently. “Mr. Che informs me you have a bit of a problem.”
Che was my hotshot lawyer.
“How much did he tell you?” I asked warily.
“More or less everything. I hope that wasn’t indiscreet on his part.”
“Indiscreet? My father’s a triad gangster. I’m the owner of a BDSM club. I was just arrested for organized prostitution. There’s nothing ‘discreet’ about me.”
Lau chuckled. “That will be our first order of business: making you and your business extremely discreet.”
I noticed he said our first order of business.
Nothing about IF we work together.
“Che didn’t tell me much about you,” I said.
“There’s not much to tell. I am an investor and financier.”
I glanced around the office. “And a highly successful one by the looks of it.”
Lau smiled modestly. “I do alright.”Content © NôvelDrama.Org.
“Why would you want to invest in a BDSM club?”
“Truthfully, I would not be investing in the club so much as I would be investing in you. From what Mr. Che said, you’re quite formidable. The daughter of a triad boss is disowned and strikes out on her own. Within three years, she is turning a healthy profit with a business on the fringes of the law, in a market normally controlled by men. I find that very impressive.”
So my lawyer had told him everything.
“I’m flattered, but I still don’t understand why you would want to take the risk.”
“I have a high appetite for risk, Ms. Chan, as long as it delivers commensurate levels of profit.”
“The risks are pretty huge, though, seeing as I’m on the police department’s radar.”
Lau waved one hand dismissively. “That won’t be an issue.”
“How can you know that?”
Lau smiled. “Because the Commissioner of Police is a close friend of mine.”
Oh SHIT.
The Commissioner of Police was not only the most powerful law enforcement position in Hong Kong, it was a job appointed by the State Council of China.
As in the Chinese Communist Party.
Lau was not only connected to the upper echelons of Hong Kong law enforcement…
But he was also buddies with people who ran China’s government.
If Lau could persuade the Commissioner to ‘overlook’ my club without the Commissioner worrying about a scandal and getting fired…
That meant Lau had some very important higher-ups in his pocket.
But there was one other fly in the ointment.
A big, ugly horsefly.
“There’s another problem besides the cops.”
“Which is?”
“My father told me that if I continued my business, he would ruin me financially.”
“That was when he could send the police after you. That won’t be an issue going forward.”
“That’ll just make him angrier. Once he finds out he can’t sic the cops on me, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ordered his thugs to burn down my business.”
“He won’t.”
I laughed ruefully. “You don’t know my father.”
“Actually, I’m well acquainted with him.”
I stared at Lau. “You know my father?!”
“Yes, we’re members of the same country club.” Lau’s smile grew slightly sinister. “And he owes me a large sum of money. If I say you’re off limits, he will respect my wishes.”
I sat there in utter shock.
My father was a predator. A shark.
If Lau was the kind of man who could order my father around – someone my father owed money to –
Then Lau must have been a Great White.
That gave me serious pause.
Of course, if you were a minnow and needed to protect yourself from a shark, it would be nice to make friends with a Great White.
…unless the Great White decided to eat you.
“I need to be very clear about a few things,” I said, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.
“Proceed.”
“I don’t want to be involved with blackmail. No cameras or recording devices in my club. I won’t use people’s private activities against them – financially, politically, or any other way.”
“I can assure you, nothing of the sort will happen.”
“Then what is it you want the club for?”
“I have many associates who would enjoy an upscale, discreet service. And, as I said, your business generates a great deal of revenue… most of which would be untraceable by the authorities.”
Ah.
‘Untraceable’ was the key word.
He was looking to make a lot of money and not have to pay taxes… which, in China, were considerable.
“We’re only making half a million a month, and only a fifth of that was profit.” I glanced around his office again. “I’m assuming that’s peanuts to a man like you.”
“You only made that much because you limited yourself to a local clientele. I would be supplying you with incredibly wealthy clients from the Middle East… Europe… Russia… the United States. You could easily bill them five times what you’re charging now, and they wouldn’t blink.”
I stared at him.
If what he was saying was true…
“What would our arrangement be?” I asked. “Fifty/fifty?”
He laughed louder and more spontaneously than at any other point in the meeting.
“Good heavens, no. You’ll get a 10% share of the profits.”
I frowned indignantly. “That’s insultingly low.”
“Consider this: you’re making 100% of the profits now, which you said are 100,000 a month. Far better to make 10% of three million dollars per month… wouldn’t you agree?”
300,000 a month instead of 100,000?
Damn straight it was a better deal.
Lau continued. “Not to mention, the stress of any problems will no longer rest on your shoulders. I will assume all the risk.
“You will manage the club and your employees as you see fit. In return, I’ll put up the deposit for a more upscale location… the fee for a top interior decorator… several million for the remodel… plus I’ll provide protection from the police and keep your father off your back.
“Or… you can continue on your present path. Which, with your father’s interference, will most probably lead to financial ruin, as you stated earlier.” He paused dramatically. “Your choice.”
Not much of a choice at all.
I felt incredibly uneasy about it…
But I felt a whole lot more uneasy about letting my father control my life.
If Lau could get me free of him, then there wasn’t a whole lot I wouldn’t do.
“Alright,” I said. “It’s a deal.”
“Excellent. If I might make one small suggestion…”
“What?” I asked warily.
“Consider renaming the business. We’ll put something boring on the filing papers – Hong Kong Holding Company B32 or something similar – and there won’t be any signs advertising your club from the outside. But for those who hear about it by word of mouth, the name should be a bit more elegant… a bit more European… a bit more… scandalous.”
“What did you have in mind?”
Lau smiled. “How about ‘De Sade’?”
“Like the Marquis de Sade.”
“Precisely.”
I nodded. “I like it.”
Lau beamed. “Good.”
The old man wasn’t nearly as stiff and stodgy as his grandfatherly appearance would lead you to believe.
Maybe this business partnership won’t be such a bad thing after all…
After I signed a few papers, Lau gave me a brief tour of the 70th floor, including the accounting department.
“Once we open De Sade,” Lau said, “you’ll deliver the previous night’s receipts the following day. A good portion of the money the club takes in will be Bitcoin, by the way. That’s the way many of my associates prefer to do business these days – in cryptocurrency.”
Interesting.
I guess it made it more difficult for their governments – and their wives – to find out about.
After a bit more discussion about reopening the club, I left Lau’s office feeling jubilant.
I was absolutely thrilled that I had beaten my father at his own game –
And saved my business, all in one fell swoop.
It wasn’t until much later that I realized I’d signed away my soul to the devil himself.