Page 12 of Billionaire’s Promise

I rang my friend Trevon Smith on the way to his place, the warehouse, but Trevon didn’t pick up. He was probably busy. In fact, Trevon was always busy, non-stop working on his latest project, and it would have been a real shocker if he ever picked up his phone.

So, I sent Trevon a message letting him know that I would be staying at the warehouse for a couple of days. Or until further notice.

I hated hotels and I would avoid them if possible. I hadn’t always been like this though. When I was a child, I used to love staying in hotels. When staying in hotels meant holidays, it meant my parents finally had time to take me away on a vacation. Later on, staying in hotels meant that my dad had done something bad and was trying to make up for it by taking Mom and I on a vacation. But these make-up vacations always ended in my parents fighting. Then after that, it just became a place where I stayed when I was on a business trip. So, like I said, not many great memories in hotels.

Trevon and I were roommates when we went to the same boarding school in the United Kingdom. It had been the first time both of us were away from home – me from China, and Trevon from the United States. Weekends were always tough for me. A lot of us would be sent “home”, either to our parents, or to family friends who would host us. I was supposed to go to Uncle Roger’s house, who was my dad’s business associate. He always made me really uncomfortable. He was constantly trying to sell me his business ideas, hoping that I would pass it to my parents.

When Trevon found out about this, he invited me to stay with his aunt every single weekend. And since then, I never went back to Uncle Roger’s house. To me, Trevon was like family.

So, staying at Trevon’s place during times like this was a no brainer, and he wouldn’t mind, I was sure of that.

A few years ago, Trevon bought an abandoned building and intended to transform it into a working storage unit for his online retail store. His plan was to fix up the place and then hire people who had fallen on hard times to work there, while providing training, fair wages, food and shelter for them.

The building consisted of three floors and Trevon had turned the top floor into an office with a living space for himself. More than a living space really. It was so nicely decorated the standard of the interior could compete with an uptown penthouse. I hadn’t actually been to the building before, but I had seen enough pictures from Trevon in our private group chat. He was so damn proud of this place.

On the outside though, it still looked like an abandoned building. Trevon had to stop the work on the warehouse because of the pandemic, which was a shame because this place had so much potential. And it would bring so much good to the local community.

“Lao ban.” That means boss in Mandarin. And I hated when people addressed me so formally.

“Don’t call me lao ban,” I growled at Clare.

“Shao yeh.” Little master. This one was even worse.

“Who the fuck taught you that?” I sometimes wondered if my mother was right, that I had been too relaxed with my staff. And now they have started calling me names. Sure, I was certain that most employees made fun of their bosses. Behind their back. Not in front of them like Clare just did.

“Goo–.”

“Perfect.” I snapped.

“Sir,” Dave cut in. “I think we have a situation.”

Again? Just my luck, huh?

I straightened up, and immediately spotted a red car parked outside of the warehouse and another one approaching slowly. Normally, this wouldn’t be suspicious at all in New York, but this was an abandoned-looking building owned by my friend. Not some random drug den. Why would two cars choose to stop in front of it?

“Slow down,” I demanded.

The whole car was in alert mode. Clare had even pulled out her gun, ready to shoot at anyone coming near us.

“Maybe someone is dealing near here?” Clare spoke up without thinking again but she may be right. But I didn’t think Trevon would allow that. If someone was doing any illegal dealings anywhere near him, it would have been sorted out within hours. No one was allowed to piss on Trevon’s territory.

“I don’t think so,” Dave announced as a man came out of the silver SUV and started trying to force the driver’s door of the red Tesla open. “It looks like someone might be in trouble though.”

“What is going on? Who is that?”

I felt stupid for asking. They knew as much as me at this point about the situation ahead.

“Mrs. Li said we should stay away from trouble.” No one asked her.

Sometimes, I wondered if Clare worked for me or my mother. But if my mother was here, she would definitely advise us against getting involved in matters that could cause us harm. Then she would remind me that I was the only son in the Li family – the only legit son at least. The only heir to the Li Empire, I could hear my mother saying. Although lately, I suspected that might not have been true.

“Sir,” Dave hesitated, “you, um, you–”

“I what?” I blurted out.

“You know the driver in the Tesla.”

My mind raced to a million places. My rib cage felt a sharp invisible pain – which triggered whenever I felt nervous or scared. The pain was a scar, a reminder left by my kidnappers years ago. Fragmented memories flashed through my mind – two guys kicking me in my stomach, refusing to stop no matter how much I begged. They wanted me to call Mom and Dad.