[fic] Revelation Chapter 3
C.I. - Revelation Chapter 3
Pairings: Mik x Fei (FOREVER!)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Mikhail, Fei Long, Yoh, Asami, Aki belongs to YA *pouts pouts*
Note: Sorry I took so long *shoot me, I deserve it*. It's a heavy chapter, and just as a warning, it will get heavier from now meaning it will also take a long time to write. Sorry. ^^!
Revelation Chapter 3
The room was still dark when he opened his eyes. He took a glance at his watch - 6 am. It was still early, but the bed was empty. Where was Mikhail?
The strong aroma of freshly brewed coffee reached his nose and he found himself exhaling with relief. It seemed like an eternity since the last time he woke up to the smell of Mikhail's coffee. Back then it was simply something he was indifference to. He didn't know when it became a part of his life - something he actually missed when it wasn't there.
Fei Long put on his robe and noticed something on the bedside table - a ring. Just one look at it made his heart grew heavy. Mikhail must have taken it off that night. But was it because he didn't want him to see it on his finger, or was he ashamed?
And what about him? What had he done? He'd just slept with a married man. It was unforgivable. And yet somehow he didn't regret it. What kind of a man would commit such adultery and not regret? What was he turning into?
He stepped into the living room and looked around. Mikhail was nowhere to be found. Strange, he thought. Usually, he'd be on the sofa, sipping his coffee with a newspaper in his hands. And then his blue eyes would light up when he entered. ëGood morning, princess.' He'd say. No one would dare call him a princess. But the way Mikhail said it was somehow sweet - sweet, because it was spoken with sincerity and in his voice was, without mistake, affection.
He stepped out onto the large balcony and a sigh of relief escaped his lips. Mikhail was sitting by the pool, still in his robe, with one hand holding his coffee, the other a cigarette.
His relief was short-lived when he realized there was something wrong with that picture. Mikhail doesn't smoke. Sometimes, for pleasure, he would be seen with an expensive Cuban cigar, but Mikhail smoking a cigarette meant something was seriously wrong.
Fei Long walked over and sat down next to him. Upon sensing his presence, Mikhail turned around and smiled tenderly, just not wholeheartedly.
"Hi." His greeting was short and unusual. Not ëGood morning', and without an embrace, or a kiss, nothing. Something was definitely off. But what?
"It's a little early for smoking, isn't it?" Fei Long asked casually, his hand reached for the burning cigarette between Mikhail's fingers and brought it to his lips. Considering the situation, he needed one as much.
"You're starting to sound like my wife." A sarcastic smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he spoke. It was just a joke. His life was one big joke. Back then the only thing that stood between him and his happiness was getting Fei Long's attention. How ironic it was that when he finally got what he wanted, everything and everyone else seemed to get in the way. He was sitting next to the man he loved, in his own place, and with his lover's consent - a perfect picture no matter how one looks at it - but in place of happiness, in his heart was only frustration. Fei Long may have come back to him last night, but in the morning he'd beat himself over it, and then he'd leave. He thought he could handle it, but his patience was running out.
With a long, frustrating sigh, he reached across his lover's lips and took back his cigarette.
"I take it you've finally found your missing conscience?" Fei Long asked casually. What else could be on his mind but guilt? Or, perhaps, regret?
"What conscience?" Mikhail said quietly, exhaling the smoke from his lungs as he spoke. "She already knows. And she lets me."
Fei Long lifted his brow in surprise when he heard those words, his hand reached over, stealing the cigarette from Mikhail's hand one more time and filled his lungs with the pungent smoke. The knowledge that Feodora approved of their love affairs even before it happened didn't help. If anything, it made him feel worse. It wasn't just them that were suffering. Others were dragged into it as well. How pathetic.
"And you don't regret any of it?" He felt the need to ask, and he was expecting a straight answer.
Mikhail looked at him with a slightly irritated expression, as if it was the most ridiculous thing to question.
"What kind of man do you take me for? Only an idiot would ever regret being with you." The word regret wasn't in his dictionary and it certainly wasn't in his mind.
"What then?" Fei Long asked. If not guilt or regret, then what exactly was troubling him?
Mikhail didn't answer. He quietly reclaimed his cigarette and put out the smoke in the nearby ashtray as he rose from his chair.
"Let's go inside. I'll make you some coffee."
Fei Long seated himself at the bar, waiting quietly for his coffee, for Mikhail to initiate the conversation, and for the reply to his previous question. It was almost scary seeing him that way - so quiet, so reserved.
Mikhail placed a cup of coffee on the bar table before him and stood quietly, holding his breath for a few seconds as if deliberating on what to say, or rather, how and if he should say it. A few minutes passed and his eyes became focused, signifying that he had come to a decision.
"Tell me about your brother."
For a moment there Fei Long found himself speechless. He was expecting something else and Mikhail hit him with a question that almost knocked him off balance.
"My brother is dead." Fei Long answered in a firm, confidence tone, as if to convince himself of the very fact as well as the other man.
"He's not dead and you know it." Fei Long had brushed the question aside far too many times. Usually he would just drop the conversation. But this time it was different. This time it was crucial that he knew the truth before he made his move.
"He is to me." Fei Long repeated with a scornful tone. He didn't quite understand why Mikhail suddenly needed to press him on the subject. What good would it do to dig up the past he'd already left behind?
Mikhail's blue eyes turned a frightening ice blue as they narrowed in an attempt to see through what he was trying to hide. It made him uneasy. There were several times he saw that hostility on Mikhail's face, but they were never directed toward him. Perhaps he didn't know Mikhail as well as he thought he did. Perhaps this man was more terrifying than he had anticipated.
"And yet he haunts you until this day. What did he do?" Mikhail asked. He was convinced something must have happened, something that had to do with all the mess in Fei's past. No one seemed to know exactly what went wrong seven years ago no matter how hard he tried to find out.
"It has nothing to do with you." Fei Long warned him with a glare, suggesting that the subject be dropped at that very moment. And usually it would be. One irritated look on his face and Mikhail would try his best to change the subject and make him feel better. But that day he sensed it wasn't going to be that easy. And he was right. Without warning, Mikhail's fist slammed hard on the table, knocking over the coffee that was sitting in between them.
"It has EVERYTHING to do with me." Mikhail raised his voice to almost a shout. His eyes burned a blue flame filled with anger, his body trembled with fury. What did Fei Long thought he was? A good fuck? Someone too insignificant to reveal his life to? After all this time, after all that he'd done, Fei Long still kept him in the dark. It was as if he had two separate lives, one with him in it, the other with that man and his past - one he wasn't allowed to touch.
Fei Long drew back a little at what was happening in front of him. He had never seen Mikhail so furious. For the first time in his life he actually felt intimidated by this man. He wasn't scared - Mikhail would never hurt him - but he knew he was being pushed to reveal something against his will, and that made him uneasy.
"Because of it you're running back to Tokyo - to that man. How the hell do you think I feel? How long will you keep me in the dark? When will you trust me? WHEN?" Those questions had been haunting him far too long, and he'd had enough holding them back. At least not then, not when he couldn't seem to get even one thing that he wanted.
"Don't push me, Mikhail." Fei Long responded firmly. It wasn't about trust. Some things are better left unknown. "I've never once asked you about your scars. Stay away from mine."
The fire in those blue eyes suddenly receded, showing the only thing left in them that was worse than agony. They showed despair.
"I was beginning to think you've never noticed." Mikhail said quietly, his voice trembled a little as he continued, "or perhaps you never cared enough to ask."
It wasn't about his scars, but the fact that Fei Long had never taken an interest that pained him the most.
"I don't see the point of trespassing on old wounds."
"Trespassing?" Mikhail repeated, tracing the word as if every resonant was a knife driven through his heart. "I never knew until this day that you still consider me a stranger."
"You know that is not true." The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Mikhail any more than he already had. But the more he stayed around, the more often he ended up doing just that.
"Prove it." Mikhail demanded. "If I mean anything to you, then tell me what happened seven years ago." He was going to get his answers that day no matter what it cost. For without it, they had no future.
With his back right against the wall by his own words and his heart put to the test, Fei Long felt a surge of anger rose within him. To hell with it, he thought, to hell with this relationship. Whatever Mikhail thought of him after this didn't really matter. It wasn't as if they had a future anyway.
"My brother tried to rape me." He began with a calm, collected voice that grew cold and bitter with each passing word.
"I ran to Asami whom I think I could trust. I was wrong. My father was killed because of my foolishness. The man I trusted let my real father shoot me and left without a single word or explanation. As for Yan, I don't ever want to see him again. And I don't care if he lives or dies."
There it was, his disgusting past, his foolishness, and his sins revealed in a few short sentences before the one man who had him on a pedestal. He watched as Mikhail took it in complete silence. He didn't move. He just stood there, absolutely still, as if that was the only thing he could do at the time.
"I'm not exactly your princess anymore, am I?" Fei Long smiled a sarcastic smile. Now Mikhail knows the whole truth about him. Now is where it ends, the way it should have ended a long time ago.
"Go back to your wife, Mikhail." He said with a faint smile. "I have nothing to give you."
Mikhail watched in silence as Fei Long left the penthouse without another word. It was then that he finally understood Fei's reasons for keeping it from him, for building a wall around his heart, and why he hadn't been able to erase Asami Ryuichi from his life. Fei Long was an abandoned child whose life depended on finding his own worth. In his reach for acceptance he had found nothing but deceit and betrayal. Even then he was still reaching. He was reaching for Asami Ryuichi - for something that was never real, hoping that everything was a mistake, that he wasn't abandoned, that Asami cared.
What would you do, Fei? Mikhail thought to himself, what would you do when you find out that your worst fear turns out to be true?
Mikhail closed his eyes and sighed with a heavy heart. This wasn't the time for him to go back to Russia and let things be. He had to do something before it's too late.
With that thought in mind he reached for the phone in the pocket of his robe and speed dialed a number.
"Mikhail?" a man answered casually but with respect in his tone.
"I need information on LiuYan Tsui." Mikhail demanded with a frightening gleam in his blue eyes. "I want to know where he is, what he's doing, and I want it by tomorrow."
***
Macau
A few knocks on the door announced the arrival of a guest he had been waiting for. Mikhail promptly gave him the permission to enter.
Dmitri was a man slightly older than he was with dark hair and hazel eyes. One could say he was ruggedly handsome if not for the deep scar that ran from his left ear to the corner of his mouth. It had been a while since he called upon Dmitri for a job. The man was always flawless in his work but also little hard to control and unnecessarily expensive. But this time he was perfect for the job.
"Tell me you've got something." Mikhail asked impatiently. He didn't have any time to waste.
"Would I be here otherwise?" The man replied with a cunning smile. In truth he was a little surprised to receive a call from Mikhail Arbatov, considering the fact that the man had more than enough underlings to use and dispose of at his will. Usually he'd be called upon when his subordinates couldn't do the job. Either that, or it was the secrecy issue. This time, since it involved Liu Fei Long, and everyone knew about their relationship, he was sure it was the latter.
"Sit down." Mikhail ordered, seating himself behind his desk and offered Dmitri a cigar after lighting one for himself.
"Where is he?"
"I have no idea." Dmitri replied with an irritating smile as he leaned back on his chair and enjoyed the delicate fragrance of the fine cigar in his hand. He couldn't help but feeling a little amused at the situation. This Liu Fei Long was going to start a war within the Arbatov family for sure.
"I don't have time for your bullshit, Dmitri." Mikhail warned him with a glare. It was too easy a job for a man like Dmitri. The man would have been one fine subordinate if only his loyalty could be bought. Unfortunately, he would only work independently, although in a situation like this, his independence proved to be useful.
"I know how to find him." He replied with a grin, obviously proud of his work. The task Mikhail gave him wasn't easy. No information was easy to get when it had something to do with Baishe. Fei Long's men worshipped the man to the extent of going far beyond duty. But that was also Baishe's weakness. While loyalty is useful, obsession can be lethal.
"I'm listening." Mikhail leaned back as his eyes focused on the man in front of him.
"Why do you think he'd never returned to Hong Kong?" Dmitri began with a question. He wondered how much Mikhail already knew.
"I was under the impression that he was charged with the murder of his father." Fei Long never told him this, but it was easy enough to dig up.
"True. But there was no witness, no evidence, nothing. For a man of Yan Tsui's power, getting himself out of that mess should be relatively easy, especially when Liu Fei Long was in jail, charged with Toh's murder, yes?"
The part about the witness and evidence he didn't know. But it that was true, Dmitri had a point. If Yan Tsui was ambitious enough to kill his own father, why didn't he try to come back and resume command of Baishe?
"The truth is, he did try to come back and almost succeeded before Fei Long started making his moves, got himself out of jail, and took over Baishe." Dmitri continued with a look that showed he wasn't satisfied with that story.
Mikhail listened quietly, knowing that there was more to the story that Dmitri was about to reveal. But considering how much Fei Long loved and Baishe, it didn't seem odd to him that he'd do whatever it took to keep Baishe from the man who killed his father, even though it was his son.
"But the strange thing is, Fei Long voluntarily went to prison. He'd accepted the charge when there was no evidence or witness whatsoever that he had killed Toh. The man stayed in prison for one whole year, completely cut off from Baishe by his own will, and all of a sudden he wanted out, people start dying, evidence started showing up and he was released from prison to take over Baishe with every single man who was loyal to his brother miraculously wiped out just in time for his release. And from then Yan Tsui never made a single attempt to come back. Now tell me if you don't find that odd."
Mikhail's blue eyes narrowed as the truth revealed itself before him.
"The man I trusted let my real father shoot me."
He didn't kill Toh. Someone else did, someone who was there when he was shot.
The man I trusted...
Mikhail clenched his fists as Fei Long's words echoed in his mind. He must have lost the will to live and blamed himself for everything that happened to willingly go to jail without a fight. Why wouldn't he? The man had lost his whole family in one night, his real father didn't just abandon him - he wanted him dead. And to add to the injury, the only one left in the world he felt he could turn to deserted him with no explanation. A wound like that would have taken a long time to heal, if ever. What Dmitri said did raise some questions in his mind. Something must have happened in jail to put him back on his feet.
"Someone was helping him." Mikhail said his thoughts aloud.
"Someone with enough power to scare the hell out of Yan Tsui." Dmitri added, keenly watching the expression on Mikhail Arbatov's face changing from curiosity to that of a murderer. While he had no clue as to who the man was, Mikhail seemed to know it instantly.
Mikhail grounded his teeth when he finally understood the whole story. There was only one man powerful enough to execute the mass murder of Yan Tsui's men, only one man would involve himself in that mess, perhaps to pay back what he had taken from Fei Long, or perhaps there was still profit to be made out of all this. Whatever his motive was, the man left Fei Long in jail to take the blame for Toh's murder. To him, that fact alone was unforgivable.
Suddenly a thought flashed in his mind.
"Who was sent to jail with him?"
Dmitri smiled cunningly and handed him a sheet of paper. On it was a list of names. "See anyone you know?"
Mikhail's eyes traveled down the list and paused at a more than familiar name. His expression turned into one Dmitri would never forget - one that gave him second thoughts about giving him that piece of information. He had expected Mikhail to swear, or at least showed some kind of anger physically. But all he did was stare at that piece of paper without making a sound. His breathing was slow and quiet. Those blue eyes almost turned white, like those of a bloodthirsty vampire imagining the taste of his victim's blood on his lips and the screams of his kill in his ears. This was the real Mikhail Arbatov with nothing but pure mafia blood running in his veins. It made him sick to his stomach to be in the same room as the man in that kind of mood.
Seven long years and Fei never had a clue. One last betrayal that would tear down whatever self-esteem he may have retained from a lifetime of humiliation. It was a bomb carefully planted seven years ago, waiting to be detonated - an unforgivable scheme against Fei, a strike at his own heart. For him to sit on it and do nothing was not an option. Some people will have to die. The question was who, and how many.
Dmitri watched quietly as Mikhail rose from his chair walked to the window. With his back turned to him it was difficult to see his expression, not that he wanted to see it for that matter. The silence in that room was suffocating enough without seeing the man's face as he mercilessly put together a list of names to execute.
"If anyone knew the location of Liu Yan Tsui, it's this guy." Dmitri quickly concluded. At that point, he just wanted to leave the room. "Why don't we ask him?"
Mikhail breathed in the delicately rich smoke of his cigar and replied with a spiteful smile. "Why ask an underling when you can ask the master?" It was about time he confronted the man properly before it was too late.
"Your check is on my desk. You may leave." Mikhail ended the conversation. He had gotten all he needed to know.
"Dmitri." The man was called once more before he left the room. "You do know the reason I called you."
"If it comes from me, you can have my life." Mikhail obviously didn't want people in his organization to know what he was planning to do. It would be a suicidal attempt for him to let it leak from his mouth.
"It will not be your life I'm taking, but that of your wife and daughter." Mikhail warned, turning his head slightly to make sure the man understood. "You will live to go to their funeral."
Dmitri nodded quietly before he left the room. With that look on his face it wasn't a threat, but a fact. And even if he never talked, Mikhail will have to do some cleaning in his organization to keep things under control. Most likely he'd be called upon again, and then it wouldn't just be information he wanted. It was an opportunity for him to make money, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to get involved in a mess this deep.
Mikhail Arbatov was pissed. Things were going to get ugly from now on.
Pairings: Mik x Fei (FOREVER!)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Mikhail, Fei Long, Yoh, Asami, Aki belongs to YA *pouts pouts*
Note: Sorry I took so long *shoot me, I deserve it*. It's a heavy chapter, and just as a warning, it will get heavier from now meaning it will also take a long time to write. Sorry. ^^!
Revelation Chapter 3
The room was still dark when he opened his eyes. He took a glance at his watch - 6 am. It was still early, but the bed was empty. Where was Mikhail?
The strong aroma of freshly brewed coffee reached his nose and he found himself exhaling with relief. It seemed like an eternity since the last time he woke up to the smell of Mikhail's coffee. Back then it was simply something he was indifference to. He didn't know when it became a part of his life - something he actually missed when it wasn't there.
Fei Long put on his robe and noticed something on the bedside table - a ring. Just one look at it made his heart grew heavy. Mikhail must have taken it off that night. But was it because he didn't want him to see it on his finger, or was he ashamed?
And what about him? What had he done? He'd just slept with a married man. It was unforgivable. And yet somehow he didn't regret it. What kind of a man would commit such adultery and not regret? What was he turning into?
He stepped into the living room and looked around. Mikhail was nowhere to be found. Strange, he thought. Usually, he'd be on the sofa, sipping his coffee with a newspaper in his hands. And then his blue eyes would light up when he entered. ëGood morning, princess.' He'd say. No one would dare call him a princess. But the way Mikhail said it was somehow sweet - sweet, because it was spoken with sincerity and in his voice was, without mistake, affection.
He stepped out onto the large balcony and a sigh of relief escaped his lips. Mikhail was sitting by the pool, still in his robe, with one hand holding his coffee, the other a cigarette.
His relief was short-lived when he realized there was something wrong with that picture. Mikhail doesn't smoke. Sometimes, for pleasure, he would be seen with an expensive Cuban cigar, but Mikhail smoking a cigarette meant something was seriously wrong.
Fei Long walked over and sat down next to him. Upon sensing his presence, Mikhail turned around and smiled tenderly, just not wholeheartedly.
"Hi." His greeting was short and unusual. Not ëGood morning', and without an embrace, or a kiss, nothing. Something was definitely off. But what?
"It's a little early for smoking, isn't it?" Fei Long asked casually, his hand reached for the burning cigarette between Mikhail's fingers and brought it to his lips. Considering the situation, he needed one as much.
"You're starting to sound like my wife." A sarcastic smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he spoke. It was just a joke. His life was one big joke. Back then the only thing that stood between him and his happiness was getting Fei Long's attention. How ironic it was that when he finally got what he wanted, everything and everyone else seemed to get in the way. He was sitting next to the man he loved, in his own place, and with his lover's consent - a perfect picture no matter how one looks at it - but in place of happiness, in his heart was only frustration. Fei Long may have come back to him last night, but in the morning he'd beat himself over it, and then he'd leave. He thought he could handle it, but his patience was running out.
With a long, frustrating sigh, he reached across his lover's lips and took back his cigarette.
"I take it you've finally found your missing conscience?" Fei Long asked casually. What else could be on his mind but guilt? Or, perhaps, regret?
"What conscience?" Mikhail said quietly, exhaling the smoke from his lungs as he spoke. "She already knows. And she lets me."
Fei Long lifted his brow in surprise when he heard those words, his hand reached over, stealing the cigarette from Mikhail's hand one more time and filled his lungs with the pungent smoke. The knowledge that Feodora approved of their love affairs even before it happened didn't help. If anything, it made him feel worse. It wasn't just them that were suffering. Others were dragged into it as well. How pathetic.
"And you don't regret any of it?" He felt the need to ask, and he was expecting a straight answer.
Mikhail looked at him with a slightly irritated expression, as if it was the most ridiculous thing to question.
"What kind of man do you take me for? Only an idiot would ever regret being with you." The word regret wasn't in his dictionary and it certainly wasn't in his mind.
"What then?" Fei Long asked. If not guilt or regret, then what exactly was troubling him?
Mikhail didn't answer. He quietly reclaimed his cigarette and put out the smoke in the nearby ashtray as he rose from his chair.
"Let's go inside. I'll make you some coffee."
Fei Long seated himself at the bar, waiting quietly for his coffee, for Mikhail to initiate the conversation, and for the reply to his previous question. It was almost scary seeing him that way - so quiet, so reserved.
Mikhail placed a cup of coffee on the bar table before him and stood quietly, holding his breath for a few seconds as if deliberating on what to say, or rather, how and if he should say it. A few minutes passed and his eyes became focused, signifying that he had come to a decision.
"Tell me about your brother."
For a moment there Fei Long found himself speechless. He was expecting something else and Mikhail hit him with a question that almost knocked him off balance.
"My brother is dead." Fei Long answered in a firm, confidence tone, as if to convince himself of the very fact as well as the other man.
"He's not dead and you know it." Fei Long had brushed the question aside far too many times. Usually he would just drop the conversation. But this time it was different. This time it was crucial that he knew the truth before he made his move.
"He is to me." Fei Long repeated with a scornful tone. He didn't quite understand why Mikhail suddenly needed to press him on the subject. What good would it do to dig up the past he'd already left behind?
Mikhail's blue eyes turned a frightening ice blue as they narrowed in an attempt to see through what he was trying to hide. It made him uneasy. There were several times he saw that hostility on Mikhail's face, but they were never directed toward him. Perhaps he didn't know Mikhail as well as he thought he did. Perhaps this man was more terrifying than he had anticipated.
"And yet he haunts you until this day. What did he do?" Mikhail asked. He was convinced something must have happened, something that had to do with all the mess in Fei's past. No one seemed to know exactly what went wrong seven years ago no matter how hard he tried to find out.
"It has nothing to do with you." Fei Long warned him with a glare, suggesting that the subject be dropped at that very moment. And usually it would be. One irritated look on his face and Mikhail would try his best to change the subject and make him feel better. But that day he sensed it wasn't going to be that easy. And he was right. Without warning, Mikhail's fist slammed hard on the table, knocking over the coffee that was sitting in between them.
"It has EVERYTHING to do with me." Mikhail raised his voice to almost a shout. His eyes burned a blue flame filled with anger, his body trembled with fury. What did Fei Long thought he was? A good fuck? Someone too insignificant to reveal his life to? After all this time, after all that he'd done, Fei Long still kept him in the dark. It was as if he had two separate lives, one with him in it, the other with that man and his past - one he wasn't allowed to touch.
Fei Long drew back a little at what was happening in front of him. He had never seen Mikhail so furious. For the first time in his life he actually felt intimidated by this man. He wasn't scared - Mikhail would never hurt him - but he knew he was being pushed to reveal something against his will, and that made him uneasy.
"Because of it you're running back to Tokyo - to that man. How the hell do you think I feel? How long will you keep me in the dark? When will you trust me? WHEN?" Those questions had been haunting him far too long, and he'd had enough holding them back. At least not then, not when he couldn't seem to get even one thing that he wanted.
"Don't push me, Mikhail." Fei Long responded firmly. It wasn't about trust. Some things are better left unknown. "I've never once asked you about your scars. Stay away from mine."
The fire in those blue eyes suddenly receded, showing the only thing left in them that was worse than agony. They showed despair.
"I was beginning to think you've never noticed." Mikhail said quietly, his voice trembled a little as he continued, "or perhaps you never cared enough to ask."
It wasn't about his scars, but the fact that Fei Long had never taken an interest that pained him the most.
"I don't see the point of trespassing on old wounds."
"Trespassing?" Mikhail repeated, tracing the word as if every resonant was a knife driven through his heart. "I never knew until this day that you still consider me a stranger."
"You know that is not true." The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Mikhail any more than he already had. But the more he stayed around, the more often he ended up doing just that.
"Prove it." Mikhail demanded. "If I mean anything to you, then tell me what happened seven years ago." He was going to get his answers that day no matter what it cost. For without it, they had no future.
With his back right against the wall by his own words and his heart put to the test, Fei Long felt a surge of anger rose within him. To hell with it, he thought, to hell with this relationship. Whatever Mikhail thought of him after this didn't really matter. It wasn't as if they had a future anyway.
"My brother tried to rape me." He began with a calm, collected voice that grew cold and bitter with each passing word.
"I ran to Asami whom I think I could trust. I was wrong. My father was killed because of my foolishness. The man I trusted let my real father shoot me and left without a single word or explanation. As for Yan, I don't ever want to see him again. And I don't care if he lives or dies."
There it was, his disgusting past, his foolishness, and his sins revealed in a few short sentences before the one man who had him on a pedestal. He watched as Mikhail took it in complete silence. He didn't move. He just stood there, absolutely still, as if that was the only thing he could do at the time.
"I'm not exactly your princess anymore, am I?" Fei Long smiled a sarcastic smile. Now Mikhail knows the whole truth about him. Now is where it ends, the way it should have ended a long time ago.
"Go back to your wife, Mikhail." He said with a faint smile. "I have nothing to give you."
Mikhail watched in silence as Fei Long left the penthouse without another word. It was then that he finally understood Fei's reasons for keeping it from him, for building a wall around his heart, and why he hadn't been able to erase Asami Ryuichi from his life. Fei Long was an abandoned child whose life depended on finding his own worth. In his reach for acceptance he had found nothing but deceit and betrayal. Even then he was still reaching. He was reaching for Asami Ryuichi - for something that was never real, hoping that everything was a mistake, that he wasn't abandoned, that Asami cared.
What would you do, Fei? Mikhail thought to himself, what would you do when you find out that your worst fear turns out to be true?
Mikhail closed his eyes and sighed with a heavy heart. This wasn't the time for him to go back to Russia and let things be. He had to do something before it's too late.
With that thought in mind he reached for the phone in the pocket of his robe and speed dialed a number.
"Mikhail?" a man answered casually but with respect in his tone.
"I need information on LiuYan Tsui." Mikhail demanded with a frightening gleam in his blue eyes. "I want to know where he is, what he's doing, and I want it by tomorrow."
***
Macau
A few knocks on the door announced the arrival of a guest he had been waiting for. Mikhail promptly gave him the permission to enter.
Dmitri was a man slightly older than he was with dark hair and hazel eyes. One could say he was ruggedly handsome if not for the deep scar that ran from his left ear to the corner of his mouth. It had been a while since he called upon Dmitri for a job. The man was always flawless in his work but also little hard to control and unnecessarily expensive. But this time he was perfect for the job.
"Tell me you've got something." Mikhail asked impatiently. He didn't have any time to waste.
"Would I be here otherwise?" The man replied with a cunning smile. In truth he was a little surprised to receive a call from Mikhail Arbatov, considering the fact that the man had more than enough underlings to use and dispose of at his will. Usually he'd be called upon when his subordinates couldn't do the job. Either that, or it was the secrecy issue. This time, since it involved Liu Fei Long, and everyone knew about their relationship, he was sure it was the latter.
"Sit down." Mikhail ordered, seating himself behind his desk and offered Dmitri a cigar after lighting one for himself.
"Where is he?"
"I have no idea." Dmitri replied with an irritating smile as he leaned back on his chair and enjoyed the delicate fragrance of the fine cigar in his hand. He couldn't help but feeling a little amused at the situation. This Liu Fei Long was going to start a war within the Arbatov family for sure.
"I don't have time for your bullshit, Dmitri." Mikhail warned him with a glare. It was too easy a job for a man like Dmitri. The man would have been one fine subordinate if only his loyalty could be bought. Unfortunately, he would only work independently, although in a situation like this, his independence proved to be useful.
"I know how to find him." He replied with a grin, obviously proud of his work. The task Mikhail gave him wasn't easy. No information was easy to get when it had something to do with Baishe. Fei Long's men worshipped the man to the extent of going far beyond duty. But that was also Baishe's weakness. While loyalty is useful, obsession can be lethal.
"I'm listening." Mikhail leaned back as his eyes focused on the man in front of him.
"Why do you think he'd never returned to Hong Kong?" Dmitri began with a question. He wondered how much Mikhail already knew.
"I was under the impression that he was charged with the murder of his father." Fei Long never told him this, but it was easy enough to dig up.
"True. But there was no witness, no evidence, nothing. For a man of Yan Tsui's power, getting himself out of that mess should be relatively easy, especially when Liu Fei Long was in jail, charged with Toh's murder, yes?"
The part about the witness and evidence he didn't know. But it that was true, Dmitri had a point. If Yan Tsui was ambitious enough to kill his own father, why didn't he try to come back and resume command of Baishe?
"The truth is, he did try to come back and almost succeeded before Fei Long started making his moves, got himself out of jail, and took over Baishe." Dmitri continued with a look that showed he wasn't satisfied with that story.
Mikhail listened quietly, knowing that there was more to the story that Dmitri was about to reveal. But considering how much Fei Long loved and Baishe, it didn't seem odd to him that he'd do whatever it took to keep Baishe from the man who killed his father, even though it was his son.
"But the strange thing is, Fei Long voluntarily went to prison. He'd accepted the charge when there was no evidence or witness whatsoever that he had killed Toh. The man stayed in prison for one whole year, completely cut off from Baishe by his own will, and all of a sudden he wanted out, people start dying, evidence started showing up and he was released from prison to take over Baishe with every single man who was loyal to his brother miraculously wiped out just in time for his release. And from then Yan Tsui never made a single attempt to come back. Now tell me if you don't find that odd."
Mikhail's blue eyes narrowed as the truth revealed itself before him.
"The man I trusted let my real father shoot me."
He didn't kill Toh. Someone else did, someone who was there when he was shot.
The man I trusted...
Mikhail clenched his fists as Fei Long's words echoed in his mind. He must have lost the will to live and blamed himself for everything that happened to willingly go to jail without a fight. Why wouldn't he? The man had lost his whole family in one night, his real father didn't just abandon him - he wanted him dead. And to add to the injury, the only one left in the world he felt he could turn to deserted him with no explanation. A wound like that would have taken a long time to heal, if ever. What Dmitri said did raise some questions in his mind. Something must have happened in jail to put him back on his feet.
"Someone was helping him." Mikhail said his thoughts aloud.
"Someone with enough power to scare the hell out of Yan Tsui." Dmitri added, keenly watching the expression on Mikhail Arbatov's face changing from curiosity to that of a murderer. While he had no clue as to who the man was, Mikhail seemed to know it instantly.
Mikhail grounded his teeth when he finally understood the whole story. There was only one man powerful enough to execute the mass murder of Yan Tsui's men, only one man would involve himself in that mess, perhaps to pay back what he had taken from Fei Long, or perhaps there was still profit to be made out of all this. Whatever his motive was, the man left Fei Long in jail to take the blame for Toh's murder. To him, that fact alone was unforgivable.
Suddenly a thought flashed in his mind.
"Who was sent to jail with him?"
Dmitri smiled cunningly and handed him a sheet of paper. On it was a list of names. "See anyone you know?"
Mikhail's eyes traveled down the list and paused at a more than familiar name. His expression turned into one Dmitri would never forget - one that gave him second thoughts about giving him that piece of information. He had expected Mikhail to swear, or at least showed some kind of anger physically. But all he did was stare at that piece of paper without making a sound. His breathing was slow and quiet. Those blue eyes almost turned white, like those of a bloodthirsty vampire imagining the taste of his victim's blood on his lips and the screams of his kill in his ears. This was the real Mikhail Arbatov with nothing but pure mafia blood running in his veins. It made him sick to his stomach to be in the same room as the man in that kind of mood.
Seven long years and Fei never had a clue. One last betrayal that would tear down whatever self-esteem he may have retained from a lifetime of humiliation. It was a bomb carefully planted seven years ago, waiting to be detonated - an unforgivable scheme against Fei, a strike at his own heart. For him to sit on it and do nothing was not an option. Some people will have to die. The question was who, and how many.
Dmitri watched quietly as Mikhail rose from his chair walked to the window. With his back turned to him it was difficult to see his expression, not that he wanted to see it for that matter. The silence in that room was suffocating enough without seeing the man's face as he mercilessly put together a list of names to execute.
"If anyone knew the location of Liu Yan Tsui, it's this guy." Dmitri quickly concluded. At that point, he just wanted to leave the room. "Why don't we ask him?"
Mikhail breathed in the delicately rich smoke of his cigar and replied with a spiteful smile. "Why ask an underling when you can ask the master?" It was about time he confronted the man properly before it was too late.
"Your check is on my desk. You may leave." Mikhail ended the conversation. He had gotten all he needed to know.
"Dmitri." The man was called once more before he left the room. "You do know the reason I called you."
"If it comes from me, you can have my life." Mikhail obviously didn't want people in his organization to know what he was planning to do. It would be a suicidal attempt for him to let it leak from his mouth.
"It will not be your life I'm taking, but that of your wife and daughter." Mikhail warned, turning his head slightly to make sure the man understood. "You will live to go to their funeral."
Dmitri nodded quietly before he left the room. With that look on his face it wasn't a threat, but a fact. And even if he never talked, Mikhail will have to do some cleaning in his organization to keep things under control. Most likely he'd be called upon again, and then it wouldn't just be information he wanted. It was an opportunity for him to make money, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to get involved in a mess this deep.
Mikhail Arbatov was pissed. Things were going to get ugly from now on.