”It may make things even worse. Just let me go back Edward.”

”Haven’t they already figured out you have disappeared?”

Amy had shaken her head, “I told them I was going to look for things for the baby. Besides, they would have called me by now if they were looking for me.”

She had gone to the mall with Jinn and Tai’s wives and when Edward asked, Amy knew nothing about Jinn himself being at the resort.

”They don’t let the wives know what’s going on. But if I am not around when they want to leave, they’ll raise an alarm.”

Edward nodded. It was at this point he finally relented and agreed to send her back to the mall.

”I will come back for you Amy, that’s a promise.”

Those were Edward’s last words to Amy before he left her at the mall.

He’d grabbed her around the waist which wasn’t so easy anymore given her condition, then he’d brought his lips down on hers.

A seal. He wasn’t leaving Shanghai without her. The stake out had ended there. They knew enough to work with now, there was no need to keep tailing Jinn Yang.

”Of all the people I expected that would betray me finally, Tai was the least.”

”You say it yourself boss,” Viktor reminded him, “expect everything.”

”That guy was family, Viktor. My father defended him against the mafia when he left.” Or claimed to.

Edward had figured by now that the move has just been a ruse to keep off the radar while he strategized.

”Even blood can’t stop the thirst for power.”

***

Thirty minutes after the call was made, the hotel suite of Edward Wu filled up with more than twenty men, all built and trained by the Chinese mafia.

They were soldiers under the order of Edward himself and somewhere in the tunnels of Shanghai, over fifty sat on standby just in case any man needed to be replaced or the man power from the enemy was more than anticipated.

This was just a glimpse of how resourceful Edward Wu was.

”Good afternoon.” Edward stood in front of the men and greeted.

They were all gathered in his suit that would have contained them comfortably if they weren’t built with toned muscles and testosterone.

The room could barely fit them. There was an overflow into Edward’s room, but the door had been left open so the occupants heard what the boss had to say.

They was a baritone chorus of a reply to the greeting before Edward continued.

”I’ve called you here because tomorrow night there will be a battle. A battle between the strongest forces of the mafia and I need your help.”

The men seated in the room had come directly from the training room of one of the toughest martial artists Edward had ever come in contact with.

He was the one that trained Viktor and the only one that Edward trusted to train all the men he sent out to the field.

Legend had it that if anyone could survive the training of Master Shan Chi then they could survive any obstacles in the world.

Right now, Edward needed that theory to be true even though he hadn’t particularly believed it.

He didn’t expect the heat from Tai and Jinn’s men combined to be little so he was expecting everything.

He would have asked for more men to flood the hotel, but they still had the element of surprise and Edward wanted to strike and take out half the army before they realised what was happening.

He gave the details of the plan he and Viktor had come up with within ten minutes of thinking of nothing else.

The party was the next night and whatever Tai Pin had planned would definitely be executed then especially if it involved blackmailing

Edward into giving up his position in the mafia. They would expect that Edward would want to return to Beijing afterward and would waste no time in capturing him.

”Either of two things are going to happen,” Edward had speculated, “I’ll arrive the party and be taken in immediately or sometime during the party, I’ll be escorted out of the hall on the request of Tai Pin.

Of course, they expect that I would comply freely because I’m not supposed to know what’s happening.”

Viktor had nodded, completely in agreement with his boss’s theory.

”But option one is not feasible. If they take me before the party, I’ll feel blindsided. I need to see the everything that’s going on.”

So, Edward had decided that he would arrive the party with an entourage.

”Of course Tai won’t be expecting that because I don’t need the security, right?”

Viktor caught on quick. He gave Edward a reassuring nod.

”So, I’ll walk into the building flanked on all sides by a few chosen men so that no one’s able to get to me to request my presence somewhere else.”

Because if the memo got to him, Edward would be compelled to obey else it would be the first tip off that something wasn’t going well.

”But won’t the presence of security be questioned. You said it yourself, they don’t expect you to have so much protection.”

”I’m currently seen as the most dangerous man in the underworld Viktor, they may not expect me to travel with so much security because it has never been my style.

It won’t throw them off because they have an option two.” Plans changed easily whenever there were options and all Edward needed to do was figure out the ones Tai Pin had and make him pick the one that would leave his army open for attack from him.

It was this Edward explained to the men in the room. Afterward, he went into phase two of the plan.

”There’s always a pattern to these parties. Once all the guests have arrived, the doors to the ballroom will be closed to any other person,” Edward had explained to Viktor.

”How do they know all the guests have arrived?”

”They have a list.”

”What about latecomers? How long will they leave the door open for them?”

”It’s a mafia rule, you don’t come to a gathering an hour after the stated opening time else you won’t be let in.”

”So you’re convinced everyone of the guest list is mafia then?”