Zhang Wei
The car was too quiet.
Liang drove like he always did, steady, unhurried, eyes fixed on the road as if nothing in the world was worth reacting to. Qin sat beside him, arms folded, posture straight, pretending he wasn't replaying everything that had just happened at the Chen estate.
None of them spoke.
They never did.
That was the unspoken rule when my mind was elsewhere.
Beijing slid past the window in shades of gray. Bare winter trees. Cold buildings. People moving fast, shoulders hunched, chasing warmth, safety, anything but their own thoughts. I leaned my head back against the seat and shut my eyes for a brief second.
"Ask your father."
Chen Bo's voice crept back in, poisonous, like smoke that refused to clear.
The Liu family.
Twenty years ago.
Growing up, I'd heard whispers, companies collapsing overnight, powerful families erased from the business world as if they'd never existed. Back then, I told myself it was just the way things worked. The strong swallowed the weak. The ruthless survived.
But Chen Bo hadn't sounded like a man guessing.
He'd sounded like someone who'd been holding onto that secret, waiting for the right moment to use it.
My jaw tightened.
Was my father really capable of that?
No...wrong question.
I already knew he was.
The real question was how far he'd gone... and whether I was already walking down the same road without realizing it.
My phone vibrated in my hand.
I glanced down.
Mother.
A humorless scoff almost left me.
Of course she was calling now.
I answered anyway.
"Wei," her voice came through, soft, familiar, carefully warm. "How have you been?"
"I'm fine, Mother."
The lie came easily. It always did.
"I know you must be wondering why I haven't called or come to see you," she continued quickly, like she'd rehearsed this explanation. "I've been overwhelmed, company issues, documents, and some personal matters."
I said nothing.
"And your aunt is still here," she added lightly. "She came to visit and decided not to rush back. I've been keeping her company."
So that was it.
Not busy.
Just... avoiding me.
Avoiding the embarrassment I'd become in her eyes.
"I see," I said.
She paused.
"You sound tired," she said carefully. "Your voice... it's different. Is everything alright?"
I stared out the window, watching a cyclist wobble through traffic, teeth clenched against the cold.
"It's nothing," I replied. "Just work."
"Mmm," she murmured, unconvinced. Mothers never were.
"Fang Hua asked about you."
My fingers tightened slightly around the phone.
"She wanted me to pass along her greetings. She hasn't been feeling very well and hasn't been able to reach you." A brief pause. "Don't take it too hard on her, Wei. You know how close you two were before... everything."
Before the scandal.
Before the rejection.
Before I shattered the future she'd planned so neatly.
"She'll come visit one of these days," my mother continued, her tone gentle but deliberate. "When she does, tell that wife of yours to treat her properly."
There it was.
That wife of yours.
Not her name.
Not my wife.
Just a problem with a title.
I exhaled slowly.
"Mother," I said quietly, "tell Fang Hua to behave herself."
Silence.
"I don't want her coming into my house and causing trouble for my wife."
The word my was intentional.
When my mother spoke again, her voice was still calm, but cooler now, edged with warning.
"You've changed, Wei."
"I had to," I replied.
She sighed, the sound of a woman who had spent decades shaping her son into something flawless, only to watch him bend.
"Wei... remember, this marriage is only a convenience. Don't grow too attached. She isn't one of us. She never will be. Blood and background matter. They always have."
Something tightened in my chest.
I thought of Mei's laugh earlier today, real, unguarded, echoing through the penthouse like it belonged there.
I thought of her hand in mine when she first arrived at the penthouse.
The way she said my name, like it meant something.
"Mother," I said, my voice low and steady, "she is my wife and that makes her one of us."
The silence stretched.
Then came a soft, disappointed exhale.
"We'll see," she said finally. "Be careful, Wei. Attachments to the wrong people can cost more than money."
The call ended.
I lowered the phone and stared at it for a moment before letting it drop onto the seat beside me.
Legacy.
Family.
Secrets buried.
And Mei, laughing earlier, trusting me without knowing half the war circling her.
I closed my eyes.
If Chen Bo was telling the truth... then the enemy wasn't outside anymore.
It was inside my family.
And for the first time, I wasn't sure which side I'd end up destroying to protect the other.
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