A Lover's Wish Read online

  Kianna didn’t reply.

  The grandfather clock close to the front door began singing.

  It was midnight.

  That night, in bed, for the first time since she was six, Kianna prayed.

  Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the lord my soul to keep. That if I die before I wake. I pray dear lord my soul to take.

  The day of the funeral was no better or different. Kianna still felt as though someone had stolen something from her that ruined her life. When the coffins of her parents were lowered into the ground, she still couldn’t cry for her father. She didn’t think he deserved the tears, though she wanted to mourn him. All she kept thinking was that he had a choice—life or death and he chose the wrong one. He chose to leave her in a world that she didn’t like, a world she had never without family in before—alone. Rain fell lightly over the crowd that had gathered to pay their respects to the dead couple. People were wailing and sniffling and Kianna felt sick to her stomach. She knew that when they went home, their conversations would not be sympathetic.

  “Poor child. Can you believe what her father did?”

  “Darling girl, but she is a tad strange.”

  Kianna shook her head and slumped back into the chair as the priest went on to The Lord’s Prayer. She could barely bear it. But still she sat, like a

  good little girl. When it was all over, she spent a few minutes alone with the graves until it began raining. Jace returned, wrapped her arms around Kianna’s shoulders and walked her back to the car. They drove in silence all the way back to Kianna’s home and just as silently, Jace tucked her into bed.

  Chapter Two

  D

  ao smiled as he listened to his mother’s worry. “Don’t worry Ma, I just want to make sure you and Dad are taken care of. You took care of me— you’re still taking care of me—why can’t I do the

  same for you?”

  “But a private doctor? That has to be expensive!

  How are you affording all of this?”

  “Ma, please don’t worry, okay?” Dao pressed. “Let me do this. Besides, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you and Dad. Okay, please?”

  “You’re not into the drugs, are you?” His mother’s voice sounded incredulous. “I heard those things are big in Canada.”

  Dao laughed. “No Ma. I’m not into drugs. Do not worry. I promise.” His mother went silent. Dao kept the quiet going for he knew her well enough to know she was thinking. His personal assistant stuck her head in to remind him of his upcoming meeting and he nodded. “Alright, Ma. I’ll call you soon. I have a meeting. Be nice to the

  doctor for me? And if he gives you and Dad medicine, please take them. Don’t worry about the cost.”

  His mother laughed. “I’m your mother. I’m always nice.”

  Dao chuckled for he could see her inside his head, lifting her chin proudly as she said that. He blew her a kiss over the phone. “Ngo oi ney.”

  “Love you, too,” she replied.

  He waited until she hung up before he dropped his phone back into the cradle. No matter how many times he told her what he did for a living, she always forgot. He didn’t mind though, he loved her too much to care about such petty things. He called his mother regularly since she was still in China. He actually didn’t quite call her—he would call a friend of his, ask the young man get his mother or both his parents and bring them back to where the phone was. Then he would call back in one hour to speak to his parents.

  At the end of each month, he would send the man money in payment for what he did. His mother had refused the cell phone he offered to get them. Sometimes her wanting to be so ancient worried him and angered him. The cell phone would have settled his nerves, but then again his parents did not have electricity where they lived. They still used oil lamps at nights, washed clothes

  in the river and boiled the river water for drinking. He wanted to make certain both her and his father were well taken care of, but they weren’t making it easy for him.

  Dao left his office with his papers and a smile on his face. He walked into the meeting room to find that his associates were already there. He greeted them with a smile before taking his seat. “Alright.” He opened the file before him and peered in. “Let’s do this. First let’s deal with the Hoboken situation. Do we have a representative down there? We need that group under Red Dragon and with how amazing they are, we have to move fast.”

  “Amber is heading down there as we speak,” someone called from the far end. “She should get there in the next few hours—oh and she took the contracts with her.”

  “Good. Keep me updated.” The meeting dragged on. For the most part they were trying to get him to send one of their singers on a world tour. He was talented, but the kid rubbed Dao the wrong way. Even without that, Dao knew that Prodigy—the singer-was an international incident waiting to happen. No matter what the kid put his hands on—except music—turned to hell in a hand basket and he was costing Red Dragon way too much money.

  “He’s not going on tour,” Dao put his foot down. “This kid is nothing but trouble. The last time I sent him out, he started a fight with a minor and left us holding a lawsuit. I’m not even going to start with the other stunts he has pulled. Until he can prove to me that he knows how to behave himself and how to represent this company in a respectable light, he stays in the studios.”

  Most of the others weren’t pleased, but Dao couldn’t say he cared. He had a business to run and couldn’t very well do that when he was busy doling out money for different lawsuits.

  “How is he going to make money if he doesn’t go on tour?” one person asked. “Promote his album and Red Dragon?”

  “He is making money from his albums,” Dao pointed out. “He will earn more once he learns to behave himself. This is a business, and as much as I know people would pay big bucks to see him, those big bucks won’t help Red Dragon if we have to pay that money out to the next person he decided talks too much and deserves a fist to the face.”

  Dao turned to Prodigy’s manager. “Put him on probation. Prove to me he’s changed.”

  “We can always take him somewhere else,” the man huffed.

  Why do they always do this? “You have a contract with Red Dragon and if you breach that I

  wouldn’t hesitate to make you both pay. But aside from that, you could try taking him somewhere else, but don’t kid yourself in thinking someone would pick him up after we release him. Do you want to know why? No other company is going to put up with half the crap we put up with. Now we can sit here arguing about this all day or you can talk to your client.”

  That silenced Prodigy’s manager and Dao turned to see the next person who wanted to get on his bad side. When no one spoke, Dao opened a second folder and pulled out a contract. He sailed it across the table. “Jackson, that contract is for Bai. Have her agent and lawyers read it over and if everything is good, sign it and drop it off to Beth-Ann.”

  With the meeting finally out of the way, Dao walked out to the front and leaned heavily against the counter. He suddenly felt like he had the world on his shoulders. He was extremely tired. His secretary, Beth-Ann, stood and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Over the past few years that she had been there, the two had become friends. He could depend on her to have his back and that was something he didn’t find much in anyone except his best friend, Claude.

  “They still trying to get you to tour Prod?” Beth-Ann handed him a cup of steaming coffee.

  Dao took a sip. “Yah. That kid is a walking disaster. It seems that every time we let him loose, he causes some kind issue. It has gotten to the point where every time the phone rings, I wonder what he did this time and how much it was going to cost me! I mean he has so much potential, but if they keep pushing me on touring him, I’m going to rip up his contract. There’s only so much I can take.”

  The telephone rang and Beth-Ann answered it.

  Dao watched her eyes change from anger to worry.

  She covered the
mouthpiece with a hand. “Go into your office and turn on the television. Put it on MTV.”

  Oh no! Prodigy! Dao didn’t argue. He darted into his office, flipped on the television and turned to the channel Beth-Ann had told him. He was just in time to catch a slow motion replay of Prodigy, undoing his pants, turning around and fully mooning the MTV camera and audience. “I’ll kill him,” Dao growled.

  “Dao?” it was Beth-Ann behind him. “Breathe.” “Breathe? We just went through this!”

  “I know but—”

  “See? This is exactly what I was talking about!” Dao was fuming. He banged his fist into the desk angrily. His head began throbbing lightly as rage surged through him. He could not believe it. The

  kid was going to single handily bring down the Red Dragon Label and he would be damned if he allowed that to happen. “Find his contract for me, then get Mark and Prodigy over here, now.”

  He heard Beth-Ann’s feet leave the office and Dao flipped off the television as they were replaying the scene over and over—each time they played it slower and slower. He flopped down into his seat and buried his face in his hands. He loved giving people second chances because he thought some people could change to do better.

  But Prodigy was cut from a different cloth—he had gotten a second chance, a third chance and a fourth chance. The kid had to go there was no way around it. There were so many other singers out there that would kill for a chance to have Dao listen to their demo. Everything had come easy for Prodigy, for Dao knew about him through the kid’s father. But there was a time for loyalty and a time for good business sense.

  For the rest of the day, Dao could think of nothing else. His anger hadn’t subsided either. He was angrier at himself than at Prodigy then. He was mad because he had allowed himself to be suckered in by everything that has been said after each incident. He began wondering what was taking them so long to get Mark and his client in.

  It was almost time to call it quits for the day when a knock came at the door and Mark stuck his head in.

  Dao motioned for him to come in. Behind Mark was Prodigy and behind him was Beth-Ann. They all sat down and Dao grinded his teeth before he began speaking. “I’m a very patient man,” Dao spoke softly. “But for the past two years, you’ve been a royal pain in my ass.” He eyed Prodigy who was lounging in his chair.

  “Sit up!” Dao thundered. Maybe it was the anger in his voice or something else, but the young singer flew upward into his seat. “You’ve only been here for two years and already you’ve cost us one point two million dollars in lawsuits and damages to public property. Do you understand how many people would kill to have what you have? Are you that dense that you don’t see what you have here and why you should do everything in your power to protect it? I’ve given you chance after chance and you keep racking up the bills! Do you know what your skinny ass on television is going to do to us? We have reputation to uphold.”

  Dao stopped to breathe before he turned to Beth-Ann. She handed him Prodigy’s contract and Dao ripped the papers in half. “You’ve just violated your contract one too many times. You no

  longer belong to Red Dragon. My lawyers will contact you. Now get out.”

  “Come on, Dao,” Mark pleaded. “This will end his career!”

  “Well, ask me if I care. He should have thought about that before he decided to give the world a view of his backside. Beth-Ann, call security.”

  “You can’t do this!” the young singer flew out of his seat. “We have a contract.”

  “How appropriate! Now you are acknowledging the contract? What did the contract say about representing Red Dragon? Answer me!”

  The kid didn’t speak.

  “You are nineteen years old and you have no respect for anything or anyone!” Dao snapped. “You have caused us to lose more money than you brought us. Every time we let you out in public, you cause one havoc after another, then you leave us to clean up your mess. Like I said before, I am a very patient man, Prodigy, but enough is enough. Now, you need to leave or I will personally throw you out. And trust me, it is a very long drop from this floor.”

  That cleared the room.

  Dao’s temples were throbbing. It was as if someone was playing a set of drums inside his head. He checked his email one last time to some bad news. His personal assistant had quit. With a

  shake of his head, he slammed the laptop shut, shoved it into his bag and left the office. “I can’t stand this crap,” he muttered angrily.

  At home, he took a small nap. When he woke up and remembered all he had gone through that day, the slight pounding came back. With a moan, he decided to try and get some work done and not wait for the morning. The first order of business was to find a way of getting a new personal assistant as soon as possible. But when midnight rolled around, Dao Zhi still sat before his computer typing out a mass email.

  No matter how many times he changed the wording, he was still not satisfied with it. He tried typing it all out in Chinese, then translating it to English, but that had been a major mistake. He had to get it perfect or close to it because it would be an ad to the newspapers where everyone would see it.

  It had been a rather trying few weeks and the day before had been the one sent forth to challenge him. At the last minute, he got an idea and added a slew of email addresses from people who had applied for work with Red Dragon before. They hadn’t gotten a job, but their resumes had interested him. When he finally hit send, he pressed back against the seat, arched his back and

  moaned as his spine seemed to snap back into place.

  He purred at the delicious feelings vibrating through him as he closed his laptop and climbed the stairs from the den to his bedroom. He crawled into bed and just as he began pulling the sheets to his waist, it started raining. Lightning lit up his room followed quickly by thunder and he knew it was going to be a bad one. Thankfully, he had parked in his driveway. That meant his vehicle would be clean the next morning. Grinning, he turned to set his alarm clock, then rolled over to face the wall.

  With his window open, Dao’s mind drifted back to when he was a child and it rained in Xingping, China. He would always want to go floating on his raft down the Li River, but his parents would not allow him. They always told him, do not anger the river while she feeds. That made absolutely no sense to him then and it was even more confusing as an adult. Maybe they meant for him not to tempt fate—who knew with his parents? They meant well.

  Back then, he would grin it off and rushed out the door to play in the rain. There was something magical about feeling the raindrops fall gently against his skin. He loved feeling the cool water soaking through his hair and his clothes. The wet mud seeping between his toes was utter pleasure

  and watching the fog that the rain brought over the Limestone Mountains was breathtaking. He may have only been a child, but he loved every second of it. Every breath of air had a sweet tinge of magic to it. Sometimes, in the morning, he would sit on a large rock behind his house. He would close his eyes and did nothing but inhale.

  But in order to make a life for himself, he had to leave China. He had to leave and would have taken his parents with him had they wanted to leave. He did not feel as though he could remain where he had grown up. It was as though he was forced to fly a plane, blindfolded and with his hands tied behind his back. But the small place was so utterly breathtaking, especially when it rained.

  “Dao, I cannot leave, Xingping,” his mother had pleaded. “I was born here, met your father here. I grew up here, had you here and with that saying, I will die here. It is peaceful. You have to understand that I love peace.”

  Dao smiled in the darkness of his room, “I know, Mou Chan,” he whispered just as his eyes slipped shut. “I know.”

  It had stormed all night. Each time the storm got bad, the thunder would rumble throughout Scarborough and this caused Dao to jerk upright in bed. He hated the storm—the light rain he

  would rather have because he could play in it. Whenever he was
a child and it stormed, he would toss and turn in his sleep. He would also cry out so terrifyingly that his mother would wake him up, make him some tea and sit with him until the storm was over.

  He was so used to having someone with him that each time it stormed, Dao felt alone. Each time he woke up, it took longer to fall asleep again until finally he gave up. By the time morning finally came, Dao had long since been awake, carrying out his morning routine. It had finally stopped raining. When the sun was fully up, Dao moved his body into the Closing Form of his Tia Chi form. Inhaling, he pressed his arms, straight down at his side and bowed deeply to the rising sun.

  For him, Tai Chi calmed him and kept him grounded through his day. That did not mean that Dao didn’t get angry, far from it. But with Tai Chi, he felt more in control of his days and what happened around him.

  Sweat was leaking from his body by this time and when he stood straight again, he turned and walked back through the backdoor of his home. Grabbing the towel that he had tossed over the back of a chair, he picked up the Blackberry from the counter and rushed up the stairs. He scrolled into his email and replied to a few of them. By the

  time he looked up at the clock and glanced back at the screen, he already had seven interviews for that day. A sound left his throat as he hated interviewing. His day from hell had officially begun.

  His last personal assistant had quit the day before, leaving him high and dry. He tried not to be angry, but could not help it. As he climbed the stairs, he scanned through the electronic day planner and added his long list of interviews. Frowning, he placed the Berry down against his night table, dropped the towel to the floor and entered the bathroom.