Chapter 160 - Another Alliance

Sayu walked into the crowded nightclub, clad in a skin tight lacy dress. Her entrance was followed by the stares of many young men, in awe at a beautiful, mature-looking older woman with a full figure. 

She did her best to control her disgust at the sweaty bodies and drunken eyes and slurry drugged up voices. She was, at the end of the day, a disciplined, well-educated military leader. Her heart was filled with disdain for the person who had invited her here. 

Sayu ignored the crowd and walked straight up to the bar. She checked her watch, it was 11:40. She was five minutes early. As the bartender walked up to her, he asked for her order. 

"Just a Bloody Mary" she said, holding his gaze for a second longer, to indicate her identity. 

The bartender paused, put down the bottles and glasses he was holding, nodded to his partner to continue service as he leaned closer to Ayu across the bar. 

"Please follow me, ma'am" he said in a low voice, and lead her away from the bar. 

The bartender turned a corner behind the bar and opened an almost invisible dark door into the wall. 

Sayu hesitated for a second. With all her resources, she hadn't much of a clue who she was meeting. All she knew, was that whatever this person was proposing, was serious. And he had the means to follow through with his plans. 

As she stepped into the dimly lit room, the scent of expensive perfume and whiskey filled her nose. The floor was carpeted, silencing her footsteps and a man sat leisurely on the expensive velvet sofa in front of her. 

She couldn't see his face very well so she moved forward towards him. He had just one bodyguard next to him, a serious-looking woman with short cropped hair and piercing, alert eyes. 

As the man rose from his seat to greet her, Sayu was taken by his good looks and charm. There was an ancient beauty about this man. He was graceful like the breeze with features from a temple carving. 

His long dark hair hung loosely around his shoulders. His clothes were simple and comfortable, but that did not betray his pedigree. 

"I'm glad you came, General. I apologize for the crass location but, as we discussed earlier, our meetings must be kept highly confidential, and I'm sure a woman in your position has a lot of eyes on her" his rich, chocolaty voice spoke. 

Sayu regained her composure as quickly as she had been stirred. He seemed young, but had the quiet confidence of a beast. 

"I'll admit I was surprised at the choice of location, but I appreciate your candor and caution. It's a pleasure to finally put a face to our correspondence" she replied, a smile playing lightly on her lips. This would be interesting. 

"Now that we are face to face, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Loren Lim, from the main branch of the Lim clan" he said, quietly. 

Sayu almost laughed. 

"I almost can't believe it, you mean you are the actual heir of the Lim clan? Please, young master, there is no need to be so modest with me. But I have to admit, I find myself extremely surprised that you have such designs for this country which could possibly expose your very private family!" Sayu was almost amused that such a gentleman could be discussing such violent plans with her. He was something like a young prince, not a warlord!

"Who said I must be exposed? I would hate to be in the limelight, General. But I can provide the means to our ends and reap my benefits while I play behind the scenes. It is you, who is meant for glory" Loren's words were seductive and enticing, playing to Sayu's need for power and recognition. 

He knew she was growing restless in peace-time. His intuition was keen and he knew exactly what appealed to human nature. 

"What do you propose, then?" she ventured. 

Loren smiled, he definitely had her interest. 

"Why don't we sit and discuss that over a drink, General?" he proposed, pulling out a chair for her to sit. 

Sayu didn't hesitate, when such a handsome young man asked her so politely, she was happy to oblige. 

****************************************************************************

On the other side of the club, in the bas.e.m.e.nt room, Shen helped his wife up from the bathroom, away from the dead gangster lying by her side. 

He was a little surprised to see how casually she accepted that she had drowned him in a toilet with her own two hands. But she had also remembered her past. There was so much they had to talk about.

'There is so much I have to tell him...finally' Lina thought to herself, looking up at the love of her life, holding her stable as she walked out. 

As they entered the room with the bed, she was met with a peculiar sight. 

Ayu stood there, her make-up running down her face, her hand clamped on her mouth, sobbing quietly. Her arms were bruised blue and purple. 

"Madam, you're okay!" she exclaimed slumping down on the floor, and breaking down. 

"I'm so so sorry I left you here with your friend! I had no idea there was another person hiding here" she cried, as Lina rushed over to Ayu's side, worried about her injuries. 

She touched her arms and then felt around them for broken bones. Thankfully, she was only badly bruised. 

"What happened here?" Lina said, exhaustedly. "How did you hurt yourself like this?" she probed, looking up at her husband for an explanation. 

Shen raised his eyebrows, in confusion. He had no idea either how they had ended up like that. He wanted to know too. 

"I came to this place because I called back after we spoke on the phone, because Butler Min told me you hadn't eaten dinner, and I just...I just wanted to...scold you" he finished, as he looked away. "But you phone was unreachable, so I came over to bring you some dumplings. And as I looked around the club searching, I saw Ayu slamming herself on the door upstairs screaming, and realized something was wrong" he finished speaking, looking away sheepishly. 

"So...you came here....to scold me?" Lina asked, her nose crinkled into a frown. Was this how he displayed his love? 

But she quickly forgot and turned to Ayu who had just finally quietened down and stopped crying. 

"Ayu, why were you throwing yourself against the door?" she asked quietly, sensing something was off about the night. 

"Because, Madam, you passed out at the bar and Mana helped me bring you down here and told me to go back upstairs to get you a glass of water because you got too drunk. When I came back, the door was locked from the inside so I tried to break it down. Thankfully, boss suddenly appeared and helped my push it down..." she finished as she began to sniffle again, ashamed at herself for not protecting Lina better. 

As Lina was about to comfort Ayu again, something struck her. 

"Where's Mana?" she asked. 

All of three of them looked around but were unable to find her. 

"Ayu, how much did I drink before I passed out?" something wasn't adding up. 

"You only had one glass of wine with Mana! It was barely anything." she responded, also puzzled at the effect one sip of the wine had had on her her. 

"That's strange. And was Mana affected in the same way?" Lina asked. 

"No, but she drank a different drink. I had just one sip of the same wine as you and I felt dizzy for a while too." Ayu added. 

Shen grit his teeth, as he put two and two together. He had been wary of Mana for a while, but he had let Lina make her own decisions. But this had gone too far. 

As he wondered as to where she had gone, he saw a phone, with a broken screen in the corner of the room. 

He went over and picked it up. As he checked the phone, the only open app was the camera. 

Predicting what could have happened, he felt seething rage creep up on him. The photos were like a knife to the gut. He couldn't believe that gangster had almost defiled and hurt his precious wife. The wife he had sworn to protect. 

How could he have let her get hurt again. 

But before he knew it, Lina had grabbed the phone from him. 

She swiftly deleted the pictures and looked up at him, knowing exactly what was going on in his head. 

"Stop." she said, "I took care of it. He got exactly what he deserved before things got out of hand" she needed him to stop blaming himself. 

She reached over, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. 

"Neither of us are hurt, isn't that the most important thing, my love?" she asked sweetly, her wide doe-like eyes melting his icy rage. 

Ayu cleared her throat and looked away. 

Shen noticing her presence, handed her the phone. 

"Ayu, you know what to do" he said. 

She nodded, stood up and began to walk back out, to give the couple their privacy. 

But Shen stopped her. 

"Ro-kun is waiting for me outside, get him to take you to the closest hospital first. Then take care of that phone" he instructed his loyal assistant. 

She nodded, and paused for a second. Then she bent her head deeply towards Shen. 

"Boss, I am so sorry I let Madam get hurt" she said softly. 

Shen walked over, and patted her head. 

"Take care of yourself first, Ayu, it's an order. Madam is stronger than us all" he said, a smile in his voice.