Even though he hasn’t guaranteed anything, he expects the bank to start squeezing his business very soon. At the very least he thinks they will restrict his working line of credit. They could even refuse to renew the line of credit, and it’s scheduled for a review in three months.”
“He can find another bank.”
“Yes, he probably can, but that doesn’t address the depth of obligation he feels towards Michael,” Jennie said, and paused. “Ava, there’s no way that Marcus Lee will stand back and let his son’s business go under. It would bring so much shame upon the entire family. He’s spent his life building a reputation, and he couldn’t bear to see it sullied. He’d sell everything he owns and give it to Michael rather than let him fail in such a public way.”
Ava was taken aback by the passion and certainty in her mother’s voice. She also noticed a tinge of anger. Michael Lee had no fans in Richmond Hill. “You do know that we’re talking about twenty million U.S. dollars?” Ava asked.
“Enough money to ruin your father,” Jennie said.
“And his ability to support the family?” Ava said.
“I don’t want to think about that. Your father will do what he thinks is best. It won’t change how I feel about him.”
Ava thought about her mother and about the two aunties and half-siblings she had never met. “I guess I’m going to Hong Kong,” she said quietly. “Even though I’m not sure there’s anything I can do.”
“You’ll figure out something when you get there.”
“Let’s hope.”
“Ava?”
“Yes, Mummy?”
“I am very proud of you.”
Ava paused, not sure how to respond. “Look, tell Daddy I called and that I spoke to Michael and I’m heading over there.”
“Will you phone him before you leave?”
Ava felt a presence behind her and turned to see Maria standing naked in the doorway of the bedroom.
“No, Mummy, there isn’t any need.”
“But if he calls you, you won’t tell him —”
“I won’t say anything about what we discussed.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too,” Ava said, and closed her phone.
“And I love you as well,” Maria said.
Ava stared at her and smiled. “Isn’t it time you got dressed for work?”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes, I’m going to Hong Kong. It’s family business that I can’t avoid.”
“What time?” she said, her disappointment rippling across the room.
“Tonight.”
Maria shook her head of thick, curly black hair. “Then I’m going back to bed,” she said. “Join me.”
( 2 )
Ava woke with a start, knowing where she was but for a moment not sure where she was headed. There had been too many planes in recent weeks. She looked out the window and saw the South China Sea shimmering under an early spring sun, sampans and fishing boats skirting the armada of huge ocean freighters waiting to be escorted into Hong Kong’s container port.
She stretched and made a quick bathroom run, then organized her papers and closed the Moleskine notebook that detailed the job she had just completed. Ava kept a separate notebook for every case she took on. When the job was finished, successfully or not, the notebook went into a safety deposit box in a bank a few blocks from her condo. This notebook was now ready to join the others.
Before leaving Toronto she had received an email from Roxanne Rice, a go-between, advising Ava that the money she had recovered for her previous clients had been deposited, as agreed, into a Liechtenstein bank account and was waiting for Ava’s transmittal advice. Ava had sent it immediately, and an hour later she received confirmation that a wire transfer had been sent to the bank she and her partner, Uncle, used in Kowloon. The money would be there within two days. Ava had used the time on the plane to review all the numbers and the expenses attached to the job so she could know how much of the money arriving in Kowloon would be forwarded to the clients and how much she and Uncle would keep as their fee. It was their largest fee ever — more than twenty million dollars — but Ava was an accountant by training and didn’t like dealing in round numbers. She didn’t close the notebook until she had figured out their cut to the last cent. While Uncle didn’t care about that level of detail, Ava knew the clients would. Changxing and May Ling Wong were the most powerful business team in Wuhan City, in the province of Hubei, and May Ling was a numbers woman. They hadn’t been easy to