Thirty-Six

Thirty-Six

Havoc erupted within the safe house.

Roma was shouting, Benedikt was shouting, Kathleen had pressed herself up against the wall, Rosalind was trying to free herself, and Juliette barely managed to get out of the way before the soldiers were surging out the door, Marshall clasped between them in captivity.

“Stop!” Roma bellowed. “You can’t just take him!”

He was fast to follow, almost colliding with the building wall before barreling out from the front archway. A beat later, Juliette made to follow him, only Benedikt grabbed her wrist, stopping her midmotion.

“Don’t let Mars get caught in the crossfire,” Benedikt said in one breath. “You protected him once, Juliette. I know you have it in you to look out for him again.”

“No use telling me this,” Juliette hissed, grabbing Benedikt’s arm and yanking him out with her. “Help me fix it. Kathleen, watch Rosalind!”

Kathleen’s mouth opened as if to protest, only Juliette was already running out. She surveyed the scene—guns, soldiers, Roma. Marshall had long ceased struggling, but Roma had rooted himself in their path, stubborn until the very end.

The street around them was quiet. Give it some minutes more, however, and this would grow into a scene, gawkers at every corner. It was almost bizarre that Juliette’s first thought was I can’t be seen with White Flowers. The city had been taken, territory lines had turned as fluid as flowing river water, and yet still the blood feud raged on—as if it had any meaning, as if it ever had any meaning.

“Does my father know that you are hassling Scarlets?”

General Shu stopped. He turned around. When all his men were forced to halt too, Marshall made a valiant effort to tug himself free, but their hold upon him was iron. No matter how he lunged, there were too many in a small circle holding him in and too many in a larger circle that kept Roma at a distance by the threat of their rifles.

“Does your father know you lie about White Flowers being Scarlets?”

Juliette lifted her chin. At the far side of the soldier cluster, Roma’s head snapped up, trying to catch Juliette’s eye. He made a motion at her, urging her not to stick her neck in, to let him handle it. Fool. If he was sticking his neck in, she was already there too.

“How are you to prove that Marshall Seo is a White Flower?” Juliette asked.

General Shu pulled a revolver from his holster. He did not point it at her, at anyone. He merely examined it, opening and closing the cylinder to check his bullets.

“What would you prefer, Miss Cai?” he said. “The letter he wrote when he ran from me, declaring his intent to survive on his own in Shanghai by joining the White Flowers? News clippings I’ve kept over the years that report him to be the Montagov heir’s right-hand man? I have them all—just give the word.”

Juliette bit down on the inside of her cheeks, throwing Benedikt a glance, hoping he had some idea of their next move.

But Benedikt looked startled beyond description. When General Shu put his revolver back into its holster, the street was quiet enough that Benedikt’s low murmur could be heard very clearly.

“Ran from you?”

Marshall grimaced, looking away. He had stopped struggling.

“He never told you?” General Shu asked. “I assume he said that we were all dead, didn’t he?” He looked at Marshall. Now, out in the light, the resemblance appeared. The same face shape, the same lines crinkling at the eyes.

“You are,” Marshall seethed, his voice a sudden crack in the air. He had never before seemed so furious: careless, cheery Marshall, who had never angered once in Juliette’s presence, was now red in the face and shaking, the tendons in his neck standing at attention. “When Umma died and you weren’t home, for all that it mattered, you were dead to me too.”

General Shu didn’t flinch. If anything, he looked a little bored. He didn’t even seem to be listening.

“I will not discuss your mother with you in the middle of the street. We may have a nice sit-down later if you wish to talk. Mr. Montagov, would you please get out of the way?”

Roma remained firm. His brows were drawn. Juliette knew that look: he was trying to buy time, but the problem was that more time was not going to help the present situation.

“This is not your jurisdiction,” Roma said quietly. “When Miss Cai says you can go, only then may you go.”

General Shu put his hands behind his back, behind all the weapons at his belt. When he spoke again, he really did address Juliette, like Juliette had any control over what was to happen here.

“I have no interest in whatever strange arrangement between gangsters this is. All I want is to take my son home with me. I stay quiet about your business; you leave my business to me.”

A wad of spit narrowly missed his face. General Shu stepped back, but Marshall looked like he was gearing up to do it again.

“You think you can just march in here,” Marshall exclaimed. “You march into this city even though you did none of the work to take it. You march in and grab me like I’m your damn property. Where were you all these years? You knew I was here. You could have fetched me at any point. But you didn’t! The Revolution was more important! The Kuomintang was more important! Everything but me was more important!”

General Shu said nothing. Juliette’s grip tightened on her gun, tightened on the trigger. She wondered what would happen if she shot him. She wondered if she could get away with it. A year ago it would have been nothing. Today it would be a declaration of war against the Nationalists, and the Scarlets—tough as they were—could not fight such a war. It would be annihilation.

“But now,” Marshall went on, “now that you’re in Shanghai anyway, you may as well tie up your loose ends, right? Everything is falling into place: your country and your happy little family.” He spat again, but it wasn’t aimed at his father this time. Merely an expulsion of the anger within his body, like popping a bullet out from its exit wound.

“Well, Miss Cai?”

Juliette started. Despite Marshall’s speech, his father was still speaking to her. “It sounds like he doesn’t want to go,” she said tightly.

At once, by some signal that Juliette had not caught, the soldiers all stood to attention, saluting. Then they aimed their rifles at Roma, ready to shoot.

“Don’t make things difficult,” General Shu said. “Staying with the White Flowers is a death sentence. You know what is coming. I’m keeping him safe.”

“Don’t,” Benedikt muttered from beside Juliette. “Don’t believe it.”

But this wasn’t a matter of believing or not. This was . . . truth. This was knowing that the gangsters were near collapse. No more territories. No more thriving black market. How long could they hold on for? How long could the White Flowers survive, given they didn’t have Nationalist support like the Scarlets did?

“Roma,” Juliette called shakily. “Step aside.”

“No!” Benedikt snapped. “Juliette, stop.”

Juliette swiveled around, her fists clenched. “You heard what Rosalind said,” she hissed. Though she attempted a volume only for Benedikt, there was no doubt that everyone present could hear her. “You know what violence is to come. How many Communist meetings has Lord Montagov sent Marshall to? How many times has his face been sighted there? Who is to say if his name is on a kill list when this city erupts? This is a way to keep him safe.”

Benedikt reached for his gun. Juliette smacked it out of his hands immediately, her wrist crossing with his, her eyes ablaze. Benedikt did not try it a second time. He knew he would not win. In his expression, there was only hard disappointment.

“Is it for his safety?” he asked, hoarse. “Or is it for Roma’s?”

Juliette swallowed hard. She released her hold on Benedikt Montagov’s wrist. “Roma,” she called again, unable to look over. “Please.”

A long moment of silence passed. Then: the sound of rifles clacking against shoulder straps, heavy boots starting to walk. Roma had stepped aside.

Benedikt kept his eyes pinned on Juliette, like he didn’t dare to look away, didn’t dare watch Marshall be hauled off. The least that Juliette owed him was to hold his gaze, own up to the decision she had made.

“He will be safe,” she said. The marching footfalls grew farther and farther away.

“Safe inside a cage,” Benedikt replied, his jaw tight. “You sent him off to a prison sentence.”

Juliette would not be chided like this. As if there had been any other choice. “Would you rather your cousin be shot?”

At last Benedikt turned away. Miraculously, no onlookers had come to see the commotion. Miraculously, even after the soldiers marched off with Marshall, the street remained empty, and now it was only the three of them out in the open, Roma standing by the sidewalk with his arms to either side of him like he didn’t know what to do with himself.

“No,” Benedikt said dully. He started to walk, toward the city center. Merely three paces away, he paused again and spoke over his shoulder. “I would rather the two of you not burn the world down each time you choose each other.”