Gaoliang’s jaw dropped when he heard this, while Rachel and Nick looked at each other in confusion.

“Why would this happen?” Inspector Zhang continued.

“Bao Gaoliang and his wife were furious after finding out all the reckless things their son did in Paris.”

“Reckless things that were discussed during the dinner at Imperial Treasure?”

“Yes, the Baos got into a fight about Carlton, and Bao Gaoliang threatened to disinherit him.”

“This fight occurred in the presence of Colette Bing and yourself?”

“No, the fight happened after we left the room. I had intentionally left Colette’s iPhone in the room with the record mode on, and I went back to collect it later.”

Gaoliang put his hands to his forehead, shaking his head in disgust.

“And that’s when you discovered the Baos talking about disinheriting Carlton?”

“Yes. It was a tremendous shock for Colette. She thought she was helping to smooth things out between Carlton and his parents, but instead it made things far worse. See, I told her, no good deed goes unpunished!”

“Why would Colette Bing care if Carlton Bao gets disinherited?”

“Isn’t it obvious? She’s pathetically in love with the loser.”

“So Colette Bing ordered all this to happen?”

“No, she didn’t! I keep telling you she didn’t. Colette was just very upset after realizing that she had put Carlton in jeopardy. She couldn’t stop crying, and she couldn’t stop cursing Rachel Chu, so I told her I would fix things.”

“Then she did know of your plan to poison Rachel.”

“No! Colette never knew what I was going to do. I just told her I would handle it.”

“This was such an important mission, and Colette had nothing to do with it?”

“NOTHING AT ALL! And it wasn’t an ‘important mission.’?”

“Stop trying to protect Colette Bing! She ordered you to do this, didn’t she? This was her plan all along and you were just the minion who did all the dirty work.”

“I am not her minion. I am her personal assistant! Do you know what that entails? I manage a direct staff of forty-two employees and a support staff of countless more. I make $650,000 a year.”

“Colette Bing pays you so much money, and yet she does not know everything that you do for her? I find that very hard to believe.”

Roxanne glared at the inspector contemptuously. “What do you know about billionaires? Do you even know one? Do you have any idea how they live? Colette Bing is one of the richest women in the world, and she is an extremely busy and influential person. Her fashion blog is followed every minute of the day by more than thirty-five million people, and she’s about to become the international brand ambassador for one of the biggest fashion companies. Her schedule is packed—she has at least three or four social functions that she is required to show her face at every single night. She has six residences, three planes, ten cars, and she is traveling somewhere every week. Do you think she keeps track of everything that’s going on all the time? She’s too busy having important meetings with world-famous people like Ai Weiwei and Pan TingTing! My job is to make sure that everything in her professional and personal life goes smoothly. I post all her pictures to her blog! I negotiate all her contracts! I make sure her dogs’ feces are the correct shade of maple sugar brown! I see to it that every floral arrangement in six houses and three planes are exquisitely perfect at all times! Do you even know how many floral designers we have on the payroll, and the dramas they have? Those bitches could have their own reality show with all the conniving and backstabbing that goes on just to get one compliment out of Colette about some fucking delphiniums! Every single day, I have to make a million and one annoying little problems she is never even aware of go away!”

“So Rachel Chu was just an annoying little problem that needed to go away?”

Roxanne gave Inspector Zhang an indignant look. “I was just doing my job.”

Nick turned to Rachel in utter disgust. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve heard more than enough.”

The three of them left the police headquarters, and as their SUV drove along the darkened roads of Huangpu, they sat in silence, each contemplating everything that had just transpired. Sitting in the front passenger seat, Bao Gaoliang was a jumble of emotions. He was sickened by Roxanne and Colette, but even more angry at and ashamed of himself. It was all his fault. He had allowed things to spiral out of control with Shaoyen, and as the secrets and lies spun around Carlton became a dangerously tangled web, Rachel was the innocent victim who got caught in it. Rachel, who wanted nothing from him except to get to know him and his family. She deserved so much better. She didn’t deserve to be exposed to a family as diseased as his.

Nick appeared to be sitting placidly in the backseat with his arm around Rachel, but inside he was seething with fury. That fucking Colette. She was the one who was ultimately culpable for causing Rachel so much pain, and he wanted her to feel the heat along with Roxanne. It was an outrage that Roxanne would be going to jail while Colette got away scotfree. The rich and well-connected were always untouchable, he knew that only too well. But if Rachel hadn’t been sitting beside him right now, he would’ve hightailed it to Colette’s house and shoved her face into that ridiculous reflecting pool, with Celine Dion blaring full blast.

Leaning her head against Nick’s broad shoulder, Rachel remained the calmest of the trio. From the moment Roxanne began talking in that interrogation cell, Rachel started to feel a tremendous sense of relief. The ordeal was over. There wasn’t some crazy irrational stranger after her. It was just the crazy personal assistant of her brother’s girlfriend, someone she now felt only intense pity for. All she wanted at this moment was to get to their hotel. She wanted to slip into that luscious bed with the down pillows and silken Frette sheets and just go to sleep.

As their Audi turned onto Henan South Road, Nick noticed that they were going in the opposite direction of their hotel. “Aren’t we heading away from the Bund?” he asked Gaoliang.

“Yes, we are. I’m not taking you to the Peninsula. You’re going to be staying at my house tonight—where you should have been all along.”

They entered a quieter residential area lined with plane trees whose branches created leafy archways over the streets, and the car pulled up outside a gatehouse by a high stone wall. A black wrought-iron gate was opened by a police guard, and the car proceeded along a short curving driveway to a beautiful French manor–style house ablaze in lights. As the SUV rolled up the circular front driveway, the tall oak doors opened and three women came scurrying down the steps.

“Hello, Ah Ting. Is my wife home?” Gaoliang said to his head housekeeper.

“Yes, she’s retired upstairs for the evening.”

“This is my daughter and her husband. Could you please call the Peninsula and make sure their luggage is brought here immediately? And see that a late supper is prepared for them. Maybe some fish-ball noodle soup?”

Ah Ting gawked at Rachel in utter shock. His daughter?

“Please see that the blue bedroom is made comfortable for them,” Gaoliang instructed.

“The blue bedroom?” Ah Ting asked. The blue bedroom was used only for honored guests.

“That’s what I said,” Gaoliang said forcefully, glancing up at the second floor and noticing his wife’s silhouette in the window.

Ah Ting hesitated for a moment, as if she was going to say something, but then she turned and started barking orders at the two younger maids.

Gaoliang smiled at Rachel and Nick. “It’s been a very long day. I hope you don’t mind if I bid you good night now. See you in the morning.”

“Good night,” Rachel and Nick said in unison, as they watched Gaoliang disappear into the house.

? ? ?

Rachel found herself woken up by a shrill chirping outside the window. Sunlight filtered through the curtains, casting gauzy shadows onto the soft lilac blue walls. Rolling out of the four-poster bed, she walked toward the window and discovered a bird’s nest tucked in the eave of the gabled roof. Three hungry little chicks arched their tiny beaks skyward, eager to be fed breakfast by their mother, who fluttered around the nest protectively. She ran to get her iPhone, and leaning daringly out the dormer window, she tried to capture a good shot of the mama bird, which had a distinctive black head, gray body, and a smart dash of blue along her wings. Rachel took a few snaps, and as she put her camera phone down, she was startled by the sight of a lady in a pale yellow mandarin-collared dress standing in the middle of the garden staring up intently at her. It had to be Carlton’s mother.

Caught off guard, Rachel blurted out, “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” the lady replied a little tersely. Then she said in a more relaxed tone, “You found the magpies.”

“Yes. I took some pictures,” Rachel said, immediately feeling a little foolish for stating the obvious.