Song Mei stood up, her chair scraping harshly against the wooden floor of the pavilion. The illusion of control was completely shattered. She was a sovereign who had just realized her castle was built on a foundation of explosives, and the man standing in her throne room was holding the detonator.
"You think you have won," she hissed, her voice dropping the melodic cadence and revealing the ruthless triad boss beneath. The woman who had built an empire from blood and patience. The woman who had ordered murders from this very pavilion. "You think you can walk into my home and dictate terms to me? I have fifty armed men in this compound. I have six Imperial Shadows on the rooftops. I can have you executed before you take another breath."
