Lucky Me (35 page)

Frank gave a humorless laugh and said, “Lucky? Winning the lottery is lucky, Gia. No, this wasn't luck. Your father took my big break from me. He
stole
my life from me and claimed it as his own.”

“You must have made a mistake! My dad would never do that to someone. Especially someone who was his best friend!”

“Why,” Frank demanded, looking at me with cold hatred in his eyes. “Do you think I felt so betrayed? I was his best friend. He was like my brother! Why do you think it hurt so much, huh?”

I didn't answer. There was no way my dad would do that to someone. Yes, we didn't always get along. Yes, things had been the rockiest recently given all his secret keeping, and mine too, to be fair. But there was no way Dad was capable of what Frank thought he had done to him all those years ago. Frank blinked and suddenly his friendly smile reappeared, as if he had flicked a switch in his brain. I yanked on my ropes one more time, not expecting anything to come of it. Sure enough, they remained tightly wrapped around my wrists and ankles.

“Well, can I ask you a question?” I said, not giving him time to respond before continuing. “What are you going to do with the five million? I mean, how is it going to fix everything?”

“Ah!” Frank said, as if he were conducting a magic trick. “I'm glad you asked. I'm going to add it to my movie fund.”

“Movie fund?”

“Gia, I didn't bring you to this set randomly. Everything I'm doing, everything I've done has had a purpose.”

I looked at him, confused. “I—I don't understand.”

Frank extended his arms by his side, a proud look on his face. “This,” he said. “This is all mine.”

I looked around at the set, eyeing the lanterns and painted shops one more time. His? There was no way someone like Frank Parker could afford a set like this. The Dumpling Hospital was on the verge of going out of business, he'd been living out of his car for the past week and his apartment wasn't exactly a Beverly Hills condo. None of this was adding up.

“This is for
your
movie?” I asked, turning my attention back to Frank, who had resumed pacing in front of my chair.

“Yes, Gia. This is my movie. And to answer your second question, those five million dollars aren't going to change the past. But it'll certainly help the future.”

“No offense,” I said slowly, being extra careful not to say the wrong thing. “But five million is kind of a small budget for a movie. And this set is . . .” I trailed off, hoping he'd understand what I was saying.

“I'm not a fool, Gia,” Frank replied. “Admittedly I've had some help on the money front. I did some work back in China for some men who offered to help me out a little.”

My thoughts immediately shifted to Jack and his mysterious trust fund. There was no way Jack was involved, like Milo thought he was. Or else he'd be in Ao Jie Kai's place instead of panicking on the phone. That, or he was an excellent actor.

“Some men?” I repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Powerful men.”

“What kind of work?”

Frank stopped pacing and looked over at me thoughtfully. “You ask a lot of questions.”

“I'm just trying to figure out how it came to this,” I told him.

And I meant it too. Also I had managed to loosen one of the ropes off one of my wrists and was tugging on it gently so that it would give way. My skin underneath the ropes felt raw and ached every time I moved my hands, but if I could manage to get them off me then I had a chance to get away. That was only a possibility if I kept Frank distracted.

“I think I've already made it pretty clear how it came to this, and I think you have your father to blame for that.”

If this were a movie, I would have managed to get the ropes untied, picked up the chair and smashed it into Frank, managing to look sexy the whole time. But this was real life, and real life sucked. There was some revenge-driven psychopath who hated my dad and wouldn't stop talking about it, and then there was me. Helpless little Gia, tied to a chair with a ripped gown and mascara probably running all down my face and ruining my perfect contour.

“How did you manage to bug my house?” I asked. “I know you infiltrated that cleaning company, but h—”

“Infiltrated?” Frank echoed with a genuine laugh. “You make it sound like a spy movie.”

Really? At a time like this he was going to be iffy about my word choices?

“Was it Ao Jie Kai?”

“Yes, actually, it was” Frank said, beginning to sound impatient. I knew there was only so much more I could ask, but I pushed on.

“How did he manage it?”

I cast my mind back to the day the cleaning crew were in the house. I had been fighting with Dad that day about something or the other; I couldn't even remember. Ao Jie Kai, however he managed to get into the cleaning company undercover, would have had plenty of opportunity to plant the bugs all over my house. He was an IT specialist after all, so it probably wouldn't have been that hard to break apart my phone. Dad and I were so distracted yelling at each other I wouldn't have noticed for one second if he had cracked my phone open in front of me. Now whatever we had been fighting about seemed so stupid and insignificant.

“You know,” Frank said, narrowing his eyes at me. I turned my attention away from my daydream and back to the nightmare playing out in front of me. “It was bad enough that I had to listen to your nonsense all day long through the bugs. And now this interrogation? Do you ever just keep quiet?”

Not going to lie, he had bruised my feelings a bit with that one. I mean, wasn't it bad enough that he had tied me to a chair? It's not like I had asked him to eavesdrop on me all day long! Now he was just getting personal.

“That final bug . . .” I began, suddenly remembering that it was still somewhere in my house.

“And it continues!” Frank exclaimed, an amused look on his face.

I ignored him but tugged on the ropes a little harder, wincing as it dug further into my skin. I tried to be subtle, not moving my body too much to raise suspicion. Luckily I had loosened one to the point where I could almost release my hand.

“Where's that last one? The police never found it.”

“That's because you never bothered to check your dog's collar.”

“My dog?” My jaw dropped, and I momentarily forgot the ropes.

“Clever, isn't it? Although sometimes very inconvenient. That dog spends most of his time hiding in bushes, by the sounds of it.”

Okay, messing with me was one thing. But touching my dog was a whole different game. If I ever got out of the ropes, I was going to kill him.

“And I guess you were behind the paparazzi ambush too?” I asked, and Frank nodded.

“Bad publicity is still good publicity, Gia,” he said simply.

“You didn't by any chance have a hand in the Meghan Adams prank did you?”

Frank looked confused. “That one I can't take credit for.”

It was worth asking. Evil people run in the same crowds.

“Tell me about the poisoned dumpling,” I demanded. “If you say my dad did all those things to you, then I deserve to know everything from the beginning. How else can I believe you?”

Frank sighed and checked his watch. I didn't know how much time had passed, but judging by his impatience, it hadn't been long. He looked at me reluctantly, and gave another sigh as he launched into his explanation.

Frank began his story about how he approached Brendan after school, a few days after Jack's first day. He told me about offering him a discount on catering, telling Brendan a sob story about how he worked in the school cafeteria and heard about the party, and how he was a restaurateur, struggling to make ends meet. Brendan, being the nice guy he was, gave him a chance. That became the point where he roped Ao Jie Kai in as a “waiter” at the party, offering him a little extra cash for his troubles. He had all the technology experience necessary, and needed the money to pay for school.

“But there was poison in that dumpling,” I cried, waiting for him to finish. “You could have killed me if your original plan had worked!”

“Oh calm down, it was a tiny amount. It was just meant to send a message,” Frank said, waving a hand dismissively. “Such an over actor, just like your father.”

Careful Frank, your jealousy is showing.

“So how come you went after me, and not my brother?”

Frank slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned in frustration. “You
seriously
never stop talking!”

“I'm just curious!”

“I swear, I'm going to shove that handkerchief back in your mouth.”

“No! Okay, sorry! I'll shut up.”

I clasped my lips together, and looked down at my lap. Anything to stop that filthy cloth from being thrust between my lips again. After about a minute of silence, Frank rolled his eyes dramatically.

“I called your brother first,” he said, and I looked up in surprise. “Tried to threaten him a little; scare him. But he kept laughing and calling me Brody. He must have thought I was his friend prank calling or something. It must have been the voice-altering app that AJ suggested I use on my phone. It didn't always make me sound as threatening as I would have hoped.”

Well there you have it folks. Mike was literally too dumb to stalk.

“I still don't get why you went after us and not Dad. If he's the one who betrayed you, then why didn't you do anything to him?”

“Gia,” Frank said. “Targeting your father would have done nothing. What could I have possibly taken from him that he truly cared about? A car? A watch? These material things come and go. But his kids, on the other hand, are irreplaceable. Possibly the only people he loves more than himself.”

I hated to admit it, but he was right. Frank wanted Dad's suffering to be long and extensive, just like his had been. It's not like he could snatch Dad's career away from him. The damage was already done in his eyes, and there was no turning back time. His only option was to make my dad feel so scared of losing everything he cared about, despite having it all.

“Can I have one more question?”

“You're going to ask it either way, right?”

“That depends. Not if you're going to kill me for it.”

“One!” he said, throwing his hands up in frustration. “You get one more question and that's it.”

It was as if we were playing celebrity heads and I couldn't guess which celebrity he had appointed me. I racked my brain for a good question to ask him, something that would hopefully make a difference to my situation in some way.

“Can I save it for later?” I asked.

“No.”

“Who's going to be in your movie?”

Nice one, Gia. You didn't bother to ask him if he could pass you a bottle of water or maybe an apple or gee, I don't know, something to help untie you. Instead you asked him who his fantasy cast would be. There was no way in hell Frank Parker was going to get away with what he did fast enough to round up a group of actors. Even if they were all unemployed and desperate for work, the chances of Frank having more than just himself and his pal AJ as the leads, was slim to none. And I didn't think anyone would want to watch
The Adventures of a Crazed Lunatic and His At Times Uncertain Sidekick
.

“I was thinking about asking your mother to play the lead role opposite me,” Frank said with a smile that made me want to knock him out. “Think she'll agree?”

I didn't dignify his sick question with a response. Instead I carefully squeezed my hand through the loosened rope and began freeing my other hand as discreetly as I could. My legs were still firmly tied and hidden underneath my gown. But at least if I got my hands free I would have a better chance of fighting back if necessary.

“Just over ten minutes to go,” Frank said, tapping on his watch. “I hope they're close.”

“They'll never make it here on time,” I replied, trying to keep the defeat and panic out of my voice. “You're setting them up for a loss.”

Frank nodded sympathetically and said, “What a shame for you.”

“I don't suppose you want to untie me?”

“I don't suppose I do.”

Okay, worth a shot.

“Frank,” Ao Jie Kai's voice came from somewhere behind me, his footsteps growing louder as he approached us.

I quickly slipped my hand through the rope once more, wincing as it roughly grazed my skin. I sent a little prayer to Baby J, hoping that AJ hadn't noticed, and that Jack and my dad were close by. With lots of backup.

“What?” Frank asked AJ, who was still standing behind me and out of my sight.

“The car won't start.”

“You're kidding me, right?” Frank said, with an incredulous look on his face.

“I don't know what happened,” came Ao Jie Kai's voice. “But it won't start. I think something's wrong with the engine.”

“Well fix it!” Frank snapped.

“I—I don't know how,” Ao Jie Kai replied.

Oh lordy. I actually felt bad for Ao Jie Kai then. Frank was not having a good day, or two decades, to be exact. And AJ was about to become minced meat if he didn't get that car running. As much as he had it coming, I was scared enough of Frank for the both of us. I could lend him some of my terror.

“You literally had
one
job!” Frank cried, clasping his eyes shut as if he was struggling to accept his current bad luck. “Forget it, I'll do it!”

Ao Jie Kai remained silent, but after a few seconds his footsteps began to fade until I couldn't hear them anymore.
One job
seemed a little inaccurate. I mean the poor weirdo did have to do most of his dirty work for him.

“Wait—” I began, as Frank gave a frustrated sigh and headed toward the exit.

“I'll be right back,” Frank said gruffly. “Don't try anything smart! You'll get yourself killed.”