Chapter Two (The Plan)

The elevator ride to the parking garage felt longer than usual and Robert was already waiting by the car when I stepped out, his posture straight and patient the way it always was, and something about his steadiness made the tightness in my chest worse.

"Home, Miss Chen?" he asked as he opened the back door.

"Yes."

I slid into the leather seat and pulled out my phone. I saw twenty three missed calls from my assistant and I knew I needed to handle this carefully because disappearing without explanation wasn't an option

I dialed Jennifer's number and she picked up on the first ring.

"Vivian, where have you been? The Hong Kong investors are waiting for your call, the board meeting starts in an hour and..."

"Jennifer, I need you to listen to me."

I kept my voice calm and controlled.

"Something's come up and I need to leave the country for a while."

Silence on the other end and then,

"What do you mean leave the country? We have the merger closing next week."

"I know." I watched the city slide past my window and wondered if I'd ever see it the same way again. "I need you to handle it."

"Handle it? Vivian, this is a three-billion-dollar deal and..."

"You've been my second in command for six years and you know this company as well as I do." I rubbed my temples where a headache was starting to form.

"Tell the board I'm dealing with a family emergency and I'll be back in a few months."

"A few months?" Her voice went up an octave. "What kind of family emergency takes a few months?"

"The kind I can't discuss on the phone." I hated lying to her but I couldn't tell her the truth because Jennifer would insist on coming with me or telling my father or doing something that would derail my entire plan.

"I need you to trust me."

Another long silence and I could practically hear her brain working through all the implications.

"Does your father know?"

"Not yet." My chest tightened at the thought of that conversation. "I'll tell him myself but I need you to keep this quiet for now. Can you do that?"

"Vivian, if something's wrong?"

"Can you do it or not?"

She sighed and I knew I'd won.

"Yes. But you owe me an explanation when you get back."

"Thank you, Jennifer." I meant it more than she could possibly know.

"I'll check in when I can but don't expect daily updates. And if anyone asks, you tell them I'm dealing with a personal matter and I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Understood."

I hung up and immediately dialed my father's number. It rang four times before he picked up and his voice sounded tired and confused.

"Vivian? Is that you?"

My heart cracked a little because six months ago he would have answered with his usual crisp greeting but now he sometimes forgot who was calling and it reminded me that I was running out of time with him too.

"Yes, Dad, it's me." I kept my voice gentle. "How are you feeling today?"

"Tired." He paused and I heard papers rustling in the background. "Did we have a meeting scheduled? I can't seem to find it in my calendar."

"No meeting, Dad. I just wanted to hear your voice." The lie came easily because I couldn't burden him with the truth when his mind was already slipping away from him piece by piece. "I'm going to be traveling for work for a little while."

"Traveling? Where?"

"Just some international sites that need inspection." Another lie and I wondered when I'd become so good at this. "Nothing to worry about."

"You work too hard, Vivian." His voice grew clearer for a moment like he was surfacing from fog.

"You should take time to enjoy your life. Find a good man and settle down. Give me some grandchildren before I forget what they look like."

The irony of his words made my throat tight and I had to swallow hard before I could respond. "I know, Dad. I'm working on it."

"That's my girl." He sounded pleased and I could picture him smiling in his study surrounded by photos of my mother and me. "You know what I always told you about difficult situations."

"Find the solution no one else can see," I recited.

"And?"

"Execute it perfectly."

"Exactly." He chuckled and for a second he sounded exactly like the father I remembered from childhood. "You're going to do great things, Vivian. I'm so proud of you."

My eyes burned and I blinked hard because I couldn't cry again and if I started I wouldn't stop. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, sweetheart. Call me when you land."

He hung up and I sat there holding the phone and wishing desperately that I could go back in time to when he was sharp and brilliant and could actually help me figure this out but that man was disappearing a little more each day and soon he'd be gone completely just like I would be.

I wiped my eyes and pulled myself together because there was no time for self-pity and I had things to do.

Robert pulled up in front of my building and I went straight to my apartment and packed a single suitcase with practical clothes and took off all my jewelry except for a simple watch and looked around at my penthouse with its floor-to-ceiling windows and designer furniture and wondered if I'd ever see it again.

Then I called Robert back and told him to take me to the airport.

"Any particular airline, Miss Chen?"

"Whichever one has an international flight leaving soonest."

He gave me a strange look in the rearview mirror but didn't ask questions and forty minutes later I was standing at the departures board looking at destinations.

I found a country that had a flight leaving in two hours.

Perfect.

I bought a ticket and went through security and sat at the gate and watched families and businesspeople and couples and thought about how none of them knew they were looking at a dying woman who was about to fly to a foreign country to trick some poor man into marrying her.

The flight attendants called for boarding and I got in line and found my seat which was in business class because even in crisis I apparently couldn't bring myself to fly economy and I settled in and closed my eyes and tried not to think about everything I was leaving behind.

Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean I finally fell asleep and dreamed about my mother who died when I was seven and in the dream she was holding my hand and telling me everything would be okay but when I looked up at her face it was my own face and I woke up with tears on my cheeks and my heart racing.