Kiss & Die - Lee Weeks [121]
‘Please just sit with me a little longer.’ They moved to sit on the stairwell. ‘I brought you some sweets.’ She handed him two, wrapped in a napkin. ‘Coconut sweets for lovers.’
He smiled, her face was so sad, trying to be brave, he couldn’t say no. She watched him eat them.
‘It’s all over for me then, Shrimp.’ She turned and smiled and in her eyes was more than sadness, it was desperation and something else that Shrimp hadn’t seen before – desire. She kissed him, her mouth hard on his. Shrimp drew back. ‘I don’t want to give myself to an old man and never know what it is to feel the pleasure of someone’s body who means something to me. I want us to lie together, Shrimp. Then we will never be apart again.’ She leaned forward and kissed him lingeringly on the lips and then she held him tightly.
‘Not like this, Nina.’
‘I know. I shouldn’t say it but I’m begging you, Shrimp. Just hold me. Come to my room, please.’
‘Now?’
‘Yes. My grandmother is asleep.’ She took him by the hand.
‘If I have to get married I’d rather get married knowing what it is to feel love.’
Shrimp followed her, feeling desire and despair at the same time.
Chapter 103
The Mansions were a flurry of activity. Hundreds of CK’s employees slipped in unnoticed amongst the thousands of Mansion dwellers. They flooded the place with pieces of brightly coloured paper that seemed to appear from nowhere. They dropped leaflets in mail boxes, stacked them in the lifts, pasted them on all the walls, the stairs, the doors, landings – everywhere. They carried a simple message:
The Mansions are being demolished. You will all lose your homes. No one will be rehoused. No restaurants will be given new premises. It has all been a lie.
The leaflets littered the floors of the Mansions. Panic spread. By five o’clock everyone knew that Victoria Chan was their enemy.
Rizal had tried to warn her. He had not made it in time. His body was at the bottom of the maintenance shaft where it had been dropped. He had crossed Ruby too many times. He had not been worth the effort of kidnapping; anyway, Ruby did not have the room. She had another in mind for her bed. He was very close to it now.
It was six o’clock in the evening when Victoria had her driver drop her around the corner from the Mansions. She had come to see PJ and the others. She wanted them to sign her deal. If they all signed then she could show Mann she had good intentions. She slipped in unnoticed, keeping her head down. She had dressed down for the occasion. But there was no hiding the fact that her jeans were designer, her sandals Gucci. There was no masking the smell of her expensive perfume. She felt watched. The Africans saw her coming. David and his friends sat on the steps whilst the world passed them by. Mahmud saw her pass. An Outcast pulled a whistle from his pocket and gave three small sharp bursts, gliding it beneath his hand as he did so. The Mansions echoed with the sound of answers.
She kept her sunglasses on as she walked towards the lift. She felt as though her heels were stuck in tar. She moved reluctantly forwards as she watched the people staring at her. She stopped at the lift on the left. She had decided to start in the Delhi Grill and pay her respects after the death of Hafiz. They would need reassurance now at this tricky time. She stood in the queue. The people turned to stare at her and the queue disappeared until there was just her in it. When the lift came she stepped in alone. Victoria’s heart was hammering. It was a bad enough experience coming to the Mansions without feeling like everyone knew who she was. She pressed the button for the third floor and waited. She looked around the walls. They were covered in the leaflets. She gasped as she tore one down and read it.
She looked frantically all around. Everything was covered in the leaflets, the floor was littered with them. She knew she had been set up. Someone wanted to see her killed. She was never going to get out alive.
She pulled out her phone and phoned Mann’s number. He didn’t