I’d tried sleeping but I was just too giddy to stay laying down. I owned the fucking Tower of Sin. Everything wasn’t perfect though, not yet. There was that cowboy to deal with. I was enraged even more by his earlier actions. Knowing that the place had already been in my name when he set things on fire and put bullets into the furniture pissed me off. It was personal now.

There were likely blood stains on the carpet too.

“Fucker,” I hissed, getting out of bed with a sigh. I’d just have to rip it all out and replace it with something better. Carpet wasn’t really up to my standards anyway.

A sigh drifted from my mouth. I wasn’t supposed to leave the penthouse. That much was heavily implied. I bit my lip and snatched up the phone I’d stolen from Dullahan, dialing North Hunan. I didn’t really know how to contact Shen directly. We only ever met up at the restaurant but I knew he spent most of his time elsewhere. North Hunan was just one small part of his empire. A front-facing farce where he could meet up with people in public.

A woman picked up, sounding like the same one who had sat and served me the other night.

“I need to talk to Tu Shen,” I said.

“Not my problem,” she said.

“It’s Lacey, I need to talk to him.” The phone line was quiet for a moment then she sighed.

“He’s been trying to find you,” she said. I started to ask why but she interrupted. “Hold.” Elevator music chimed in playing both far too loud and much too soft at different moments in the song.

“Where have you been?” Shen said sharply, suddenly on the line.

“Kidnapped, if you can believe it,” I grumbled.

“I can, actually,” he responded.

“What? Why?” I asked and he gave a small snort of amusement.

“I had a strong feeling,” he said cryptically. “I’m guessing your situation has improved?”

“It has…” I said suspiciously.

“Good, I need to see you,” he said. I hummed.

“I’m a little tied up at the moment.”

“That sounds fun,” he teased.

“Yes, well, when I was actually tied up it was sort of fun. Until the gun, tiger, and attempted cannibalism. Though, I’m not sure it’s really the last one if he’s not actually human?”

“You do get up to the wildest parties, my dear friend. I could use another visit from you soon. Once you’re no longer tied up.”

“Trouble in paradise? What’s wrong with the good luck charm I gave you?” The trinkets I gave to Shen tended to offer a small amount of luck for short periods. They usually lasted much longer than this though.

“It stopped working when the bad storm came.”

“Storm?” I asked.

“Yes, storm. It’s very bad timing for this sort of thing to happen. The fucking werewolves have decided they don’t like my monopoly on the north coast,” he ground out. “So, do you have any more wild shenanigans like earlier planned? Suspect any more kidnappings?”