A moment after Elena left Alexander sat still for a while.
Then he got up and moved to the center of the room and sat down on the floor. Crossed his legs. Straightened his back. Closed his eyes.
He cultivated until everything inside him was quiet again. Then he got up and went to shower.
He came out of the bathroom and stopped.
An old man was sitting in his chair. Small. White-haired. His hands were folded in his lap. Eyes closed. Completely at ease.
Alexander stood in the doorway.
Something moved through him that he had not felt in a long time. Warm and unexpected. He had not realised how much he had missed this man until this exact moment.
He crossed the room slowly and stood in front of him.
"Master."
The old man opened his eyes.
For a moment they just looked at each other. The old man with those calm steady eyes that missed nothing. Alexander with everything he had been carrying for three years, sat just beneath the surface of his face.
Then Alexander lowered himself into a bow. Not the formal bow of a soldier. The deep quiet bow of a son. Of a student. Of someone who understood exactly what this man had given him and had never fully found the words for it.
Master Liang Taihe watched him. Then he reached out and placed one hand gently on Alexander's head the way he had done since Alexander was ten years old.
"Get up," he said softly. "Let me look at you."
Alexander straightened.
The old man looked at him slowly. His eyes moving across his face. Reading everything the way only he could read it. Then his eyes moved briefly to the card sitting on the chair across the room. He read it quietly. Said nothing about it. Then looked back at Alexander and nodded once.
"You are well," he said.
"I am well," Alexander said.
A small silence settled between them. Comfortable. The silence of two people who have not seen each other in a long time and are simply glad to be in the same room again.
Then the old man's expression shifted.
"This kid." He shook his head. "How will you hide like this. It is no different than a man dead and forgotten and no longer existing." He looked at Alexander directly. "I have been using your aura to find you. Two days Alexander. For two days I have been searching this city."
"Two days." Alexander reached for his shirt. "You have been in San Francisco for two days and you are only finding me now."
"Because you buried yourself so deep even your aura was barely breathing." He folded his hands in his lap. "Two days."
Alexander pulled his shirt on.
"Who are you still combating with?" The old man's voice was lighter now. "That is still making you cultivate at this level." He tilted his head. "Are you not scared of tearing down the heavens and the earth with your immense power. This is a city, Alexander. People live here."
"I just want to warm myself," Alexander said.
The old man looked at him for a moment. "You will never change." He shook his head gently. "Anyway the building is still standing. I will give you that."
Alexander almost smiled.
"Come," he said. "Let us go out. I want to do something for you today."
The old man stood up slowly with the satisfaction of a man whose disciple had finally said something sensible.
The club was quiet at this hour. Not empty. Just settled. Low light. Soft music. The kind of comfort that did not need to announce itself.
They were shown to a table and seated. Drinks were brought and opened before them. Alexander lifted his glass and the old man lifted his. They drank. Just beginning. The afternoon barely started.
Then the entrance doors opened.
Two men came in first. Then more behind them. And between them, a woman is being pulled forward. Her feet are barely cooperating. Her body pulled back against the hands holding her.
Alexander's glass stopped midway.
He turned slightly toward his master.
"Why does she look familiar? Same dress. Same hair… isn't that the woman from last night?"
The old man said nothing
He just looks at him with calm steady eyes.
Drake walked in behind his men. Unhurried. Adjusting his jacket. He crossed the room and dropped into a large couch like he owned the place.
Women appeared around him immediately. One on each side. Two behind him. Hands moving over his shoulders, his chest. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigarette and lit it slowly.
At the center of the room, the woman was forced down. Still pulling back. Still fighting with whatever she had left.
Drake picked up a drink from the table beside him and poured it slowly and deliberately over her head.
She sat there with both hands pressed flat against the floor. The drink ran down through her hair. Down her face, and her clothes.
Drake laughed. "You are mine now." He leaned back into the couch and took a long pull of his cigarette. "Look at you. If you had just accepted me the first time none of this would have happened. But now here we are. And you have lost face."
The men around him laughed.
People around the club had begun to turn. Eyes moving toward the center of the room. Voices dropping. A woman near the bar leaned toward the person beside her. "Why are so many men bullying a young girl?" More heads turned. The whole room was watching now.
Elena's jaw was tight. Her eyes were burning with everything she had left.
"You beast." Her voice came out quiet and raw and clear. "I will not forget this."
Drake tilted his head at her."What are you shouting for? You're my wife now. At best… my slave."
I gave you face and you did not value it." He took another pull of his cigarette. "So now here we are."
"In broad daylight," Alexander said under his breath.
The old man looked at him. Then back to the woman on the floor. Then at Alexander again. "Wicked kid. You didn't tell me you had a woman. You even brought her to your house. Kept her through the night."
"I never had anything to do with her." Alexander kept his voice flat. "I just helped her. She was in trouble. That is all. I did not touch her. Did not even collect her money. She dropped her card and I never asked about it."
The old man knocked him on the head with two fingers. Then he stroked his beard slowly. "That reminds me. Is she the owner of the card on your desk?"
Alexander looked at him. "Yes."
The old man nodded slowly. "She must be a big shot." He looked at Alexander warmly with a smile. "You are lucky."
"Oh here you go again," Alexander said.
At the center of the club, Drake was still talking.
"You are nothing but trash." He looked at his men. "Strip her clothes. Let her see she is not as special as she thinks she is."
The men moved forward.
Elena looked up at them. "What are you trying to do?"
They grabbed her jacket and pulled it off and threw it to the ground. Their hands reach for more.
The old man turned to Alexander. "Silly boy. Are you saving her or not?"
"She is not the one," Alexander said. "She just looks like her."
The old man raised his hand slowly. His wrist turned. His fingers curling into position like a man about to demonstrate something very serious about the ancient art of kung fu.
Alexander was already on his feet. "No no. I am saving her."
The old man paused. His hand came down gently. Satisfied.
Alexander was already crossing the floor when his voice cut across the room.
"Stop."
Everything stopped. The men. The laughter. All of it.
Every head turned. The whole club was watching. Nobody is moving.
The men turned and faced him.
Alexander walked calmly until he was standing in front of them. His eyes went briefly to the jacket on the ground.
One of the men stepped forward.
"Kid… are you looking for death? This isn't your business."
Elena turned already.
When she saw his face, a small thought crossed her mind, if he could get her out of the gang last night, maybe there was something behind him she didn't know about, something that could help him now.
She stood up immediately and ran to him and held on. Both arms around him. Her face against his chest.
Alexander felt the way she held him. He had not expected that. This girl was acting tough last night.
From his table across the room, the old man watched, both of them, and nodded his head and turned more wine.
Drake looked at the stranger from his couch without standing. Then he raised one hand and waved it lazily.
"Whatever you think the man deserves, give it to him."
The men cracked their knuckles. Ready.
Elena let go.
She stepped in front of him and spread her arms wide. "Let me tell you something. I am the CEO of Carter Group. If you touch him I will make sure every single one of you rots in jail."
The men looked at her. Then they all laughed. "CEO." One of them said it like the word itself was the joke. "Lock us up." Another shook his head. "Lady, minutes ago you were on the floor with a drink on your head. Who exactly is going to be locking who up?"
Alexander looked at her.
The door was right there and she had not run. She had stepped in front of him instead. Still shaking. Arms still wide. Did she really want to protect him and not use the chance for escape?
He placed a hand gently on her shoulder.
"Step aside," he said softly.
Then he looked up at the men.