Crimson Vows: The Blood By Which We're Bound

CHAPTER FIVE

“Khun Chai?” Pakin said. “Than Phu Yai’s right hand?”

“He’s had access for ten years,” Anurak said. “A trust agreement after the dock wars twelve years ago. We all gave the other leaders emergency access to certain vaults. In case of—” He stopped. “In case of this.”

“So it could be Chai,” Pakhin said, flat. "He does it all under Khun Vichai's nose and frames you for it?"

“That is a possibility. Or," Saen said, speaking for the first time, “someone wants us to think it’s Chai. It could be someone from one of the other houses.”

"That could be true but right now, we can't rely on who or what we know. Someone else might have access to our vaults. We either have a breach or a mole," Ren added.

Kirin didn’t look away from his dad. “Is there anything else? Anything Than Phu Yai didn’t say? Anything you haven’t told us?”

Anurak was quiet for a long time. Then he spoke.“Ten days ago, I got a message. Untraceable. All it said was ‘Check your vaults.’ I did. They were clean. I logged it. I told Vichai about it myself.”

“Ten days ago,” Kirin repeated. “The same day as the last shipment.”

“Yes.”

“So someone must have planted them after you checked,” Ren said. "We need to figure out who sent that message. Maybe we can find a lead or our culprit."

Kirin stood. Walked to the window. The two Rolls-Royces were gone. The blood on marble was gone and the smell of gunpowder too, but the image was engraved in his mind.

“We have three months,” he said, not turning around. “One until the engagement. Two before I’m married to hell or we’re all dead.” He turned back. “So. Where do we start?”

Anurak looked at his youngest son. His artist. His model. His third child who had just put a knife to the most powerful man in Thailand and lived.

“We start,” Anurak said, “by looking at the bigger picture. Someone might want our bloodline dead but I believe our culprit's real target is the entire council. They just started it off where it would hit hard.”

"Then let's find out culprit."

Outside, the sun was setting. Three days until Kirin moved into the Vongsawat estate.

The countdown had started.

PRESENT DAY

VONGSAWAT MANSION

A knock at the door. Sharp. Polite.

He opened it.

And nearly stepped back.

The woman in the hallway was elegance wrapped in silk and flowers. A pale green silk dress, embroidered with gold orchids at the hem, hugged her slender frame. Diamonds at her throat. Hair pinned up in a neat bun, not a strand out of place. She smelled like jasmine and something exotic.

Her smile was warm. Real. The kind that reached her eyes and made you want to smile back.

“Nong Rin?” she said, and her voice was music, soft and delighted, like she’d been waiting all day for this. “Can I call you Rin? Oh, you are as pretty as they said. Prettier, even in person.”

Before he could answer, she was inside. Not barging. Floating. She took his wrist — gentle, no grip, just warmth — and pulled him back into the room.

The door clicked shut behind her.

“Sit, sit,” she said, guiding him to the bed like he was a guest and she was the host. She sat beside him, close but not touching, hands clasped in her lap. “I’m Malaisorn. Khan’s mother. You can call me Na Mai.”

Kirin blinked. “Khun Ying Malaisorn—”

“Na Mai,” she corrected, laughing, waving his formality away. “We’re family now, aren’t we? Or we will be soon. And please, none of that ‘Khun Ying’ from you. That’s for the staff and the wives at charity galas who don’t know how to have fun.”

She leaned in, studying his face like she was memorizing a painting. “I’ve been dying to meet you properly, Nong Rin, you know. Despite our families being close, we’ve never truly been acquainted. But I fell in love with you when you were still a baby, you know that?”

Kirin blinked. “Na Mai—”

“No, no, it’s true,” she laughed, patting his hand. “Sirin brought you to my house once. You were what — six months old? Wrapped in that pale blue blanket with the little red cranes. You had these huge, serious eyes, like a temple dancer’s and a scholar’s all at once. I told Siri right then, ‘That boy’s going to break hearts.’ And I know I was right.”

She sighed, all fondness. “I’ve watched you grow up from afar, Rin. Every Elle cover, every billboard on Sukhumvit, every painting, every gallery opening. Your work, darling — it’s exquisite. That series you did in London? The one with the gold leaf and the shadows? I have three of them in my studio. Don’t tell Khan. He thinks art is ‘pretentious,’ but I told him it’s genius.”

Kirin’s ears went warm. “You didn’t have to—”

“I wanted to,” she said firmly. “You know, I’m not the only one. Over half the women in my circle are huge fans of yours. As a model, as an artist — we pass your magazine tearsheets around like gossip. ‘Did you see what Kirin Theerakul wore to Milan?’ ‘Did you see the way he holds a brush?’ You’ve got a whole elderly fan club and you don’t even know it.”

She grinned, then her eyes lit up. “And Pim! Oh, we adore Pim too. His music is absolutely brilliant—his voice, his moves—, and him as a model — that walk he does? Criminal. Almost everyone I know has listened to his songs and loved them. I also heard you two are best friends.” She nudged him, conspiratorial.

“What a magnificent pair you make. The artist and the idol.The two princes of Aurelian. Khan wouldn’t know brilliance if it bit him, but I do. When Vich told me you and Khan were to be engaged, I nearly dropped my teacup. I’d been complaining about a daughter-in-law for years, and then I hear it’s you? My Rin? I was over the moon.”

She reached up and brushed a strand of hair off his forehead. The gesture was so motherly, so unguarded, that Kirin forgot to flinch.

“You’ve lost weight, Rin,” she said, frowning now, all concern. “Did they feed you in London? British food, honestly. No wonder you’re all bones.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t—”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, dear. I'm just teasing,” she said, catching his hand and patting it once. “You know I would have come to you sooner, but the renovators were driving me mad about the west garden and Vich kept saying you needed rest. Rest from what, I said. He just got home. And I told him, ‘If my new son is here, I’m not waiting another minute.’”

She laughed at herself. “I talk too much when I’m happy. And I’m very happy right now.”

Kirin stared at her. Happy. She was happy.

“You don’t know,” he realized.