You have to tell her

"Come in." Big Boss looked up, putting down the mission reports he was browsing through.

Mo Yiling closed the door behind him and sat down without being told to, acting comfortable in the office by leaning back with his hands behind his head.

Big Boss frowned. "What's up?" Mo Yiling usually never paid him a visit in his office. It was always the other way around.

He didn't answer and just stared at Big Boss, wondering if he should really be here. He hated stepping in on other people's affairs, but this had something to do with shadow fox. That girl didn't have anyone. He didn't want to see her get hurt. Finally, he spoke up, "Are you sure you want to let her keep working there?"

Realizing that he was here to talk about Ying Yue, Big Boss sighed and busied himself by fixing the documents on his desk and getting back to reading the reports. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Mo Yiling sat up, annoyed by his response. "I'm talking about shadow fox."

"What about her?"

"She's working under Fei Huangjin. The. Fei. Huangjin." He stressed each word carefully just in case Big Boss was pretending he didn't understand what he was trying to tell him. "If he finds out too much, who knows what he's going to do to her."

"He's the master of the Dragon Club, not the head of Jade Circle. She's safer working under him." Big Boss didn't even bother looking at him.

This irked Mo Yiling, and his voice turned up a notch higher. "She's going to get dragged down to the underworld regardless."

Big Boss turned to him and sighed. "Look, she's happy working there, and she's finally living a bit normally like the kids her age. As long as she's working for Fei Huangjin, Jade Circle can't do anything to her."

"But they can." Mo Yiling argued, "they did last night!"

Big Boss stilled. Did that mean he found something related to Jade Circle? If the hitman last night wanted to kill Ying Yue even with Fei Huangjin in the same car, then that changed things. He narrowed his eyes at Mo Yiling. "Was it them?"

He nodded. "I've been up all night. A man injured on his shoulder was brought to a small hospital at the outskirt of the city. He had no ID, he wore a cap the whole time, so I didn't get much from the surveillance videos. He just had his shoulder treated and he paid in cash. Guess who picked him up?"

"Who?"

"Xu Lin."

Big Boss nodded in understanding. "Jade Circle's red pole [1]."

"You have to tell her." Mo Yiling stood up. His purpose for coming over was done.

He was halfway to the door when Big Boss' voice punctured through the air like steel against cement. "No."

Mo Yiling turned back with a frown. Why was this man being stubborn?

Big Boss had his hands clasped in front of him, his eyes closed. "At least not yet."

"Why?"

"They might not be after her. Jade Circle and Dragon Club aren't on good terms, after all."

Mo Yiling sighed. "Even if they weren't after her, she's going to get caught in between if she keeps working as that guy's secretary."

"She's happy over there. It's her second chance at having a normal life. She doesn't even know that he's a part of Dragon Club." Big Boss leaned his head on one hand, unsure of what to do.

Mo Yiling turned to leave. "It's your call. But if you ask me, what good is happy if you'll end up dead?" He slammed the door behind him.

Big Boss sighed. He had to make sure they weren't after her. And if they weren't, there wouldn't be a need to tell her anything.

He'd let snake dig in to it.

***

Ying Yue took a cab to work that day, and on the way there, she was reading a copy of the report that big boss sent to CEO Fei.

Although the existence of her brother wasn't mentioned, pretty much half of the content was true. Her dad really was in the Special Forces. But when he died, she wasn't turned over to her grandfather; it was her brother that took the role of her guardian. He had just turned 18 at that time and legally became her guardian. Her grandfather had been sick, and her brother had to hire a private nurse to take care of the old man.

Her eyes dimmed. Her brother…

She shook off the unwelcome thoughts threatening to swallow her and focused instead on the report. Her hometown and early life details had been changed, but her educational background was real. She was an excellent student who failed to graduate. Something that, until now, Ying Yue was bitter about. But here she was, with two jobs, both of which paid well, and she had a pretty nice apartment in a good part of town with state-of-the-art security and technology, thanks to Juyan, of course.

Seeing her grades made her nostalgic though. Back then, she was a bright-eyed straight-A student who felt that the world was in her hands. She was going to do big things. She was going to start up her own company. She was going to buy a big house where she and her brother could call "home" and he wouldn't need to keep working at various jobs to keep them afloat. But not everything happens the way people plan it.

Ying Yue pursed her lips. She had long abandoned those childhood dreams.

Along with the report were fake referrals of previous secretarial work she had supposedly done, and fake addresses of places she had previously stayed in.

If anyone were to call the referral numbers, they would most likely divert to Juyan, where a trained agent was briefed what to say.

The cab she was in slowed to a stop in front of a high-rise building with the sign "Fei International" Its height and impressive architecture was a reminder to everyone of its power and expanse. She paid the cab driver her fare and stepped out.