Stefan stared at the message in his hand unbelievably. Born to be a person who had never had a woman refused him before, never! Instead, they were crawling to his feet, just when Stefan wagged his finger.

Who she thought she was?! Still could not believe his eyes. Stefan read it again, the message had not changed to anything but GO TO HELL!

Nobody dared to order Stefan Mackenzie to go to hell even the Master of Hell himself!

The bodyguards looked at the boss, he slowly folded that paper. Nurtured it as if it was a precious treasure, dropped it in his pocket and stroked slowly as he was about to remember that message deeply to his heart.

Stefan’s handsome face looked smooth, his sharp blue eyes were darker than usual… but showing no emotion. People would think… peace.

But James and Ben knew right away, it was only ‘peace’ on the surface but there was a huge storm inside, ready to rage and destroy everything in his way!

“Find This Violet!”

The short ordered came out, did not have to explain, James and Ben knew the meaning well. It meant that every Asian woman named Violet would be visited by them until the boss found the person he was looking for. But the bodyguards were still not sure how his master’s gonna know which one was ‘Violet’ he wanted when he never remembered her face.

However, James and Ben turned to meet the boss’s sharp eyes, saying firmly with a bow.

“Of course, boss.”

Even in their minds, they were still wondering where the fuck would they start?

*******************

“I miss you, mom.”

The sweet voice said and walked to hug her mother.

“Wine? … My sweetheart, you didn’t say that you would come today? A bit sooner than I thought. Oh, I miss you, too, honey.”

Wilaiwan embraced her dearest daughter tightly then pulled her away and stared at Wirata’s beautiful face with happiness in her eyes. Wirata hugged her mother again.

“Tell me all about your life in Boston.” Mother said with cheerful voice, even they talked regularly on phone but still never be the same when they met in person like this.

Wirata was quiet for a minute, did not know how to start to tell her mother about Pichani and she had to find a new place to stay for the next semester. But Wirata and her mother never had secrets unless it was necessary to keep some, just for her mam’s peace of mind.

“Hm, everything’s fine, mom, I did well for the tests, think I will get top marks again. But just have a little bit problem with the apartment, I will have to find a new place to live before the school open.”

Wirata said, walked to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. She woke up so early this morning, did not have much sleep at all, her mind was disturbed by the picture of the bad mafia with the strong smell of whiskey!

“Oh, why? What happened? Did you have an argument with Pichani?”

Wilaiwan asked with a surprise in her voice, walked to sit at the kitchen table. Wirata sat on the next chair, silent for a short while, pretended to lift the cup to drink while the brain was working hard to find good answers.

“Well, Pichani has already moved out. The owner of the apartment he, ah, he wanted the place back.”

Wirata chose to tell the briefest story. Her mother did not know that Pichani was a mistress of a rich mafia, otherwise, she would never have let Wirata stay with the woman. So, Wirata did not see the need to tell her mother the full story.

“Oh, really. That’s a pity. Well, what can you do? Let’s not worry about it, honey. I’m sure you’ll find a good place to stay. But for now, are you hungry?”

“Yes! Very hungry, mother, I missed your cooking. Tonight I’ll help you at the restaurant, miss everyone there.”

Wirata was glad to change the topic and felt relief that her mother did not press for all the details. Wilaiwan went to the fridge, opened it and brought the food out, warmed it in the microwave. Thai food was sending aromatic smell in the kitchen.

Wirata smiled with happiness, this was home she missed, watching her mother wandering around the kitchen like this, cooked her Thai food like this. Nothing more she wanted.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s a good idea, honey. You should rest first, don’t have to go to the restaurant straight away. You study hard and deserve a good rest until you’re fit enough to handle the dishwashing.” Mother said with a smile and Wirata was laughing with her joke.

“Hey, who are you talking to, mom. This is Super Wonder Woman, you know? I can handle anything even the bad evil mafias.”

The words had slipped out by accident, Wirata did not mean to mention or even thought about the bad guy. 

“Ah? Mafias?”

“Well, nothing, mom, ah, mafias are everywhere in Las Vegas as you know. That’s what I mean.” She mumbled.

Wilaiwan smiled at her beloved daughter. It was true about this Sin City. Powerful businessmen, or informally, people called them behind their back, ‘Mafias’. Her Thai restaurant was one of the popular places that some of them liked to use the service. But, there were no problems, as long as they paid and no violence occurred.

Wilaiwan was thinking about her business. John, her American husband, had rented this place for her. It was in a good location. The business had been so far so good, made a substantial income. Wilaiwan had good staff she hired to help at the restaurant. John had his own luxury pub in town.

Wilaiwan sighed when she thought about John. He was a good husband. But when he started to gamble he was addicted to it as predicted. As everybody knew about the gamble, once you fell into its circle, it was not easy to dig yourself out of the dark demon hole.

His income from the pub, Wilaiwan never wanted to interfere with and at the same time gave an ultimatum to him not to interfere with her business either. The rules that John always respected and followed which made Wilaiwan still loved and stayed with him, knowing even he had gone bad with gambling but he still loved her and respected their relationship.

“Where’s Uncle John? I thought today’s his day off?”

Wirata asked, digging in the king prawn fried-rice, one of her favorite dishes. Saw her mother sighed again. Wirata knew about her stepfather’s addiction to gamble, who’s surprised! This was Las Vegas! Sin City! Surrounded by all the casinos and alluring entertainment to suck you in!

“He’s staying at the pub at the moment darling.”

Wilaiwan said, she never had anything to hide from her daughter especially, the situations in the family.

Wilaiwan believed that Wirata was matured enough to know what’s going on in life. ‘Truth’ was the best thing to tell and to make her daughter grow up with good concision and then when life came into trouble, all the knowledge and experiences she had earned would help her to make reasonable decisions. That was called ‘To Live and Learn’.

“Why? He didn’t usually do that.”

One thing Wirata knew was her stepfather truly loved her mother. He usually came home no matter how late it was. And that was strange when he did not.

“Well, I guessed this time was worse than before for him, honey. He didn’t say much to me as you know. I don’t like to press him. If he doesn’t tell me, I don’t know his real situation.”

Wilaiwan said, sat down next to her daughter, stroked the silky black hair gently. Wirata was her heart and soul, she was her everything. She loved John, but they both were adults, so they took responsibility for their own lives.

Wilaiwan had born and grown up in Thai culture, where Buddhism was the best teaching, nothing was permanent. It came and went especially people, no one stayed with you forever.

‘things and people in our lives come and go, don’t take anything too seriously because, at the end of the day, we die and can’t take anything with us, apart from good deeds we had done and earned. That’s all the soul would carry with it.’

Wirata was Wilaiwan’s responsibility to protect and to make sure her daughter would have a good life and be happy. That was all she, as a mother of a young beautiful girl, focused on for now.

“Hm, maybe I will talk to him,” Wirata mumbled, remembered the kindness Uncle John always had for her since she was ten years old when she first moved here. He was a good stepfather.

“Don’t bother darling. He’s a grown-up. If he really needs help, he will say.”

Mother said with a serious voice. Wirata nodded, knowing her mother did not want her to involve with any of John’s business, it was too dangerous, as she knew that his pub was unable to avoid to involve with mafias. Her mother wanted to keep Wirata away from it as possible as she could, like sending Wirata to Boston.

“Well, anyway, I’ll go help you tonight, but I will take a nap for a couple of hours, didn’t sleep well last night, because I was excited about flying home to be with my beautiful mother.”

Wirata said with a cute smile turned to hug her mother tightly and kissed on her cheeks.

“Just go, leave the dish here, I won’t wake you up, don’t worry.”

Wilaiwan pushed her daughter’s back gently. Wirata smiled and kissed her mother again before walking out of the kitchen to the stairs. This five-bedroom house was just ten miles away from the city. Wirata liked it very much. It was home for her.

That night and so on, Wirata started to help her mother at the restaurant. There was a uniform for the staff. A woman wore a Thai traditional dress which was a long sleeve pink blouse, had a long shawl crossed a shoulder, a nice Sarong. Wirata wore contact lenses instead of glasses when working. The restaurant opened from six p.m until midnight.

Wirata liked the Thai atmosphere in here. It made her think of Thailand, the place where she was born and never forgot. The mother’s land that she wished to return to live there one day.