Behind the Dragons (Book 4 of Billionaire Bad Boys Series)

1

China Town, New York City…

Naomi Lee came in through the delivery door still wearing her tights and silk wrap, her slippers laced together and draped over her right shoulder. She quickly made her way through the kitchen and into the office to change. Practice had run late making her late for her shift at the restaurant. Her parents had come to America twenty-five years ago with nothing but a dream and fifty dollars to their name. Now they owned a popular Japanese Restaurant in China Town. They did some dining room business, but they did way more delivery business.

It was a family owned and run operation. Her father cooked while her mother worked in the dining room. During the day Naomi dance at Juilliard, a prominent art school. Dancers all over the world coveted a place at this high-status school, but only a talented few got in each year. Naomi had spent her whole life dancing practicing until her feet blistered and bled perfecting her skills just for the day she could earn an audition for a sought-after place in the following year’s classes. It had been the hardest thing in the world, but she got in and was now in her second year. Between dancing and the restaurant, she had zero time for herself, but one day all the hard work would pay off, and she would dance for a major ballet company. In the meantime, she had to change and get out in the dining room to help her mother.

Naomi was the eldest of two. Her little brother Kobee was seventeen and troubled. During the day he should have been in school after school he was supposed to be one of the restaurant’s delivery boys. Though they all knew what he should have been doing it was far from what he was doing. Kobee had fallen in with a bad crowd. He’d been skipping school and coming into work late, taking off for hours between deliveries all to hang out with a local gang that terrorized the streets turning a hard-working neighbourhood into a hellish place to live.

It was too bad, Kobee was a smart boy, book-wise at least, he had such potential, but his desire to fit in was taking him down a dark path. His parents were always fighting with their only son telling him he was only going to ruin his life running with the Black Dragons. Telling him he should be focused on his studies and helping the family, but he didn’t listen. He had started getting tattoos and smoking, and Naomi half suspected he was dealing drugs. It was a shame too, at heart he was a good boy, but he was going to land himself in prison or a grave.

Her parents were so disappointed, as the only son Kobee had a lot of pressure to be something, but he was squandering his potential. Naomi understood how her brother felt, Asian parents always expected so much from their children it was a lot of pressure even she felt it. Her parents had wanted her to be a lawyer or a doctor, but when she decided she wanted to be a dancer, they accepted her decision but expected her to be the best.

Naomi shut the office door and quickly stripped away her tights and pulled on her uniform. A traditional Japanese Yukata, though most people now a day only wore Kimonos for formal events her parents thought the traditional clothing would attract customers and so far, it worked. The American customers, in particular, enjoyed the ethnic experience.

She tied the obi around her waist and swept her long raven hair up off her shoulders and pinned it in place with a lotus flower comb. She joined her mother in the dining room and quickly began bussing some tables to seat new customers coming through the door.

“Where is Kobee?” Her mother asked. “We have deliveries waiting to go out.”

“I didn’t see him in the back.”

“He went out on a delivery two hours ago and still hasn’t come back.” Her mother was annoyed with her son. Naomi didn’t know where her brother was, but she could guess he was with some of his friends. He was getting into trouble. The front door opened and in came a table top of eight American men in suits. “Naomi go tend those men.” Her mother ordered before disappearing into the kitchen.

Naomi walked to the door and politely bowed before showing the customers to a large round table in the center of the dining room. She seated the men and handed out the menus while the men began to talk as if she were not even there. There were men of various ages, mostly older well-established businessmen except for the last man she handed the menu too.

He was much younger than the other men, in his early twenties if she had to guess. He was impeccably dressed in a fine grey single-breasted suit with a maroon tie. His midnight black hair was short but stylish. He was a good-looking man, stunning really, but it was his eyes that she found striking. He accepted the menu and glanced up at her only briefly to thank her with an easy smile, a dazzling row of sparkling white teeth.

Naomi went about her duties. She brought the table some complimentary green tea. She was trying not to listen, but she couldn’t help but overhear what they were talking about. They were lawyers and from the sounds of things they were welcoming a new associate, which she could only assume was the young man at the table.

They ordered their meal and Naomi served the table. She even brought them dessert. At the end of their meal they tossed all their business cards into a paper bag she brought them on request. “Hey, there, sweet thing.” One of the older men addressed her as he held out the bag to her. “Why don’t you just go ahead and reach in there and pull out the card of the poor sucker that’s going to pay this bill.”

He had a sleazy smile, and she didn’t like the way he was talking to her, but she smiled anyway and reached into the bag, felt around, and pulled out a card. “Brandon Sanchez.” She read the name written on the card.

All the men laughed. “Yeah let the greenhorn pay.”

The young man at the table reached into his pocket and removed his wallet then handed Naomi his credit card. Naomi ran his card through at the table with the cordless machine. He signed the slip, and they all got up to leave. Naomi politely bowed as they left then noticed that the man paying the bill tossed a fifty-dollar bill on the table. She picked it up and chased him down.

“Sir, oh sir, you dropped this.” She said trying to hand it back.

He just chuckled, “No darling it’s a tip.” He told her.

“It’s too much.” She said trying to hand it back.

“It’s yours you earned it.” He said as he walked away and got into an amazing silver sports car. Judging from his car, he must have been very successful. Deciding he could afford the tip she put it in her pocket and went back inside to clear the table and set it up for their next customers.

At the end of the night, Naomi cleaned the tables and counted her tips before adding them to that night’s take. Once the dining room was cleaned, they all headed home. Her parents were arguing all the way home. Kobee never did come back tonight. They conjectured as to what had happened to him. When he got home, he would be in serious trouble.

They only lived a few blocks away in an apartment complex that housed many of their neighbours. Once they got home, Naomi went to her room and hung up her slippers on the nail in the wall. She was tired. It was late and still no sign of Kobee. She decided not to wait up for him like her parents. She changed into her nightgown and climbed into bed. She had an early class tomorrow.

She wasn’t sure just how long she had been asleep when a loud pounding sound startled Naomi from her sleep. She heard someone yelling ‘police.’ She got out of bed and pulled on her robe before coming out of her room. She didn’t make it past her bedroom door when six officers bashed in the front door and were flooding the hall.

Her mother was screaming, and her father was yelling at the officers in Japanese. Two uniforms held her parents back while the others searched the bedroom and dragged Kobee from his bed. They forced him down on the floor face down with their knee in her brother’s back. They handcuffed him and read him his rights informing him that he was being arrested for rape and murder.

No, this couldn’t be happening. Kobee may have been running with a shady crowd, but Naomi knew her brother he wasn’t capable of something as brutal as rape or murder let alone both. They must have the wrong man it was the only explanation. They dragged Kobee out of the apartment. Naomi rushed to the front door to see them dragging him struggling down the stairs with all the neighbours standing in their doorways to observe the scene.

Naomi ran back into her room and quickly changed, she was going to the station with her parents to figure out what was going on. When they reached the station, the officers refused to let them all see Kobee. Only one parent was allowed to see him. Since he was a minor, they had to allow a parent to be at his side before they could question him. Her father went into the interrogation room leaving Naomi and her worried mother to wonder in the waiting room.

Around six in the morning, she saw a tired looking man in a suit come through the doors and walk up to the counter. He said he was from legal aid and he was appointed to represent Kobee Lee. He didn’t look very confident or interested. He looked like he didn’t care one way or another how things went, either way, he would get paid. She had a bad feeling her brother was going to prison. He needed a better lawyer. Someone who knew what they were doing. Someone that cared whether or not his client was innocent or guilty. He would need a better lawyer, but she didn’t know any.

Her mind drifted back to work the night before. The table of lawyers. They looked like they were successful, especially the young one. Judging from his car he won more than he lost. She still had his business card she was sure. Naomi excused herself and left her mother at the station. She went back to the restaurant and let herself in the back door. She then went through the papers on the desk in the office searching for the business card she had drawn from the bag. It took some sorting, but she did find it. It had a phone number and address of the offices. She would go in person. Pleading always worked better in person.