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business endeavors are you involved in at the moment?”
    Their guest opened his pierced mouth and happily launched into a story about trading silver, as well as priceless figurines. Lian knew exactly what this bastard really trafficked —a trade he shared with her mother.
    Lian hoped to ruin both of their plans tonight. First, by refusing to marry this idiot, and second, by making sure Sergei and her mother did not successfully complete their business transaction.
    Sergei’s hand pressed against her thigh. Lian squirmed but he didn’t budge. When he sneaked his fingers beneath the flimsy fabric of the stupid dress her mother had made her wear, she pushed her chair back and stood. The screech echoed across the room and Sergei’s bodyguard flinched.
    “Lian, what’s wrong?” Meiling asked, cocking a thin eyebrow in warning.
    “I need to go to the bathroom.”  
    “Ladies ask to be excused, dear.”
    She ignored her mother and offered Sergei a fake smile that hurt her cheeks, even if she was glad he appeared put out by her directness. She enjoyed using the bathroom line on most of her suitors and Meiling always corrected her. He didn’t smile, but gave her a predatory wink, making the metal piercings on his face and ears twinkle under the chandelier. She couldn’t believe her mother’s standards had sunk to such an all-time low that she’d fix her up with this slime ball. “ Excuse me. ”
    Without another glance, she stepped away from the long table occupied by her mother, Sergei, and his personal guard, and disappeared into the cold corridor. She never understood why Meiling chose to heat only the rooms and not the entire house. It seemed like a form of punishment to those who spent most of their time guarding or maintaining this mansion.
    Lian had always hated the callous domination her mother used on the household staff. One day, she would release them from the confines of this icy estate.
    She sighed, marching as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the bathroom and descending the many stairs leading to the cellar. Or rather, the prisoner cells, where she was going to meet her accomplice.
    As she rounded the corner, she found Vera already waiting for her. Vera was one of the guards, but she meant the world to Lian. She was dressed in a drab uniform and wore a restrictive silver collar with a tiny, flashing green light, which marked her as Meiling’s property.
    “Sorry I’m late. It was hard to find a break in their useless conversation.” In any other part of the estate, some sort of surveillance device would catch them out, but not here. This part of the house was her mother’s secret place—lined with three cells on each side, and one at the end. She would never risk any footage getting into the wrong hands.
    Vera’s uneasy smile made the wrinkles stand out on her pretty, olive-skinned face. She ran a hand through her short, dark hair and said, “You’re here now, that’s what’s important.”
    Lian nodded and raised her left index finger, which doubled as an access key. Thanks to Mya—her personal processor and connection to the system Network—she’d learned how to override most locking mechanisms in the house. Something only her mother could do, and certainly didn’t know Lian had hacked.
    Until last year, Lian hadn’t known anyone was being dumped here. One night, she couldn’t sleep and decided to go for a walk through the house. She ended up on this floor and heard someone crying. She’d gone to Vera right away, and together discovered Meiling Shan’s dirty secret. That was when they decided to sabotage her mother’s plans and formulated a system.
    During the last six months, whenever someone was dumped in any of these cells, Mya alerted her. There might not be any surveillance circuits in this part of the cellar, but that didn’t stop the processor from getting past restricting access within the Network—like the actual lock panels.
    Lian took pride in helping the