"What, now that you know you can't survive without me, you went and stole them to sell? Is that how desperate you are?"
I swallowed back the nausea clawing up my throat and forced the words out.
"Neil, I'm at an internet café on Guangfu Road."
"The owner is trying to assault me. Please, come get me—"
Neil's voice went taut with alarm. "What? I'm on my way!"
Then, in the very next second, Shirley's voice slithered through the line, dripping with saccharine contempt.
"Oh, sis. Are all gold diggers this calculating?"
"I drove past that road just today. There's no internet café there. You're pulling a sympathy stunt to guilt Mr. Sanchez into caving first, aren't you?"
"Mr. Sanchez, if you actually go, you're just rewarding her little tantrum. Next time she'll threaten you with divorce every time she doesn't get her way. How embarrassing would that be?"
Before I could get a single word out, Neil's voice exploded through the phone.
"Kathryn, you have absolutely no shame! You'd stoop to a lie like this?"
"Don't think I'm going to keep indulging you. You want to come back? Fine. Be kneeling outside my office by morning and admit you were wrong!"