The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - By Ian Hamilton Page 0,136
And then, as I said, it will be done, and it will be one less thing for me to worry about.”
“Uncle, please —”
“I am going to leave ten million Hong Kong for Lourdes, and I am also going to give her the apartment. If she wants to sell it and move back to the Philippines and live like a millionaire, she can do that. I am also leaving ten million to Uncle Fong. He did not save enough for his retirement and he does not have any children to care for him. So I am giving him the ten million and asking you to look in on him from time to time to make sure he is okay. He has been a good friend.”
Ava said, “Yes, he has been a good friend.”
“Sonny is a different matter,” Uncle said hesitantly. “I am leaving him the car and some money as well, but we need to do more than that for him.”
“Like what?”
“You must hire him.”
“Uncle, I have no need —”
“Listen to me, Ava. Sonny is not a man who can be left to his own devices. He needs structure; he needs to feel that he belongs to something, to someone. If he is on his own he will get into trouble, and the kind of trouble Sonny can get into is not the kind that will earn him just a slap on the wrist . . . Ava, no one could be more loyal.”
“I know that, Uncle, but I have no plans to live in Hong Kong.”
“That is not what I hear from Wong May Ling.”
“May Ling is saying what?” Ava said.
“Actually, it was the husband, Changxing, who has been telling me things. He says May Ling has a plan to start up a business with you, and she has put aside a hundred million U.S. dollars to fund it. He is not happy about it but he will not oppose her, because he is afraid of losing her.”
“I know nothing about any of this.”
“Now you do.”
“Uncle, I have no plans to live in Hong Kong, so I don’t know what you expect me to do about Sonny.”
He shook his head. “Anything will do. Tell him he is working for you but you need him to look after that half-brother of yours, or you need him to chauffeur your father or Amanda Yee. Come up with something, anything. We need to keep Sonny occupied.”
“All right,” Ava said, knowing it was useless to argue. “But about May Ling — she’s never discussed any plans with me. As far as I’m concerned I have only one partner, and that’s you.”
“I know, but as I told you months and months ago, I am not going to be around forever, and May Ling is a powerful and very intelligent woman. And as you found out in Macau, she is a woman with guanxi . . . Ava, what will you do when I am gone? Take vacations?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“You would make a strong team.”
“If she puts up a hundred million dollars, we won’t be a team. She’ll be the boss. I would never work with her unless we were on an equal footing.”
“Why is that not possible?”
“I don’t have a hundred million dollars, or anything close to it.”
“When I die, you will.”
Ava lowered her head, her teeth biting into her lip. “I can’t talk about your money.”
“You need to talk to Parker. He brings clarity to things,” Uncle said. “If I had gone to a Chinese doctor who knew me or had heard about me, he would have given me two bags of herbs and told me what he thought I wanted to hear. When I asked Parker what he thought I should do, he told me I was an old man who had incurable cancer and that I should get my affairs in order. I appreciated his honesty and I have taken his advice. So, like it or not, you are going to inherit the bulk of my estate. What you do with it is up to you. All I ask is that you look after Uncle Fong and keep Sonny out of trouble.”
Ava felt tears well in her eyes again. She wiped at them with her loose hand. “Uncle, I don’t want any of this to happen.”
“Neither do I, but here we are.”
She felt herself starting to come apart. The feeling of helplessness that had overcome her in Surabaya was back. This isn’t my life anymore, she thought.