40. Resolution

Mali watches Kit’s expression as he reads over the papers in front of him. He’s already read them once, but apparently needs to read them again just to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him.
“Where did you find this?” Kit’s voice is quiet.
“We didn’t.” Rome corrects him. “Kai did. In my uncle’s archives.”
Kit looks up. “Is this even authentic?”
“Yeah.” Talay sounds as disappointed as the rest of them. “I ran several checks on it. It’s legal, too. Provided he passed a background check, Chalam can adopt whoever he wants. And if he’s got a judge in his pocket—”
“He can prevent Jet from testifying against him.” Mali finishes. “And he can put a stop to Jet’s investigation. We know.”
It’s almost one a.m. Technically, none of them should be working this late, but Rome and Mali had discussed it beforehand and decided it was time to let Kit and Talay what they had found in Chalam’s personal archive. They had just waited until after the party to do it. Now the four of them gathered around Mali’s dining room table, staring at Jet’s birth certificate—the one obstacle they might not be able to work around.
“How did you even get this away from Chalam?” Talay asks. “I thought Nail took back everything you found.”
“Only what he could see.” Mali’s smile is grim. “I hid this under the couch cushions and smuggled it out after work.”
“This is why Chalam was so confident at our business meeting all those weeks ago.” Kit’s hands clench. “He knew we were already going to lose.”
“We only lose if we play Chalam’s game his way.” Mali insists. “If we can’t use Jet or his testimony, then we use something else. Something he’s not expecting.”
“It’s not as easy as all that.” Talay digs his fingers into his temples. “Having this birth certificate is one thing. Proving Chalam manipulated the legal system is going to be like trying to catch a comet with a butterfly net.”
“We can still get him for fraud,” Kit points out. “Pepper’s done a masterful financial analysis that not even Chalam’s lawyers would be able to talk their way out of.”
Rome’s chuckle is rueful. “If that’s what you think, then you don’t know my uncle’s legal team. All they have to do is find the right scapegoat. Some other OmniVentures employee will be convicted of fraud, and Chalam will be pitied for employing a thief. The CEO of OmniVentures understands the importance of a paper trail. It’s why he’s so good at talking his way around it.”
Mali blows out a frustrated breath. “There has to be something else we can do! Something Chalam won’t expect us to use.”
Kit looks up. “There is. Actually, my brother Kam came up with the solution. I just don’t know if it’s worked yet.”
Rome’s gaze sharpens. “Are you going to share this ‘solution’ with the rest of us?”
“Luca.” Kit smiles at the looks on everyone else’s faces. “Not what the solution you were expecting?”
“Nightshade’s bartender?” Talay’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “The one who’s dating Jet?”
Kit's smile widens. “Before he was a bartender, he was COO at OmniVentures, Ltd.”
“But,” Mali protests. “OmniVentures never had a COO.”
“It did, for about a year,” Rome confirms. “While I was getting my masters in the UK, Chalam brought in the son of a former family friend as COO. I was on another continent, so I couldn’t do anything about it. By the time I came back, the COO had quit and Chalam had taken full control of the company. I was so hamstrung dealing with the fallout, I didn’t bother to dig into who he was. I always wondered.”
Talay leans forward, excitement in his eyes. “So we use Luca’s insider knowledge. Chalam can’t put a gag order on Luca if he’s not expecting us to use him.”
Before they can figure out the best way to contact Luca, there is a knock at the door. All heads turn toward the unexpected sound.
Mali’s brow furrows. “Who could that be?”
She crosses the room and opens the door. Four expressions change from curiosity to concern when they see who it is.
“Kai--” Rome takes half a step forward, concern etched all across his face.
Mali glances over her shoulder, shaking her head at him. “I’ve got this. You three figure out what our next move is going to be.”
Rome nods, turning back to Kit and Talay. Mali closes the door, so that she and Kai are alone on the doorstep. Kai’s breath is uneven, shoulders hunched, even though the outside temperature is sweltering. There are unshed tears in his eyes.
“Kai?” Mali puts her arms around him. “What’s wrong?”
“I screwed up.” Kai’s voice breaks as he says the words. “I keep screwing up. I told Jet everything. About his adoption, and the car accident, and—now he hates me. He really hates me because I lied to him. Mali, I don’t know what to do.”
Mali’s heart aches as she tightens her arms around her younger brother’s shaking body. She’s spent the past month watching her brothers move tentatively toward a reconciliation, making sure she stayed out of their way enough to let them figure it out on their own. She’d thought Kai’s stubbornness and Jet’s persistence were barriers they could easily overcome, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.
“Come on,” Mali keeps one arm around Kai as she guides him down the street. “Let’s go somewhere to talk. When was the last time you ate?”
Kai shrugs. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“I’m hungry.” Mali realizes that it’s true. “And you probably are too. Besides, you’ll feel better with food inside you. We can eat, and then you can tell me exactly what’s going on.”
◼️◼️◼️◼️
The porridge shop is open twenty-four hours, so Mali and Kai aren’t in danger of being shooed away by wait staff who want to close up and go home. It takes the entire walk to the shop and the ordering of their food for Kai to tell Mali everything that’s on his mind—and everything he kept from Jet. Mali was silent most of the time they ate, though whether is because she was starving or digesting everything that Kai told her is unclear. Kai doesn’t push her—doesn’t even look at her really—just concentrates on his own food.
“What are you going to do?” Mali’s voice breaks into his thoughts as they finally reach the street with Kai’s dorm. “And don’t say you don’t know, because I know you’ve been thinking about it all night.”
“Just because I’m thinking about it,” Kai snaps. “Doesn’t mean I have a solution to my problem.”
At least, not one he likes.
“Maybe if you were honest in the first place,” Mali pushes. “You wouldn’t have to solve this on your own.”
“Because honesty always goes over really well. Hey, what was that for?” Kai rubs his arm as Mali smirks at him.
“That smack was deserved because you’re an idiot.” Mali doesn’t look the least bit sympathetic.
“You could have smacked the arm without the tat--it’s still healing.” Kai rubs his thumb along his tattoo. Guilt flashes across his face, and his smile fades. “I know I should talk to him, but what if he won’t listen? What if he walks away from me again?”
“Jet’s had his pride stung.” Mali explains. “It’s something we Saetangmasawats have in common. When someone upsets us, it’s easy to sulk and get angry. Holding grudges trumps understanding.”
Kai snorts. “You’ve never held a grudge in your life.”
“I did.” Mali toys with her porridge. “Against Jet.”
That brings Kai up short. “But--you were the one who encouraged me to reach out to him. You had his LINE and followed him on IG and even gave him my number.”
“You weren’t the only one who was upset the day Jet left, remember?” Mali points out. “I know you saw him leave, but hearing it after the fact wasn’t any better. When Mother Superior told us we could keep in contact with him, I took the card she gave us and threw it away.”
“I didn’t even take it.” Kai reminds her.
“I know.” Mali smiles at him. “I didn’t want anything to do with him. I didn’t understand why he left without a word. He could have said something--at the very least told us that he was leaving, but--”
“He never did.” Kai nods in understanding.
Mali takes another bite of porridge before continuing. “After a while, I realized that Jet might be feeling the same way I did--angry, isolated, lonely. I wondered if he’d had any idea what was happening, so if he was just told to obey and not ask any questions, and was given no other choice. When I asked Mother Superior, she said Jet had been offered a good home, and the family who adopted him would probably come back for you and I soon.”
“Only they never did.” Kai scowls. “Which makes Mother Superior a liar, too.”
“Or,” Mali counters. “She told a lonely little girl what she needed to hear so she would stop worrying. But I couldn’t stop worrying. I didn’t know anything about these people or what they could be doing to Jet, and not knowing scared me.”
“So what did you do?” Kai has stopped eating altogether, listening to Mali’s story.
“I started looking for him.” Mali replies. “Not in person--there’s too many people for that--but on the internet. I just started typing his name into Google. I found him on IG first, when he posted about being in Italy with the Manirats. I thought from the video that they were the ones who adopted him, but he told me otherwise.”
“Was he looking for us too?” Kai’s expression makes it clear he’d never thought about that. He’d always been sure that Jet ignored them on purpose.
Mali shrugs. “Don’t know. But I messaged him on IG, and he messaged me back. Then I gave him my number, and he gave me his LINE. That’s the only way we communicated for years, texting and video messages. Then my first year at uni, Jet said he would be in Bangkok visiting the Manirats and invited me to come along. So I did. It wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. We just had dinner and talked. After that we kept meeting up and talking and sorting things out, and then he asked me about you.”
“Did he ask you to call him ‘Hia’?” Kai almost chokes on the word, for reasons Mali doesn’t quite understand.
“It just seemed natural. We always called him ‘Hia’ when we were little, so why not keep doing it once we met up again.” Mali is tempted to ask why Kai refuses to address Jet this way, and makes herself stop. That’s one thing her brother needs to figure out on his own.
Kai’s eyes drop back down to his food. “You make it sound so easy.”
“It wasn’t.” Mali reassures him. “It was really hard. But once I met him again, I realized none of it was his fault. He had no control over any of it.”
“Yeah,” Kai is nodding now. “He’s been trying to tell me that. So…what do I do now?”
“Give him a little time.” Mali puts a hand on Kai’s arm. “And then talk to him. Jet’s just as stubborn as we are, but he’s always been a good listener.”
“Not recently.” Kai scoffs.
“You hurt him by keeping things from him.” Mali points out. “Just like he hurt you by staying away so long. Maybe this time you should make the first move. Why don’t you start by calling him? At the very least you can leave him a voicemail.”
“A voicemail saying what?” Kai sighs. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Mali keeps her voice gentle. “Start by being honest. Apologize for keeping him in the dark, and say you want to make things right. Jet might surprise you.”
Kai chuckles. “He does that a lot. But what if he--”
“No,” Mali’s voice is sharp. “No more ‘what-ifs’. If Jet didn’t want to listen to you before, then you give him a reason to. And don’t look at me like that. You know what I mean. You have to stop second-guessing if you want anything to change. This is the first step to making things right.”
Kai hesitates. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You can.” Mali reassures him. “You just have to try. And I know you’re brave enough to do that.”
“Thanks.” Kai’s voice is very small, but there’s a determined look in his eyes.
“What are older sisters for?” Mali gestures to Kai half-empty bowl. “Finish your food. You can call Jet tomorrow morning.”