"Raymond, Mandy is here," Nancy called out from the doorway to his office.

Raymond looked up from his notes to see Mandy walking into his office.  "I thought we were meeting at the restaurant," he said eyeing the bags she dropped on the floor beside his desk.  "Looks like you two went on a shopping spree."

"Yes, Auntie and I were shopping in the area and decided to pay you a visit."  She sat down and leaned forward across his desk when a thought seized her.  "You don't mind do you?" she asked earnestly about her unannounced arrival.

Raymond shook his head absently and resumed his reading of his notes.  Feeling Mandy's eyes on him he looked up, "What is it?"

Having been caught staring at him, Mandy quickly averted her eyes and muttered, "Uh-nothing."  Things between them haven't progressed since that night where they agreed at another chance together.  Raymond was always polite and invited her out to dinner every night but to Mandy, it seemed more like a duty on his part rather than actually wanting to spend time with her.  She had voiced her fears to Gigi, and Gigi was quick to denounce them.  In her own theory, Gigi claims that Raymond needed time to adjust to her again, especially after what happened with Charmaine.  It would take time for him to learn to trust and love another woman, even Mandy, whom he had dated before.  With hope lurking, Mandy vowed to wait patiently for that day when Raymond would love her wholeheartedly and Charmaine put to the past for good.

Knowing that he won't be able to get any work done while Mandy was here, Raymond closed his file with a sigh and asked, "Where's my mom?"

"She went to the bathroom," Mandy answered just as Gigi stepped into the room.

"Hi son," Gigi greeted zealously.  "I hope you don't mind us dropping by for a short visit before dinner."

"Of course not," Raymond responded with a warm smile.  Gigi had fully recovered from her illness and the surgery.  She was back to her usual domineering, no nonsense, and intrusive self, and whereas Raymond used to find it annoying, he now welcomed it.

Gigi scanned the piles of files on Raymond's desk and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

"Not yet.  I need to make some notes before I can leave."  Raymond placed his hand on top of the file he had been reading and said, "Go to the restaurant first and order.  I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

After they left, Raymond re-opened the file he had been reading before the interruption but couldn't seem to concentrate on it.  His mind kept wandering to Charmaine.  It's been over two weeks since he last saw her.  He can't help the feeling that something had happened to her and there was no way he would ever know unless he confronted Ben Wong.  He had thought about going directly to Ben's house and demanding to see Charmaine but Ben was a cunning person and the chances of him letting Raymond see Charmaine was zero.  Also of importance is that Ben Wong was a man of money and power.  He knew how to manipulate the legal system and one wrong move Raymond could find himself in a whole lot of mess.

"Raymond," Michael said from the door as he stepped in.  "We just received this from the informant."

Raymond reached for the file and scanned the document.  It was some sort of invoice.  There was no company name on it, just some random numbers and monetary values.  Clipped to the invoice were pictures of Ben Wong and Wayne Lai.  "This is…"

"My informant took these.  He also overheard them discussing another deal."

"Does he know the date?" Raymond asked fervently.

Michael shook his head, "No exact date.  That's why I want you to keep an eye on Ben Wong and arrest him the first chance you get."

Raymond jumped from his seat, "Yes Sir!"

--------------------------------------------

Kenneth walked into the house and was met by the maid.  "Where is Charmaine?" he asked eagerly.

The young maid inclined her head up the stairs and said meekly, "She's in her room."  Leaning towards Kenneth, she added in a whisper, "Master Ben is not home."

That was good news.  Kenneth headed up the stairs and was soon in front of Charmaine's bedroom door.  He gave it a knock and waited for her response.  "Charmaine?"  Through the door he heard muffled movements and then the door was opened.  The sight before him ate at his guilt.  Charmaine looked pale, fragile and scared.  Petrified would be the more appropriate word he though angrily.  "How are you doing?"

Charmaine shrugged nonchalantly but tears immediately sprang to her eyes.  "I'm doing well for someone held against her will," she said forlornly.

Kenneth knew all about Ben's blackmail scheme and had argued with him over the subject on more than one occasion since learning of it through Charmaine.  However, he was unable to persuade Ben to simply release Charmaine.  That Ben was unwilling to do.  The subject had also caused a strain in the brother's relationship.  A first for the two who have always looked out for each other, especially for Kenneth, who looked up to Ben as a role model.  Ben was far from any role model at this moment.  In fact, what Ben was doing was vicious and evil, not to mention illegal.  Yet, Kenneth cannot bring himself to go against his brother.  Looking at Charmaine, guilt continued to eat at him as he asked tautly, "Do you want to go out and grab some dinner with me?"

"Your brother wouldn't like that," she told him in a shaky whisper.  "H-He doesn't like me going out of the house without him."

"That Ben!" Kenneth growled.

"What about me?" Ben drawled silkily from the doorway, his eyes trained on Charmaine.  Charmaine took an involuntarily step back in fright.

Kenneth saw it and renewed anger coursed through his body.  "Ben, stop all this now!" he bit out as he advanced towards Ben.  "Can't you see what you're doing to Charmaine?  You're hurting her!"

Ben brushed past Kenneth to stand before Charmaine.  He touched a finger to her cheek and asked tenderly, "Am I hurting you?"

Charmaine saw the warning in his eyes and instantly shook her head.  "N-No."

Ben smiled at her response and dropped a loving kiss on her forehead before turning to face Kenneth.  In an affectionate voice he said with humor, "I know that little brothers are often pests and like to interfere in their older brothers' lives but I'm going to ask you not to interfere with mine's.  And please don't make me repeat myself."

Kenneth knew that Ben was issuing a threat at him.  He glanced over at Charmaine and the fear in her was still visible.  Quelling his own mounting fear at what Ben has become, Kenneth nodded dully and replied in a low voice, "I'll leave now."

"Wait."  Ben patted Kenneth's shoulder and said, "I'm taking Charmaine out to eat and you're invited to join us."

Kenneth's eyes flicked to Charmaine and he saw the silent pleading on her face.  "Sure," he said.

"Good."  Ben placed his arm around Kenneth's shoulders and dragged him to where Charmaine was still standing.  Throwing his other arm around Charmaine's shoulders, Ben said, "It's been a while since I had dinner with the two people I love most.  This will be a great evening."

------------------------------------------

Raymond turned off the ignition and pulled his key out.  He had just gotten out of his car when he heard someone calling his name.  He turned towards the voice to see Ben Wong walking towards him with a cocky grin on his hateful face.  But Raymond's attention was quickly diverted to Charmaine, who stumbled slightly behind Ben, her face pale and hollow, almost deathlike.

"Well Lam Sir, we meet again," Ben purred stopping directly in front of Raymond.  "What a small world."