FLASHBACK

"You can't come back to Beijing, are you crazy?" Gao's voice spoke from outside the estate into the phone. This was when Gao had received Vitya's contact, before he and Grandfather Cheung had gone to meet with the Italians. "Surely the old bastard isn't going to do anything at his age. It would be his undoing. Besides, the Russians are plotting against the family. Grandfather is senile and delusional; we can't let them destroy our family, even if it is a shitshow." Hana's voice came from the other side of the phone call, provoking Gao to sigh and lean against a stone pillar. "I know, I know! It's just...I can't do anything without making him think everyone is out to get him. He's so paranoid." The man sucked through his teeth and looked over as a car pulled into the driveway.

It was Peng driving Lien back from the club. "Hana, I'll call you back. It's Lien, I don't want him knowing about any of this." He said and went to end the call. However, Hana seemed frustrated, "Lien? Is he alright?" She asked, almost begging to know and yearning to hear her younger brother's voice. Gao ignored it and hung up, walking down the steps to wait for Peng to open the door. "Brother! How was your night?" Gao said warmly and opened his arms for a hug; Lien rolled his eyes and stepped out. He pulled out a cigarette and patted his pants looking for a lighter. Gao took this opportunity to light Lien's cigarette for him.

"Could've been better if Peng wasn't cock-blocking the entire night. At this rate, I'll die a virgin." Lien huffed and Peng looked pale in the face; the bodyguard had nothing to say. Gao started laughing and gave a wink to Lien, "You'll have your time, just be careful." He grabbed his brother's shoulder and gave it a squeeze before Lien nodded to go upstairs to the main house.

Peng stepped forward and waited for Lien to be inside; Gao had been watching as well. "Do you have it?" Gao asked Peng and shifted uncomfortably. They had a shared worry about Grandfather Cheung's men eavesdropping on their conversation. There was a brief moment of hesitation until Peng slipped a folded piece of paper to Gao and pulled him close, whispering in his ear. "You can't let Lien know that I got this information. No one can know, especially not your sister. Give it to him when the time is right; your grandfather won't suspect anything if it's Lien who makes contact." Peng's tone was serious, and he spoke no more on it.

Gao looked a bit confused, "Won't suspect what? Our goal is to find out what the Bratva is planning—not endanger my brother..." He was interrupted by Peng grabbing Gao's shirt tightly. "Don't you understand? Your grandfather is too dangerous." Peng had wild eyes and sweat rolling down his temple; he let go when the door to the main house opened again. Butler Yu was standing with his hands behind his back, "Master Gao, your grandfather is expecting you in the parlor. Is everything alright?" The voice had startled both Peng and Gao, who immediately stepped away from one another.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Vitya?" Lien called out as he entered the remote house from the outside that was covered in a blanket of snow. He wore a puff jacket and had generally looked better than when he first arrived from Butterfly Garden. Something about the snow and the cool air away from the politics and power struggles of the Triad made him feel like he could pave his own path again. However, when he had walked in he noticed that Vitya was talking to someone that he couldn't see. "Vitya, I'm back." Lien said softly, as though he was the other's lover and as he took off the puffer jacket he saw another man coming through the threshold of the door. The one Vitya had been talking to was a face that Lien thought he'd never have to see ever again.

"I have a surprise for you, kotenok." Vitya's calculated voice sounded coldly familiar as he stepped to the side. Lien's facial expression dropped and his heart sank into his chest. He felt like he was moments away from throwing up, a sense of dread and pain running through his body. "Get...get him away from me." Lien was shaking violently as the man Vitya was speaking to had turned to face Lien, a sickly grin across his face.

"So it's your birthday today?" The man said and crossed his arms. Lien backed away towards the wall and reaching for anything behind himself that he could use as a weapon or buffer. "Come on, we know each other too well for you to be all shy. What're you twenty today? I would've never guess. Are you ready for your gift?" The man started approaching and Vitya watched from the kitchen with his hand on his chin, observing. Lien he managed to grab something sturdy behind himself, not knowing what it was because he was too afraid to look away from that man approaching him. He had gotten about three feet away from Lien until the younger man swung with all his might in a slashing motion.

The item in his hand was a brush clumped with blonde hair and it barely grazed the man in front of Lien. It was Feng.

In the heated moment, Vitya had continued watching and didn't intervene as Feng shoved Lien up against the wall and was huffing against the younger male's neck. "I missed you. Dirty whore, you fight but you want it. Don't you?" Feng whispered those terrible words that Lien started yelling out for Vitya in pleading cries. Sasha had come from the bedroom down the hall behind the kitchen, Vitya lifting his arm and stopping him from intervening, too.

"Don't." Vitya ordered and Sasha started to get angry. To what end would Lien be punished for no good reason?

Lien was starting to realize that Vitya wasn't there to help him and that Sasha was too far in to break free. He had started crying and pushed Feng off of himself, causing the older man to stumble and trip on the folded up corner of the rug, landing on his back and chuckling. "Looks like he needs to go back! Hasn't graduated to butterfly yet!" Feng laughed so hard that he coughed. Lien clenched his jaw and looked at the coffee table and grabbed a marble sculpture in the shape of a woman's torso off the coffee table and he got on top and straddled Feng.

Vitya's eyes widened at what he was witnessing, a break in his cold demeanor that was rarely seen and he almost started to smile when Lien had lifted both hands up and began thrashing the sculpture down on Feng's face, breaking the man's nose causing blood to spew out onto the carpet. "Fuck! Get your bitch, he's gone fucking insane." Feng struggled to get up and shielded his face with his forearm, Lien didn't stop though. He kept smashing down and bruised up Feng's arm so bad that made had to take it away and his face continued to get beaten in.

The fear Lien had had turned into a primal rage as he screamed and beat Feng's face harder and harder even as the blood splattered into the whites of his eyes, across his face, and soaked under his fingernails. He hadn't realized that Feng's face had completely collapsed into itself and the rug underneath could be seen through the hole Lien left. He became over exerted and threw the sculpture to the side and got to his feet, holding onto his knees as he held his stomach. Hyperventilating and feeling disoriented as he heard distant...snickering?

The Russian was beginning to crack and was laughing, clapping his hands together. "Bravo, kotenok. I didn't know you had it in you." Vitya was immensely amused and Sasha was standing in complete shock. It was an utter fall from grace, Lien had been reduced to a tormented animal that finally had bitten back. What followed after was perplexing to Sasha who watched as Vitya approached Lien and grabbed his bloodied chin.

"Did you like your birthday gift, kotenok?" Vitya asked and Lien who was shaking violently had suddenly calmed down, moving forward and falling against the Russian's chest. Vitya comforted him and kissed the crown of his head, "Yes, my god. Thank you." Lien spoke barely above a whisper and Vitya looked over his shoulder to Sasha.

"Then you're ready, let's get you cleaned up." Vitya would carefully bring Lien under his arm and brought him towards the bathroom and let him go in first before Vitya stood in front of Sasha and smirked. "That is what loyalty looks like, perhaps you should learn my dear." He said sharply and his smile dropped, "Call my men to ready the transport and if you're getting any ideas from that, you'll never get the chance to think them again." Vitya winked and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind himself as the sound of a bathtub filling up and muffled exchanges of words acted as the solemn record playing in the house.

Sasha held his composure until he knew he was alone, turning quickly and vomited into the sink. Shakily wiping the bile from his chin he had grabbed the phone and dialed the appropriate number, "Yes, prepare for our departure."