Our Violent Ends

Juliette attends a meeting for the Scarlet inner circle. She presents Paul’s research and proposes the Scarlet Gang create a vaccine and give it to the whole city for free, arguing it is in their best interest; the “new Larkspur” loses all power if everyone is immune to the “madness.” Tyler counters that they should only give it to the Scarlet Gang for free and charge everyone else. Tensions mount, and Lady Cai interrupts, saying they should table the discussion until after the vaccine is made. Tyler taunts her in French so the rest of the Scarlets can’t understand. He implies that he suspects that Juliette was not actually “tricking” Roma when they worked together. The only reason he is unsure is because he believes Marshall is dead. If the truth comes out, Juliette knows she will lose her role as heir of the Scarlet Gang to Tyler. She’s afraid of his power and tired of the pointless blood feud.

Roma trains Alisa in self-defense. She gets frustrated and grumbles that Juliette probably learned how to fight quickly. Roma freezes and tells Alisa she shouldn’t want to be like Juliette in any way. He leaves her, wishing he had fewer reminders of Juliette. Dimitri intercepts Roma, telling him that Lord Montagov wants to speak to him. Roma’s recent turn to extreme violence has secured his place as heir of the White Flowers, and he tells Dimitri his father can wait.

Juliette and Kathleen map labor strikes, trying to predict where the next will occur. Juliette thinks back to the protest the day she betrayed Roma and wonders if things could have gone differently but dismisses the idea. Tyler would have killed her if she’d shown any allegiance to Roma. Lady Cai enters and encourages Juliette to get a new Chinese qipao to wear instead of the Western-style dresses Juliette prefers. When Juliette and Kathleen both decline, Lady Cai departs, leaving Juliette’s door open so she can hear an argument from Lord Cai’s office. A Nationalist officer yells that Lord Cai is supposed to keep order in Shanghai and instructs him not to pay the blackmailer. Lord Cai agrees but reminds the Nationalist that this means there will be an attack.

Lord Cai tells Juliette that the latest demand is for military weapons, not money. They speculate on the blackmailer’s identity but come up empty. Juliette tells her father to send her to the French Concession, where the letters originate, but Lord Cai produces photographs of the latest attack and says he won’t send his daughter into a scene as disturbingly violent and unknown as this one. Juliette insists, and Lord Cai says he will think about it. Juliette leaves her father’s office and encounters a maid cleaning up mud and a pink petal. Juliette recognizes the petal—it’s from flowers outside the Montagov residence—and remembers that, months prior, her father claimed there was a spy in the household. The maid says she has been finding petals for months.

Kathleen attends a Communist meeting to keep up her connections and thinks about how infrequently she sees Rosalind. She muses about her father’s mounting insistence that they move to the countryside. She also wonders what he would do if she called herself “Celia,” her chosen name when she transitioned, instead of “Kathleen,” her dead sister’s name that her father instructed her to adopt if she wished him to accept her as a woman. She worries more about Rosalind, though, who socializes with the French, “[playing] diplomat.” Kathleen resolves not to do what her father wants, “Filial piety be damned” (71). After all, she is loyal to Juliette, who has far more power than Kathleen’s father. As the meeting goes on, Kathleen spots Dimitri in the crowd and wonders what he is doing there.

Juliette and her father are driving to a location Lord Cai won’t disclose. To her shock, they’re meeting Lord Montagov and Roma. The two gang patriarchs are calm, but Juliette and Roma pull weapons on each other. Juliette feels numb; this enmity is her fault. Lord Montagov proposes that Roma and Juliette work together to discover the blackmailer. Lord Cai agrees, and Juliette realizes she has no choice but to give in. If she protests, she will have to reveal her history with Roma to her father. Privately, Roma reveals that this plan was sprung on him as well, and he is supposed to secretly regain Juliette’s trust and spy on her. As far as Roma knows, Lord Montagov doesn’t know that Juliette has already done this. Roma says that Lord Cai only agreed because the White Flower spy in the Scarlet Gang talked him into it. Roma and Juliette agree to go along with their fathers’ plan but are both wary. Juliette insists on the arrangement being public so Tyler can’t usurp her by spreading the rumor that she and Roma are lovers. Though he agrees to the plan, Roma reminds Juliette that he hasn’t forgotten his revenge.

As Juliette and Lord Cai leave, Juliette reminds her father they can still use the opportunity to ambush Lord Montagov, but Lord Cai brushes her off, treating the blood feud as less important than other concerns. He tells Juliette to keep the White Flowers distracted but doesn’t reveal from what.

Juliette is sneaking about her house at night when she notes that Rosalind is awake. Rosalind has a list of French names (revealed in Chapter 35 to be the five monsters). Juliette says Kathleen is worried about Rosalind interacting with foreigners, but Rosalind brushes off this concern; the foreigners don’t want to hurt the Shanghainese themselves but want to sow discord so the different Shanghainese factions harm each other. The real danger in Shanghai, Rosalind says, is politics. Juliette pivots to discussing Rosalind’s new necklace (revealed in Chapter 35 to be from Dimitri, Rosalind’s lover). She’s worried it is a sign that Rosalind plans to run, as jewelry is portable wealth, but Rosalind says she isn’t and insists there’s nowhere she could go in any case. Juliette thinks of all the places she has considered going herself.

Juliette leaves to go to the safe house where Marshall is hiding. Marshall is bored and lonely but otherwise in good condition, and he and Juliette banter playfully until Juliette realizes that Marshall has gone outside. He reveals that he is the vigilante protecting Benedikt and stopping other feud business before it turns fatal when he stumbles across it. Juliette wants to scold him but finds she can’t—it’s her fault Marshall is stuck here. Marshall promises nobody will see him, but Juliette remains anxious.

Roma meets with Dimitri and Lord Montagov. Lord Montagov instructs Roma to track the Scarlets’ progress with the blackmailer and vaccine and keep an eye out for clients the White Flowers wish to poach from them. Dimitri tries to take credit for this information, but Roma rebuffs him. Dimitri accuses Roma of being hostile to White Flowers and welcoming to Scarlets. Roma protests, saying he is only working with Juliette until he can kill her, and Dimitri asks why he hasn’t done so already. Roma storms off, conflicted. He wants to believe that Juliette is up to something, but killing Marshall is unforgivable. He vows to be as bloody and ruthless as Juliette has been, regardless of how badly it hurts him.

Unionized workers march in protest of both foreign and gangster rule, despite threats of beheading for causing civil unrest. Violence seems imminent between workers and police when the monster appears. Everyone scatters, though the monster does nothing. This time, the monster has stopped the violence.