January 1927

The New Year in Shanghai is celebratory since the “madness” has disappeared. Juliette Cai and her cousin, Kathleen Lang, are at the movie theater, spying on a merchant. Suddenly, Juliette spots Roma Montagov, the heir to the White Flowers. It’s the first time she’s seen him since the events at the end of These Violent Delights. In the meantime, the blood feud between the White Flowers and the Scarlet Gang has grown more active, with the Scarlet Gang seeking retribution for Roma shooting at Tyler Cai, Juliette’s cousin, and the White Flowers retaliating for Juliette’s apparent murder of Marshall Seo, whose survival is still secret. The gangs’ war is made tenser by the political forces of the Nationalists and Communists, who challenge the rule the gangs have long held over Shanghai.

Kathleen asks Juliette what happened between her and Roma, but Juliette won’t answer. Juliette thinks about how Roma has changed from a man who avoided violence to one who has embraced it. She blames herself for telling Roma everything between them was a lie, which, unbeknownst to Roma, she only did to protect him.

Juliette spots an assassin aim at the merchant but shoots him in the shoulder before he can fire his pistol.