Red Roulette By Shum Desmond-pdfread.net

INTRODUCTION
ON SEPTEMBER 5, 2017, WHITNEY DUAN, age fty, disappeared from the streets of
Beijing. She was last seen the day before in her sprawling o ce at Genesis
Beijing, a development project she and I had built worth more than $2.5 billion.
There, cocooned in a work space that visitors reached after running a gauntlet of
security guards, meticulously landscaped gardens, and a dozen varieties of Italian
marble, Whitney had masterminded real estate projects worth billions more.
And now suddenly she was gone.
How had that happened? And who is Whitney Duan?
Whitney Duan was my wife and business partner for more than a decade. By
that point, we were divorced, but for many years we’d been close collaborators
and con dants and together had enjoyed the wildest of rides. We’d achieved our
shared dream of doing great things in China for China. Coming from poverty,
we’d been seized with a desire to make something of our lives. We were awed by
our own success.
We’d built one of the biggest logistical hubs in the world at the Beijing
Capital International Airport. We’d conceived and constructed the swankiest
hotel and business center in China’s capital—located on a choice swath of real
estate near the city’s bustling heart. We’d done stock deals that netted us
hundreds of millions of dollars. We’d operated at the center of power in China,
cultivating premiers, high-ranking members of the Chinese Communist Party,
and their families. We’d counseled the up-and-coming o cials who had all of
China in their grasp. We’d pushed for social and political changes to make China
a better place. By doing well, we believed we could do good. We’d done the math;
our net wealth totaled in the billions.