“So what did you do?”
“I hid them just outside the window, near the fire escape. That way if it was a setup, I could have told the cops that they weren’t mine and someone else left them on the fire escape. They weren’t in my apartment. I didn’t want anything to do with them.”
“Why didn’t you throw them out?”
Ashamed of his past, Jonathon shrugged. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. This stuff was so clean, and it would have been worth a lot of money. I thought I was strong enough to resist it. I thought—”
“So you took the hit.”
“I’m sorry, Bill,” Jonathon’s forehead dropped into his right hand, the tears welling in his eyes again. “I didn’t want to do it. I really didn’t want it. I tried my hardest to get through the night, and I thought that if I just got through the night, then I could throw them away in the morning. I tried to make it… I really tried. But I couldn’t… The drugs were screaming at me. I couldn’t resist it.”
Addiction was the strongest calling Jonathon’s mind had ever experienced. It drenched everything with its need for a hit, a need to get high again.
It was something their father never understood. He never understood the need for his son to get high. He had spent his life working hard and avoiding his emotions; his only drug was drinking three beers on a Sunday, mostly watching his loved football team.
Emotions will make you weak, he repeated to his boys over and over again as they grew up. He was driven by discipline, and he expected everyone around them to be the same.
“Have you seen the guy before?”
“Never.”
“You don’t think he lives in the building?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve seen most of the people around here, and he looked too well-dressed to live in Skid Row. He had a nice watch, nice skin, and a nice suit on. He certainly wasn’t what you’d expect to live around here.”
“Did you get a name?”
“Said his name was Kevin.”
“Kevin?” Harvey’s mouth dropped open.
“That’s what he said. He was a short Chinese guy with a long face, glasses, well-dressed, black hair, late-forties, I guess. That’s all I know. That’s the truth.”
“Bill?” Ella looked up at her brother leaning against the wall. “Do you know someone like that?”
Harvey nodded, furious that his struggling brother had been pulled into his mess. He placed his coffee mug on the table, fists clenched, and began to move towards the door.
“Bill?” Ella asked again.
“I have to go.”
“To do what?”
“Something I should have done a long time ago.”
Chapter 14
Harvey’s hand slammed against the door, echoing the sound through the house.
Yin Sun answered the knock, aged well beyond her years. She had warm and kind eyes, but her hair was frazzled, and her eyes had shed too many tears. She wasn’t always this way. Her life wasn’t always lived in a daze. Once, she was a woman full of endless love, a caring soul with time for anyone, but life was never the same after losing her only granddaughter.
Her granddaughter’s sudden disappearance tore her heart out. The kidnapping and possible murder of Amy Wu tore the soul from this loving grandmother.
Even with the benefit of five years passing, that pain had not lessened. The tears that she shed each night were still as painful as the ones she first cried half a decade ago.
She didn’t want this life, she never dreamt that she would live in a competitive L.A. suburb, but her son became addicted to the money and success that came with being notorious. After Kevin’s first wife, Amy’s mother, died in a car accident, Yin was flown to Los Angeles to help Kevin raise his young daughter.
Only one year later, Kevin married Eva, and Yin thought that she would have someone to help with the home duties. But Eva wanted nothing to do with Amy, the only remaining memory of Kevin’s first wife, and left all the parenting duties to Yin.
Yin watched on as, over time, Eva became more and more involved Kevin’s affairs; his drug-dealing, his brothels, his money laundering. She watched on in sadness as Eva became more and more distant, only ever arguing with the young Amy.
It was never the life that Yin wanted.
All she ever wanted to be was a good family matriarch. That was her calling. Her life.
Despite the crime that occurred around them, she spent her days protecting her granddaughter from the dangers of the world, teaching her how to become a confident woman, showing her how to deal with all that life could throw at them. They cooked together, laughed together, and grew together.
Her favorite memories of the time they had together were the times they spent in the kitchen. Even at a young age, Amy had shared her grandmother’s love of cooking. They spent hours together baking, tasting, and cooking. Yin Sun’s dream was to pass her secret family recipes onto her daughter and granddaughter and still be cooking together at family functions thirty years into the future.
But in one quick blink of the eye, one moment of terror, her world came crashing down.
All her hopes and dreams of the future disappeared.
“Where’s Kevin?” Harvey hovered over the woman.
She didn’t answer, turning to the kitchen, leaving the door ajar. Taking his liberty, Harvey stepped inside the large, soulless mansion in the San Gabriel Valley, onto the white marble floor of the spacious, bleak foyer.
With a coffee cup in his hand, Kevin Wu stepped out into the foyer. Despite being past lunchtime, he was still dressed in unpleasant red and yellow striped pajamas. It seemed that no amount of money could buy good taste.
“I was wondering when you would come here. I expected you a week ago.”
The rage built inside Harvey until it was overflowing, every muscle in his body tightened. In a moment of raw intensity, the normally calm Bill Harvey cracked. With one swift motion, he slammed the man against the wall, his forearm pressing into the short man’s neck, the coffee cup falling to the floor.
“You think you can play me, Wu? I’m the best player in the whole game.” The bone of Harvey’s forearm pushed hard into Kevin’s windpipe.
“And yet, here you are, threatened by me.” An air of infallible confidence leaked off Kevin. He was grinning as Harvey pressed his arm deeper into his neck. “Go on. Do it, Harvey. Strangle me.”
Harvey growled, pressing tighter.
“Do it, Harvey. Go on.”
With restraint, Harvey released the pressure on Kevin’s neck, but his left hand still gripped the edge of his pajama top.
“I should pound you into the ground, Wu. Bringing my brother into this mess was low, even for you.”
Kevin grinned.
He got a kick from being the most cunning person in a room. During his school days in Hong Kong, despite all the time he spent studying, he was never the smartest, never the strongest, never the most popular.
But what he had was a distinct lack of morals.
Quickly, he established himself as the man that no one should cross. He would steal other students’ lunches, not to eat, but to punish them for speaking poorly about him. As he grew older, he would slash the tires of anyone who looked at him sideways. If someone crossed him, they had to know he would get his revenge. Not where, or when, but they always knew he was coming at them—often when they least expected it.
At the age of eighteen, he moved to Los Angeles to study at UCLA, and that confidence grew as he began to gather a crew of people who were willing to follow him, people who were willing to be his muscle, and he made his name setting up illegal brothels throughout Downtown and East L.A. He would fly young women in from Hong Kong, renting them out for anyone willing to pay. Through his seedy underworld connections, he began to meet drug dealers, and his little suburban empire began to grow. Before long, he had five brothels, and a nice drug import business on the side.
But with crime came trouble.
&nbs
p; And that’s where his lack of morals really shone through.
“Your brother’s addiction was easy to find out about.” Kevin’s voice was smug. “And I didn’t do anything to your brother. He did it to himself. He made the decision to take the drugs.”
Harvey’s forearm pressed back into Kevin’s neck. “You gave him the drugs.”
“Oh my, Harvey. I really thought it would be harder to get under your skin. I really thought I would have to try so much harder to make you angry. But now I know your trigger. And let me guess, hurting that nice little secretary of yours would make you even more furious.”
The forearm pressed tighter still into his neck, and the smile disappeared. Kevin struggled to take each breath, gasping as Harvey’s thick forearm pressed deeper. He felt his face beginning to go red, and his calm smugness disappeared.
He began to squirm. Exactly what Bill Harvey wanted.
Struggling, Kevin brought his hands to Harvey’s forearms, trying to force him back. But the lawyer was too strong, too powerful for Kevin’s skinny little arms. His chin tried to force back the forearm, but it was no use.
He gasped.
Not much air left.
Tears began to fill his eyes.
Panic began to set in.
He tried to knee his attacker, but Harvey didn’t even flinch. Adrenaline and fury had engulfed him.
Just when Kevin felt he was about to pass out, Harvey released his forearm, and Kevin fell to the floor, gasping for life. Crouched over, he wheezed deep breaths, holding his neck, trying to suck oxygen back into his lungs.
“I’m not the man you want to make angry,” Harvey growled into his ear, leaning over his foe.
Kevin coughed loudly, desperately sucking in breaths.
He didn’t respond, finally moving back to sit against the wall, now with some breath back in his lungs. Leaning against the wall, still sitting on the ground, he began to chuckle.
“You think this is funny?”
“It’s much too easy.” Kevin grinned, happy to have infuriated his former lawyer. “When we get to court, I’m going to push all your buttons and watch you explode in a desperate mess. Now that is going to be fun. I’ll even make sure it’s on video so I can watch you explode over and over again. I might even put it on YouTube.”
Elegant, sophisticated, and conceited, Kevin Wu wasn’t a typical type of criminal.
At fifty years old, he looked fit, but that came with running three miles every evening. That was his anchor—the way he continued to function even after everything that had happened to him and his family.
“You don’t have a case, Kevin. They’ll throw this case out before it even makes it to court.”
“Not true.” He rested his head against the wall, hands on his knees. “I know I’ve got a case. I have thirty witnesses willing to testify to the change in my behavior after those hypnotherapy sessions. I have brain scans that show a change in my patterns. You know I have a case; otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. And I can tell that you’re threatened by this case. I can see it in your eyes. You’re running scared.”
“What do you want from me?”
“It’s all very simple. All I want is all your money.”
“I don’t have that much. Certainly not enough to make this case worthwhile.”
“Don’t lie to me, Harvey. I’ve seen your property portfolio. Ten homes, three apartments, and two offices in Downtown. And I’m not even talking about your shareholdings. You have more than enough to make it worthwhile, and you’re not the only money I’m chasing. Your wealth will be a nice tidy sum, and it’ll keep people off my back.”
“There are easier ways to get money.”
“I’ve tried those ways, but when you have the LAPD watching your every step, you have to do things legitimately. That’s not my forte.” He ran his hand through his hair. “And this is revenge for refusing to defend me a second time.”
“I refused to defend you a second time because you’re filth and I wanted nothing to do with you.”
“Perhaps.” Kevin shrugged. “But this is called karma. And it’s coming for you.”
“I know you’re preparing for what’s coming for you.” Harvey growled, leaning down onto one knee, closing the distance between them again, his nose almost pressing into Kevin’s. “This is a pre-emptive strike.”
“C’mon now.” He laughed. “I have nothing to prepare for. I’m an innocent man. I always have been.”
“You’re not innocent. You’re dirty, low, and rotten. You’re scum, Wu.”
“Even if the case is thrown out, your reputation will be destroyed.” Kevin smiled, moving to Harvey’s side, and standing up with an elegant sway. He flattened out his pajamas again. “Even if we don’t get anywhere with this case, people will doubt your abilities based on what’s reported in the media. You know that this case will be the end of your career as you know it.”
“You’ll be in prison before then.” Harvey’s fist clenched, ready to strike. “For the murder of Tiffany Lee.”
“Who said that she was even dead?” Kevin laughed.
“The person that’s willing to testify against you.”
“Who would possibly be brave enough to do that?”
“Terrance Marshall.”
Kevin didn’t respond.
That was a win for Harvey. From Kevin’s reaction, he could see that Terrance might be the key to his attack.
“And I remember how you were a meticulous note-taker. You would have recorded everything, including all of your brothel operations. The cops may not have found it, but they have rules.” Harvey stepped closer. “I don’t.”
Kevin’s eyebrows popped up. “Clever. Very clever, Harvey. But it’s a pity that those notes were burned a long time ago.”
“I doubt that. You have a fear of fire—that was the first thing we discussed in the hypnotherapy sessions. You didn’t want to change that. You were comfortable with your fear.”
“Again, that’s very clever. I can see that you’re going to be quite the formidable opponent.” He waved his finger in the air, surprised by the statements. He enjoyed going toe-to-toe intellectually with bright people. “But unfortunately, it’s not applicable to this situation. I had someone else burn those notes for me.”
“Who?”
“I’m not telling you that.” Kevin shook his head, the smile still stretched across his face. “Now, tell me, how’s your wife? Still dead?”
“Don’t you dare mention her.” His teeth ground together. “You mention her again and I’ll make sure you won’t talk for a month.”
“Cancer is never a nice way to go.” He threw his hands up in surrender. “Now tell me, what are you going to do next? Snap your fingers so that I am under your hypnotic control again? Guide me to do things I don’t want to do?”
“You know that hypnotherapy doesn’t work like that. You know that I couldn’t possibly have that level of control over you.”
“We’ll see what the court thinks about that. We’ll let them make a decision based on the facts.” He moved backward from Harvey’s towering presence. “What could you possibly hope to achieve by coming here?”
“Withdraw the case.”
“Or what?”
“Or you’ll find out how dangerous I can be.”
“Ha! Dangerous? I don’t think so. You can’t threaten me.” Kevin laughed. “I’m untouchable. You can’t—”
One quick jab of Harvey’s left fist sent Kevin flying to the floor, clutching his chin.
“You can’t hit me!”
“I didn’t.” Harvey stepped over his opponent. “But if you don’t withdraw this case, then I will hurt you. Badly.”
“Nobody can hurt me!” Kevin snapped back, holding his jaw, feeling the slight trickle of blood come down his chin. “Nothing can touch me after what I’ve been through! Not after losing my daughter. Not after I lost my Amy. Nobody can hurt me.”
“Then I guess we’re going to find out how much pain you can tak
e.” Harvey stepped away from the criminal, moving towards the front door. “And I really hope it’s a lot.”
Chapter 15
She swung left.
Then right.
Then left again.
She read about boxing in one of the books that he brought her, how the boys in the story trained to beat a towering tyrant. In the book, they trained by throwing combinations at the shadows, practicing their moved with agile ease.
For the last hour, that was all she had been doing.
She skipped around the basement, pretending to hit the shadows. She tried to hit the walls first, but her small hands couldn’t take the impact against the concrete.
Fists next to her chin, arms outstretched with each punch, she bounced around the room until her shoulders were tired. If she was not going to break free, then she needed to be able to fight back. She was willing to defend herself, willing to do what it took to save her soul.
As she was prancing around the room, making whooshing noises with each punch, she heard something outside in the yard.
She froze in her stance, careful not to make another sound.
Despite her increased heart-rate, she was doing her best not to puff out any extra oxygen.
Moving with the lightness of a skinny teen, she tiptoed to the door, curious about what was making the strange sound. Although she sensed the danger, she couldn’t resist knowing what was out there. She had never been able to resist the pull of curiosity.
“Curiosity may have killed the cat.” She whispered, remembering what she read in one of the books. “But it also discovered penicillin.”
Peering out the gap in the basement door, she saw him, sitting on a rock, slumped forward.
Wondering if that was where the noise was coming from, she moved sideways, looking for a better angle, careful not to bump anything.
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