“Yeah, he's Mother fuckin' Teresa,” she shuddered and coughed while she spoke.
“He cares about you. He's just ... just a fuck up. A screwed up guy who did the wrong thing to try to make something else right.”
Tori thought about those words. Landon had basically said similar things about himself, the whole time. Told her he would fuck up, warned her that he would try to ruin it.
Jesus, I had no idea how spectacularly he would accomplish it, though.
“I wanna go home,” she whispered. “I ... I barely have anything. They took everything, they must have gone into my tent after they took me. They showed me my passport, my wallet, my jewelry. How do I get home?”
“We'll think of something, but for now, we've got a lot of problems to deal with,” he sighed, and he finally pulled away from her. When the car started rolling forward again, she leaned back in her seat.
“Are we going to Landon?” she asked, suddenly nervous. She didn't want to see him, didn't know what she'd do in his presence.
“No, he's too dangerous to be around while the gang is looking for him.”
“Can you get us plane tickets home?”
“No,” Velez shook his head. “Landon wired the money and I thought it would be more than enough, but I got into a bidding war with some oil magnate fucker from Brazil, he drove your price way up. I barely got the money out before my accounts were frozen.”
“Frozen?”
“Yeah. This little act of heroism is probably going to cost me my life,” he chuckled. “I just fucked over two cartels to save you.”
“Oh god,” she groaned, rubbing her hands over her face.
“I'm kidding. Kind of. Not really. But they won't get me. I'll turn myself into the U.S., try to strike a deal. Give up some names, something, get a shorter sentence. I was getting tired of this life, anyway,” he assured her.
“I'm tired of it, too,” she whispered, blinking back tears as she stared out into the darkness.
“It'll be over soon. You got any friends you can call?” he asked, then he patted the front of his jacket. “There's a cell phone in there. It's a shitty burner phone, but you should be able to get an international operator, call collect or something.”
Tori pulled out the phone and stared at it. Wondered who she should call. God, she was so embarrassed. So ashamed. This sort of stuff happened to other people, not her. Her mother would lose her mind. Katya would freak out. Who else could she call? Who else's phone number did she have memorized?
She took a deep breath and knew what she had to do.
She dialed the numbers and as she listened to the operator explain to the receiver that he had a collect call from Thailand, tears started running down her face.
“Hey!” a voice so dear and familiar picked up at the other end of the line. She had to put a hand over her mouth to hold in a sob. “I had no idea you were all the way over there, what the hell have you been doing? You said you were -”
“Liam,” she cut off Landon's twin, her voice hoarse and raw. “I need you to be quiet, okay?”
“Uh huh.”
“And I need you to just listen. This is serious. No jokes.”
“Uh huh ...”
She took another deep breath, and then she told him.
She told Liam everything.
21
Landon smiled to himself. He hadn't done any drugs in almost a week. Hadn't had a drop of alcohol in even longer. He couldn't remember the last time he'd spent so much time sober.
So it fucking figured that when he'd decided to go on the straight and narrow, his life would decide to hit absolute rock bottom.
“You mock us by laughing!?”
A solid right hook across his jaw did nothing to stop his smile from turning into actual laughter.
“Not you,” he coughed as he spit out blood. “Just thinking to myself. It's been a weird week.”
“Yes, yes, quite a week. First you make big mistake and steal from me, double cross your friend. Then the same friend buys your girlfriend from my auction! I wonder how they're doing?”
Landon didn't have to wonder. Before he'd turned himself into the drug lord, he'd managed to talk to Velez one last time. Tori was at a five star hotel in Bangkok. Liam was already flying over to get her and help her deal with the embassy.
It wasn't good enough, though. As long as she was in the city, there was a chance Niran and his goons would find out what they'd done. Velez was already gone, flying off to parts unknown, trying to escape two angry drug gangs. There was no one to protect Tori, not until Liam could get there.
But if they had Landon, there'd be no reason to go after Tori, so he'd simply gone back to the same night club. The bouncers had immediately grabbed him and dragged him to some dirty utility room on the second floor. It had only taken minutes for Niran to arrive and start beating the shit out of him.
“Hopefully they're doing better than me,” Landon sighed. “So what's next? You got your money. You gonna shoot me now?”
After the first round of beatings, Landon had arranged for the rest of his savings account to be wire transferred to the Thai drug dealer's bank account. Landon had figured it wouldn't be enough to appease Niran's anger, but he had kinda hoped.
“No. You'll see I'm very kind. Very generous! I got fifty thousand for your girlfriend, and then you give me another hundred thousand. I say that almost makes us even.”
“Almost, huh. Doesn't sound too promising,” Landon coughed. Niran moved to squat down in front of him.
“Rich American man. Boy. Thought you could come to Thailand and play with drugs. Thought you could do whatever you want. Now that I have a problem with. That money cannot fix. You need to be taught a lesson,” he explained.
“Will it be a quick lesson?” Landon asked. Niran chuckled.
“Very fast. Quick and easy. You are a big shot doctor, correct?”
“Doctor, yes. Big shot, eh, not so much.”
“A doctor is very important. You are very important.”
Landon finally started to get nervous. Death was one thing, but that didn't sound like Niran's end game. So what was going on?
“Not really, I haven't practiced in a long time,” he said, testing the bindings that were tying him to a chair.
“But you were sent here! To save us poor people!” Niran insisted. “Yes, I think your job is very important to you. Just like mine is to me. And when someone makes it hard for us to do our jobs, we have to teach them a lesson.”
“I've learned my lesson, I promise,” Landon panted, shifting around, trying to get free.
“No, you haven't. But you will.”
Niran stood up and snapped his fingers. A man walked across the room with a foot long length of lead pipe in his hand.
Landon's brain moved at warp speed. They weren't going to kill him, Niran had pretty much said as much. But they wanted to teach him a lesson. Wanted to hit him where it hurt. The only things that mattered to him were Tori and his job. They'd taken Tori away, so it stood to reason they'd try to take his job away.
“No,” he shouted, struggling in earnest. His bindings were loosened and a large man gripped his shoulders, holding him place.
“You are right handed?” Niran asked, shifting over to Landon's right side.
“No! Fuck, please, don't do this!” he kept yelling. “I'll get you more money! Not my fucking hands, I need my hands to work!”
“I remind you that you took two kilos of my drugs, yet I am only taking one hand. Generous, wouldn't you say?” Niran took a practice swing with the pipe.
“Listen. Listen to me. I own very expensive real estate in San Francisco. You know how San Francisco is, right? It's yours, it's worth millions. I'll give you the deed, anything, please.”
“Please, begging is so pathetic.”
Jesus, this couldn't be happening. Landon licked his lips nervously, then cried out when Niran swung the pipe again.
“Wait!” he shouted. “Wait, wait. I'm left hande
d. Left handed.”
There was a long pause.
“You only say that to spare your dominant hand,” Niran called him out.
“No, I swear. I'll write something for you. I just don't want you to bust it and then come after me when you realize you did the wrong one,” he spoke fast.
A piece of scrap paper and a pen were produced, then his left arm was let go. Landon took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Tried to steady his nerves. He waited a second, then wrote out his name. When that didn't seem to convince them, he started writing out the different bones in the human hand, the only thing he could think of.
“Very honest of you, Dr. Edenhoff. I admire that!” Niran complimented him as Landon's arm was stretched across the table.
“Thanks,” he whispered, wanting to look away, but unable to avert his gaze. He clenched his teeth together and stared while Niran leveled the pipe above his arm.
Landon had been a rambunctious boy, he'd suffered a couple broken bones. Then he'd grown up to be a doctor, and he'd witnessed dozens, if not hundreds, of other broken limbs. Bone pain was one of the worst kinds of pain, and the hand, well ... there were so many of bones. Tiny and delicate. Shattered badly enough, and he'd never be able to use his hand again.
Thank god I'm ambidextrous.
“This is for your own good, doctor,” Niran said in a low voice, and then the lead pipe came crashing down onto Landon's left hand with all the weight of the drug dealer behind it.
He managed to hold it together through the first three swings, but after that, Landon lost it. His shouts echoed around the room so loudly, he was sure they would hear him downstairs.
He couldn't focus. They finally stopped after something like ten hits, but by then, he was pretty sure his body had gone into shock. He was shaking and sweating and had long since lost the feeling in most of his extremities. He'd also stopped looking at the carnage, unwilling to see the mess that was now his left hand. Even though his right hand was technically his dominant hand and it was fine, there still wasn't a huge market for one handed doctors.
“I think Dr. Edenhoff as learned his lesson!” Niran was laughing while his henchmen cheered. “What do you think, doctor? Or perhaps it should just be Mr. Edenhoff now.”
Landon was past listening or caring. With no one to hold him down, he slid off his chair and fell to his knees, cradling his injured arm to his chest.
This is bad. This is so fucking bad. It'll be a miracle if I ever use this hand again.
“Alright, enough! We have our money and our revenge. Take this trash outside.”
Hands gripped under his arms and Landon was dragged across the floor. Before they could exit, though, Niran held up his hand, stopping them.
“And Mr. Edenhoff?”
Landon managed to lift his head enough to look at the small man, but he couldn't get his eyes to focus.
“I hope you enjoyed your visit to Thailand,” Niran smiled big. “Come visit us anytime.”
And with that, Landon was dragged out of the room.
22
Tori sat huddled into a tight ball, staring out the floor to ceiling windows next to her. She had her arms wrapped around her knees, hugging them to her chest. She was wrapped in a large cable knit sweater and was sitting on a huge white sofa, looking out over all of San Francisco from a high rise penthouse apartment.
Wulfric Stone's place was stunning, Tori couldn't deny that. The man was cold and arrogant and taciturn, but he had impeccable taste in real estate. And women, since he'd chosen her best friend to marry.
Tori had come into San Francisco just to get some clothing. Upon learning that, Katya had insisted on seeing her. Tori didn't want to go out, though. She didn't want to do anything, but she knew she owed a lot to Katya and Wulf for all their help, so she'd agreed to meet at their place before she went back to Carmel. Back to her parents' house, far away from everyone. Far away from Thailand.
Liam had been like a white knight. When she'd talked to him on the phone in Thailand, he'd asked if she'd still had her credit card for the bar's account, and pure relief had washed over her. She'd forgotten – she'd been nervous in the camp, thefts were fairly common and happened often. So she'd actually hidden the bar's credit card, along with a ring she'd gotten from her grandmother, in a coffee tin, which she'd then buried under their tent. All they had to do was go back and get it, and at least she wouldn't be penniless.
So under Liam's instructions, she checked into the nicest, most secure hotel she could find in Bangkok. Then she immediately called Katya, then the U.S. embassy in Thailand. She didn't want to give the whole story, didn't want a huge mess and police investigation, so she just explained that she'd been mugged and said they'd stolen her passport.
It was required that she go down to the consulate to fill out paperwork, but she was too scared to leave her hotel room. Velez had dropped her off, then promptly vanished. She was completely alone in a strange city where she didn't speak the language.
Thank god Liam showed up that night. She hadn't been expecting him, she hadn't been able to get him on the phone since she'd called him from Velez's burner phone. It turned out after they'd hung up, he'd caught the first plane he could out of San Francisco. So when she opened her hotel room door to find him standing there, it had been a bit of a shock.
For a second – just one heart stopping second – she had thought it was Landon.
But then he was pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly, and she knew it was the wrong twin. Or the right one. Whichever. Landon didn't offer comfort. Only Liam did that. No, Landon was a sociopath, incapable of true feelings or any kind of empathy.
She'd cried for a long time, pressing her face into Liam's chest and hating herself for wishing he was someone else.
I'm so very, very stupid.
He took charge of everything, it was kind of shocking to see him so focused. Mr. Laid Back Surfer Dude was nowhere to be found as he hustled her from one stop to the next. They got her some more clothing, then passport photos. Thankfully, Katya'd had the foresight to go to Tori's apartment and find some pieces of identification – Liam had her birth certificate and an expired driver's license.
The consulate warned them it could take as long as a week, but Liam wasn't having any of that. He explained how Tori had been the victim of a violent mugging and that she no longer felt safe in Bangkok, and how awful it would be for the consulate if a social media post about her dreadful treatment in Thailand happened to go viral. She had a flight out in three days, and she damn well better be getting on it.
Within twenty-four hours, Tori had an emergency temporary passport. Better than that, she had more support – Katya, Wulf, and Ayumi flew into the city. Thankfully, though, both Wulf and Ayumi were intuitive enough to keep away from Tori. They had their own rooms in other parts of the hotel, and though Liam and Katya would take turns during the day to spend a couple hours with their partners, they slept in Tori's room.
It had been rough. Worse than anything she'd ever gone through in her life. Nightmares about the drug dealers. Waking up crying. Clinging to Liam's arm and pretending to sleep when she knew she'd be awake until dawn. And the constant battle going on in her mind. So much anger and hatred for Landon, and yet ...
She was worried. No one had heard anything from him. Liam never said it out loud, but she knew he was worried, too. His brother was missing, after all. Bangkok was enormous, no one knew where to look. Wulf had apparently hired a private investigator, but by the time they all flew back to the states, there'd been no results. Landon had just ... disappeared.
And two weeks later, Tori was still thinking about him. Wondering if he was okay. Wondering if he'd meant any of the stuff he'd said to her. Wondering why she always made such bad choices.
She'd gone straight from the airport to her parents home in Carmel, but it wouldn't be her permanent home. She refused to let that asshole ruin her entire life. She didn't care how much therapy it took, she would get back to normal. Sh
e just needed a little more time.
Just a couple more minutes. A couple different choices. I think I loved him. I thought he loved me. So stupid.
“Penny for you thoughts.”
Katya's voice broke through the fog in Tori's brain and she turned to look at her friend. The willowy, auburn haired girl was striding into her living room, carrying two large coffee mugs in her hands. She put one down on the center table, then handed the other to Tori. Hot tea steamed in the cups.
“They're not even worth a penny,” Tori chuckled, blowing at the liquid.
“C'mon, don't say that,” Katya urged, sitting down and snuggling close to her friend. “You know I'm here for you, right? And I promise, I won't be judgemental or all mom-y.”
“I know, I know,” Tori breathed, closing her eyes. “I just can't ... I don't want to talk about it. With anyone. Not yet.”
“Okay, okay. So when do you head back to Carmel?” her friend changed the subject.
“I wanted to be on the road in the next hour,” Tori replied, glancing at her watch. “I've been helping my mom with dinner every night. I may turn into a cook yet.”
“I'll believe it when I see it,” Katya teased. “And when do you think you'll be coming home?”
“I was thinking next weekend. It's time. My mom doesn't keep any alcohol in the house and I really think if I ever deserved some late night cocktails, it's now,” Tori laughed. Katya nodded in agreement.
“You know ... I talked to Wulf. We'd be happy to have you stay here,” she suggested. Tori blanched, then tried to cover it up.
“No. No, but thank you. I need to be on my own, you know? Need to just ... jump back on that horse, or whatever. So really, no thanks,” she spoke quickly.
“Yeah. I figured you'd say that. He's really not bad to live with,” Katya insisted, referring to Wulf. Tori made a face.
“You only think that because you get to boink him at night.”
“Yeah, that and he's, like, stupid rich. Totally worth it.”
Neighborhood Watch Page 19
