I looked down at my dirtied clothes, my eyes traveling over to the jacket in the corner. “How did you find me?” I asked, not asking about Leda yet.
God, the last moments I remembered were her trying to get to me, blood flowing from her side. She had been trying to saveme,and I had failed her.
But if they didn’t have her, then where was she?
Lawrence smirked. “We always know where you are. It’s not a secret, you know.” He sighed. “I thought that you were going to fucking do something, y’know? All of us heard when Adrian and the Battery boys went after you. I mean, fuck, boss. When we heard about Rocco? We were all hurting.
“I mean, all you needed was to walk up, in person. Y’know? Do that and we would’ve fucking tore Adrian’s ass apart! I hate the fact that I’m doing this to you. But you brought this shit on yourself. You feel me?”
Yeah. I did.
Lawrence was right. All I had to do was just show up in the city and the Mafia would’ve still rallied. Adrian put everything into a gamble, and he succeeded because he called my bluff. And now, I was about to be tortured by one of the Cavazzo Mafia’s best.
I had seen Lawrence’s handiwork before, and though I had seen a great deal—no, done a great deal—in my life, it had turned my stomach. Everybody had a thing, and Lawrence was making people hurt. And he wasdamn goodat it.
“Tell you what.” He drew his mouth in a flat line like some half-hearted apology. “I’ll let you pick the method when the time comes. That good for you?”
“Mighty generous of you.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I try. Okay, Lucas. Everything looks good. I’ll try to be quick.”
I couldn’t let them take me to Adrian. The adrenaline Lawrence shot me with dulled the pain through my body. It was enough to wake me up, but I knew the crash was also coming. The handcuff would be minor. I just needed a reason to sit up. “I gotta piss.”
Lawrence sighed, reaching behind him for a Gatorade bottle. “Dude, this is all I got.”
I looked at him, and then I looked down at my jeans.
“Oh c’mon man, don’t make me do this.”
“Look, either you free up one of my hands, or you’re holding.”
For the first time since I had woken, he looked undecided. “You know this ain’t easy for me, right?”
I smirked. “Look, if you want to hold my dick, I won’t begrudge you.”
“You motherfucker,” Lawrence muttered, reaching into his shirt pocket. “Hang on.”
I stilled my fingers as he inserted the key into the lock, opening the handcuff. The moment the metal was free, I went into action. My fist exploded against his temple and he fell back with a howl. But I was already on him, smashing my fists into his face and bashing his head against the metal wall. My body dumped its own rush of adrenaline, and I kept bashing Lawrence’s head until it became a ruined red mess.
I felt the ambulance starting to slow down. I reached down and unlocked my other hand. Then, I picked up Lawrence’s gun and my jacket, shrugging it on painfully over my destroyed shirt. The gun, I tucked into my waistband.
With a roar, I kicked open the door and jumped down, rolling as I hit the streets. Luckily, the ambulance had just run red light. I quickly slipped into the group of pedestrians crossing the street. I needed to get some fresh clothes, fast.
By the time the driver realized something happened, I would already be gone. I hid my hands in my pockets so that no one could see the blood on them. If we’d just crossed the GWB, then I was in Washington Heights. I was free for the time being, but I’d be crossing into some real dangerous territory soon.
I needed to get somewhere that didn’t ask too many questions. And I knew one place I could always depend on.
Fuck, I hated pulling them in, but now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off, I could feel every pain in my body. I wasn’t going to last much longer, and I needed help.
So, I limped along until I got to the 1 Train, hopped the turnstile, rode it all the way down to Chambers Street before I fumbled my way down a familiar set of streets until I saw the restaurant up ahead. It was the middle of the day, and there was a crowd of people waiting for their lunch on the street. I had to push my way through to the door, and opened it to a familiar ring that was the closest thing to a homecoming.
“Xiao Lu?”
“Hey, Ruhua.” I said to Mrs. Wong in Cantonese with a faint grin. “Thought I would come by for a bite.”
She eyed me, her gaze narrowing. “You look like shit. Come with me.”
I let out a hollow laugh before stumbling into the wall. She snapped into action, grabbed my arm, and pulled me towards the kitchen.