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“Agreed. Of course. Yes.” Before she opens the door, I say, “Thank you.”
Dai Qing smiles. “Just doing my job.” With that, she slithers out.
As fast as I can, I get dressed. At the last minute, I throw on my leather jacket. It’s cool in the basement. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I steel myself before opening my door. Even if he’s there, I can’t give anything away. Whatever happens, I have to play my part.
Each step to the basement knocks at the door to my emotions. He’s the only person left in the world who knows me, the successes, the failures, what keeps me up at night. I’ve taken our connection for granted. It doesn’t matter what I have to do. If he’s in the basement, I’m getting him out.
At the bottom on the stairs, Antonio is in the hall on a chair, playing with his phone. I wander toward him, grateful he can’t see my heart beating against my breastbone.
“Where’s Lorcan?” It’s Finn I’m worried about, not Lorcan.
He doesn’t look up, just points his thumb over his shoulder. “In there. Came to see what his bro’s been doing and discovered someone he recognized.” When he looks up, he squints at me. “Some guy’s been following you?”
Bile rises in my throat. “What?”
“They got some black guy in there. Finn said he was suspicious, and then when Lorcan saw him, he said the guy’d been following you. Wouldn’t give any other details.” Antonio shrugs. “You wanna go in? It’s probably a mess in there. Lorcan was fired up. He doesn’t play around when he’s mad.”
I swallow the acid bubbling up into my throat. My first instinct is to rip open the door, fly in there, and drag Malik out. Lorcan might not kill me for it, but Finn would in an instant. I lick my lips and push my hands so deep into my coat pockets my fingers could burst through.
“Let me in.” I tip my chin at the door. I want to press the heel of my hand into my torso to calm my insides, but I don’t dare. No tells. No indication this is anything but routine curiosity.
He rattles his key ring. Then, he seems to think better of it and knocks on the door. “Kim’s out here.”
I wish he opened it. What if they don’t let me in?
The entrance pops open faster than I expect. Finn is in the doorway, covered in blood splatter that makes my stomach heave again.
“You sure you got the stomach for this, Kimmy?” He eyes me then smirks.
“I think you know the answer by now.”
“I thought I did, then you went soft on me yesterday about the women and children.” His voice drips with mockery.
My gaze rakes over him. “I see you’ve been having fun.”
“Indeed, I have. Watching those fights got me fired up.”
So you decided you’d come beat and torture defenseless people?The words are close to tumbling out. I press my lips together.
He eases the door open to reveal Lorcan, blood coating his hands. My jaw tightens. I can’t look at Malik. There’s so much blood, and Lorcan’s face is thunderous.
“Lorcan.” I run my hand along his tense back. His cheeks and forehead are covered with red splotches.
Nodding his head in Malik’s direction, he says, “He works for Zhang. It was no coincidence he was there that night, Kim.” His bloodied hands are clenched at his sides.
I search his face. “Maybe not.”
“There is no such thing as coincidence,” Finn chimes in from the table where they keep the various tools for torture.
“Has he told you anything?” Already I know Malik hasn’t given me away. Neither of these men is good at acting. Finn’s enjoying this, and Lorcan’s doing it out of a misguided attempt to protect me. If Malik wasn’t a complete mess a few feet from me, it would be almost sweet.
“He hasn’t been conscious often enough.” Finn riffles through the tools on the table, searching for something before producing a pair of tweezers. “Ah-ha.”
Whirling on him, I keep my hand on Lorcan’s back, hoping it’ll ground him. “Have you slept?”
“Nope.” His icy eyes are bloodshot.
“Maybe it’s a good idea to take a break. If you’re not getting any information out of him, what’s the point? Don’t we want to know why he was following me? Who put him up to it?”