===
November 2, 2009……10:10 p.m.
===
She sat uncomfortably in the passenger seat to his exotic sport car. Tavia held an emotionless face as she gripped the seatbelt around her waist tightly, trying not to scream as Raymond sped down the busy highway. He was weaving in and out of traffic, playing around with other drivers and worst of all, playing around with her. He held a nice smirk on his pretty face as he shot occasional glances at her while they drove down. After a while of remaining quiet, Raymond finally let out a sound of laughter.
“What is wrong with you?” Raymond asked, trying to hold back from laughing.
“You’re driving at over a hundred miles per hour in an open hooded vehicle. I’m surprised I haven’t flown out of your car by now,” Tavia replied, trying hard to remain calm.
“I’m sorry, it’s kind of an emergency,” Raymond replied. “I probably shouldn’t have taken you along, but I can’t leave you alone in that night club either.”
In her mind, Tavia would’ve rather stayed back at the busy night club than go in a speeding ride with Raymond Lam. To her, the worst that could happen at the club was for some guy to hit her up. She could easily get up and leave rather than be strapped down into a leather seat, clinging onto only a seatbelt for dear life. Her heart was pounding. Her heartbeat rose as she turned away from the road and faced Raymond.
“What kind of emergency is this? After that phone call you shot out of there like the cops were going to get you,” Tavia asked, remembering the look on Raymond’s face earlier.
“Eh, just another relapse of addiction,” Raymond replied, shrugging it off. “It happens all the time but you can’t help but worry. Do me a favor and get the envelope in my glove compartment out. When I stop the car we’re running.”
Tavia reached into the compartment and pulled out the only thing inside. Out of curiosity, she looked inside the envelope and took a breath to see the brand new needle and a clear tube of liquid. “Is this heroine?” she asked with the first thing that came to her mind.
Raymond nodded.
“You should’ve left me in that club,” she mumbled.
Apparently Raymond had heard her since he turned to her to get her full attention.
“Eyes on the road!” Tavia yelled in fear of a crash.
Raymond didn’t listen, instead he moved in closer to her. “Do you want me to leave you there? It is ten right now and the big players usually come there at this time. Would such a classy lawyer like you want to be trapped with about ten more triads with no conscience? They would do such crazy things to you you’d be pleading for death.”
“You admit that triads have no conscience and yet you’re one yourself,” Tavia commented.
He laughed. “Even if I have nothing, I know I still have a conscience left,” Raymond replied in a softer voice as his eyes returned to the road.
Her hands were still tightly gripping the seatbelt. She once again sat in silence. This time she wasn’t silenced by fear but instead she was silenced by thoughts. She couldn’t understand this man. Raymond Lam, he is a triad himself yet when he speaks of them as a group he uses the vilest words to describe them. His view of the triads is no different than a cop. Tavia then wondered about his words. He said he knew he still had a conscience. Out of curiosity, she wanted to dwell deeper into the subject and find out if he had a story behind his thoughts or were they just some more words to draw her to him. She didn’t know but she stayed quiet.
===
The car suddenly jolted to an abrupt stop as Raymond stomped on the brakes a few inches before they crashed into a light post. They were right under an unfamiliar apartment building. Tavia followed Raymond as she grabbed the envelope and ran behind him, rushing up the entrance stairs and into the moving elevator.
“Where are we going?” Tavia asked, noticing that Raymond’s eyes were watching the dial on the elevator go up. He seemed tense, not like his usual self.
“I’ll give you an explanation later. Can you just please help me out on this one?”
Tavia nodded.
“Don’t ever,” Raymond spoke. “Tell anyone else about this. Not even to your closest friends.”
Tavia was quiet but she gave him a nod.
The two shot out of the elevator just as the sliding metal doors opened wide enough for their bodies to fit through. Tavia followed Raymond down the hall as he searched his pocket for a key. He pulled it out and quickly unlocked the doors, storming inside as if the clock was ticking against his favor.
Once inside, Tavia was caught by surprised. In one look she took in the entire room. It was a nice little apartment with a warm, home-like atmosphere yet it was something uncommon for a triad to stay in. She noticed the girl in the corner behind the sofa as Raymond took her hands and pulled her over. Tavia sat down beside him, trying to stay out of the way as she watched him. She recognized the girl to be Yoyo Chen. Her hair was shuffled and her shirt seemed messed up and torn. There were tears on her eyes as she gripped her head in pain. She was cringing, crying in Raymond’s arms as he comforted her. Tavia knew that Yoyo was one of Raymond’s many girlfriends, but she didn’t expect to see him care this much.
“I can’t take it anymore Ray,” she cried, gripping Raymond’s arm.
“It’s ok,” he comforted her. “I’m here now, it’s ok kiddo.”
Tavia didn’t expect to see this. She noticed that Raymond had called Yoyo ‘kiddo’. It was rather unusual for even Raymond Lam to call his girlfriend that. Tavia sat and watched as Raymond hastily took out the needle and the tube of heroine. As he poured the drug into the tube, he held Yoyo tightly in his arms, preventing her from flailing in pain as he injected the drugs into her arms. Tavia wanted to yell at him, asking him why he was giving her more drugs but she just couldn’t. During that situation, Tavia just couldn’t open her mouth to utter a word or to even make a sound. In her eyes, Raymond seemed protective of Yoyo as he held Yoyo tightly in his arms, hugging her and waiting patiently for the drugs to go into effect as it calmed her down. He stroked her hair and whispered words of comfort to her ear but he didn’t kiss her. Raymond seemed more like a brother to Yoyo than a boyfriend.
After a long while, Yoyo finally calmed down. In his arms she fell asleep quickly perhaps worn out from the immense pain of addiction she had to deal with earlier. Raymond picked her up and laid her on her bed, pulling a blanket over her tiny body. He then walked Tavia back out into the living room as they both took a seat at the small dining table in the kitchen. Raymond washed his hands and then turned to her.
“Do you want anything to eat?” he asked her. “There’s some food in the fridge.”
Tavia shook her head. “You owe me an explanation though,” she spoke softly.
He nodded and sighed. Raymond that sat down in front of her. He had a smirk on his face again, but this time she noticed something about it. It was the same smirk he would always give out to everyone, but it was a fake as well. His smirk used cockiness and playfulness to hide his true emotions inside. When she saw this, Tavia had so many questions in her mind that she wanted to ask him but she stopped herself. She was waiting for his explanation right now and it wouldn’t be such a good idea to overload on questions that would remain unanswered.
“Promise not to repeat this to anyone else and I’ll tell you everything,” Raymond spoke. In this woman, he sensed something he couldn’t find in others. In her he found trust and comfort, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe that he could still find them in someone, especially a woman.
Tavia nodded with a solemn face. “I promise,” she replied seriously. That was the first time in a long time that she had whole-heartedly made a promise to a guy and she didn’t expect that guy to be a triad leader like Raymond Lam.
“Yoyo was the one who called me on the phone when we were at the club. She called and said ‘it’s happening again. I can’t take it this time. It’s so irritating.’”, Raymond paused. “Some time ago when I first joined the triads, I found out Yoyo had an addiction to heroine. We tried to keep it under control and a secret. No one knows that she’s addicted and the reason being was that I didn’t want anyone using this addiction to take advantage of us. So whenever she had a relapse, she would call me and I would bring her the things she needed. Lately it’s gotten to be so often. I feel horrible as her brother.”
“Her brother?” Tavia asked. “You mean you and Yoyo aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend and instead you two are actually brothers and sisters?”
Raymond nodded. “Hard to believe isn’t it? I decided to lie that Yoyo is my girlfriend so that with my status, not many people would and could hurt her. I can’t let anything happen to my little sister you know.”
Tavia placed her hand on top of Raymond’s. She didn’t know why she did so. She just knew that she didn’t want to let him go at this moment. Whether he was lying or not wasn’t a question anymore because she didn’t care. She just wanted to listen more to him and find out why this man had such a big secret.
“If you can’t let anything happen to her, why did you become a triad in the first place?”
“It’s not like I can choose,” Raymond replied. He gently hooked onto her hand as he spoke to her. “When we were little, our parents owed a lot of money to the triads or loan sharks if you call them that. I did horrible in school so the hope on me growing up and making money was out of the question. All I could do was join the triads and help them sell some drugs in my school. It made some money but soon my parents died. We of course still had to pay off the debt. Loan sharks aren’t like certified loaners who actually have somewhat of a moral. I had to pay the debt off if I wanted Yoyo to stay alive. So I kept working for them. Apparently I was a smart boy back then,” Raymond laughed. “I did a lot of deals and got the attention of the big lady in charge. She gave me and Yoyo a place to stay for a while and helped me as I got up through the ranks. Eventually, I had my own territory and status. Yoyo wasn’t as involved in the gang as me but to keep her safe, I decided to lie that she was my girlfriend so that no one would touch her. She’s still so childish and has a hot temper sometimes so she got herself noticed for being rash and spoiled. I don’t care, as long as she’s alright. Seeing her addiction get worse hurts you know, but there’s nothing else I can do. And I can’t quit being a triad now, not when Yoyo needs the drugs more than ever. Besides, getting out of the underground life isn’t that easy.”
“It must’ve been hard for you,” Tavia spoke softly, looking into his eyes.
He shook his head with a smile. This smile of his melted her soul as she saw the way his lips had curled upwards. His smile didn’t show arrogance or cockiness, instead it showed appreciation and thankfulness. It was a look on Raymond she could get used to seeing. “It’s not hard,” he replied. “Not when I still have her. Besides, I’m not technically alone. At my back I have the support of the big leader of the 14K.”
“You said that a woman took you two in for a while and helped you. I thought the leader of the 14K was a young guy, not a woman,” Tavia spoke.
“That guy is her son. She’s the real leader who makes all the big decisions. She has the most respect out of everyone in charge.”
“Who is this woman?”
“Michelle Yim,” Raymond replied.
Something suddenly clicked in her mind. Tavia recognized that woman’s name from somewhere. She couldn’t exactly remember where she heard it or from who but she had definitely heard someone mention this woman before.
“Though she’s the big lady in charge, she’s not a bad person,” Raymond added. “At least she’s better than all the other immoral idiots in this gang. When I stayed with her, she was gentle and was a good mother. She can cook very well too and she spoke gently. She has a very warm smile and an open heart as she helped me and Yoyo. The only quality of hers that would make her triad material was that she’s calculating and manipulative. She’s also really clever and protective. She took over the role of the leader after her husband’s death, the old leader of 14K.”
===
November 3, 2009……9:00 a.m.
===
Fala leaned on the metal fence with her hands in her pocket. She could see her breath draw out in the cold autumn morning as she waited. She was sure she had arrived earlier than the meeting time and she blamed herself for that. Why in the world did she show up this early just to breathe in cold air? Feeling colder, she turned and paced in circles around the spot where she stood earlier, hoping to work up her system to warm herself down. With her arm she clamped a small yet thick looking envelope close to her. Her eyes were wandering, searching.
“Hey,” a voice suddenly startled her. “Did you wait long?” It was a male voice.
She turned around, her face wearing a neutral expression as she faced the man she had been waiting for. “No,” she lied. Looking up at Ruco’s smiling face, she began questioning him, just like usual, like every time they met. “So Ruco, what has my sister been up to?”
“Just the usual stuff,” he answered. “She uses me as a spy basically and gets tips on cases so that she could solve them faster.”
Fala nodded. Inside, she knew that wasn’t all Nancy had been up to lately. She knew something else was wrong, but she didn’t know if Ruco would tell her or not. Inside her head she debated for a while whether or not to ask him, but she ended up doing so. “That’s not all,” Fala finally spoke. “I’m sure Nancy’s been up to something else. You hang around her often. What has she been doing? She and Ron keep getting in fights more and more often. When I saw them the other day, it couldn’t have been more obvious that they are fighting.”
In return, he was quiet for a moment. Ruco seemed to be thinking about something before he spoke. “Ah, I don’t know if I should tell you this,” he mumbled.
“What is it? Ruco I’m paying you to give me information about my sis and to keep her out of trouble,” Fala explained to him the whole reason why they kept having meetings.
“I know, I know, but she’s too stubborn and while it’s hard for me to keep her out of trouble.”
“What has she been doing?” Fala asked, knowing Ruco had something to hide.
“Well,” he began reluctantly. “She’s gotten really involved with the gang,” he replied.
“You’re joking,” she breathed.
“Not involved as in illegal activities but,” he paused to think. “Well somehow Nancy had convinced most of the people who work under Raymond that she’s a part of their gang. I think she has a better reputation than I do now. It’s kind of scary how easy she is pulling this off. The worse thing is, Raymond doesn’t seem to notice a thing. Nancy even had one of her friends hold a position near Raymond. Tavia I think was her name. I recognized her.”
“She got Tavia involved in this too?” Fala asked, surprised. “What the hell is she thinking? Either she is taking Raymond Lam very seriously or she is just out of her mind.”
“I’ll try to go and talk to her,” Ruco offered.
“No it’s fine,” Fala cut in. “I’ll talk to her.” Her eyes were distant as she ran many thoughts through her mind. She kept thinking of how she will confront her sister about the matter, knowing that Nancy would suspect Fala had hired Ruco to give her news. After a while, she finally turned back to Ruco. “Ruco thanks,” she spoke, handing him the envelope she had in her hand. “Here’s your pay for this time.”
Different from all other times they met, Ruco didn’t eagerly take the envelope this time. Instead he made an unreadable expression. “You don’t have to pay me anymore,” he spoke.
“What are you talking about? I need you so I can know what my sister is doing and so she won’t get herself in danger,” Fala responded without thinking.
“I will still give you news and help Nancy out, I just won’t take your money anymore.”
She was confused. That was the first time in her life that a triad had turned away from money.
“We’re friends right?” Ruco smiled, seeing a light nod as a response. “I won’t take your money.”
===
November 3, 2009……10:30 a.m.
===
His eyes were burning and he felt trapped inside his clothes as he stood before the small group, planning out how they will make an arrest. When he turned back to their white board filled with writings, information and pictures, Ron discreetly rubbed his eyes. He yawned quickly before turning back to face the crowd. By the looks on their faces, he knew everyone was tired. Even if they got everything done today, the safest bet would be to make the arrest a couple days later. Bosco looked unshaven and in need of some precious sleep. Kate was the most awake out of the group but by the dark circles around her eyes he could see that she needed some sleep to. Ron then turned to Nancy’s desk, seeing an empty chair. He had forgotten that ever since their fight, Nancy had spent more time outside than in the office. He wouldn’t admit it, but Ron missed her presence during his briefing as she sat back in her chair, relaxed while he himself was so stiff in front of them all.
“Alright, so everyone understands that in a few short days, we will be making the arrest on Yoyo Chen? All the evidence we need is here. If we can get her to admit to her crime then that would be even better,” Ron spoke in a strong, leading voice.
As the small crowd dispersed, Ron was about to make his way over to Kate, asking her to mix him a coffee. She stood there looking at him, waiting with a small smile on her face. Her smile suddenly disappeared when Ron felt someone pull on his arm and turned him around. Nancy stood behind him, looking up at him with an expressionless face. He didn’t know when she had shown up or if she had stood by the doorway the whole time. Nancy looked tired as well as if she had been up working just like them. She pulled him towards the door and into the break room. Ron followed her until they stopped abruptly in the middle of the room.
“You’re arresting the wrong person,” Nancy spoke in a hard tone.
By the sound of it, Ron knew Nancy was still fired up at him. He kept a straight face. “You’re not going to argue with me again are you?”
“I’m not arguing with you,” she defended as she handed him a small recording device. “Just listen to the recording and you will have all the proof you need. Macy Chan is the murderer and I’m sure of it.”
He sighed, “Nancy we’ve been through this before…”
She suddenly cut him off by turning around to face the coffee machine. Ron couldn’t see what she was doing as he stood behind her. “As I said,” she spoke. “I’m not arguing with you.” When she turned back around, Ron could see her holding a hot cup of fresh brewed coffee in her hand. Carefully she handed it to him and without another word she left the office. Ron watched her from behind. When she disappeared from his view, he sighed again and played with the recording device in his hand as he sat down with the cup of coffee.
“So stubborn,” he mumbled to himself. He didn’t know if he was saying Nancy was stubborn or admitting that he was the stubborn one.
===
November 5, 2009……4:00 p.m.
===
He could see the fat man quivering in the corner, his face black and blue from a beating session just five minutes earlier. Raymond in his blue khaki vest walked up to the man, wearing an intimidating face as he glared into his eyes. He was quiet, waiting to see the man’s reaction as he got closer. The fat man had nowhere to run as he was trapped in by Raymond and four of his other men, all looking like they could take his life any second.
The man had a shaky voice as he spoke, “Big brother,” he stuttered. “Please give me more time.”
“You know I usually don’t do something like this myself,” Raymond replied calmly. He squared his shoulder and stood taller against the portly man. “Where’s my money?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have it. Please give me another week. I swear I’ll have it for you by then.”
“One week, one week,” Raymond spoke. “After this you’ll ask for another one week.”
“Please big brother, I still have a wife and kids to care for,” he pleaded. “Please give me another week.” He was practically on the floor, begging before the young man.
Raymond reached into his pocket and pulled out a small but scary looking pocket knife. He slowly opened it and then held it up close against the man, touching the blade against his skin. “Where is my money?” Raymond asked again, this time emphasizing every word.
The man was on his knees now crying and breathing hard, pleading for his life. “Please, I don’t have that large of a sum right now. Please give me more time,” he begged.
He held his knife tighter as he pushed if forward, seeming to have stabbed the portly man’s abdomen with it. Instead Raymond’s blade point was purposely held a few inches off so that he only stabbed the brick wall behind them as a warning. “One more week,” Raymond spoke. “After that one week, you’re going to answer to a gun.”
“Thank you,” the man thanked as he ran away quickly. The other four men around Raymond slowly dispersed as they went in different directions. Raymond headed back to his car, smiling as he got in with his new lawyer and close friend.
Tavia had been sitting in the car. She saw everything from Raymond’s act of intimidation to his fake warning. She shook her head once he got in the car. Raymond only smiled at her, letting out a small chuckle as he started the engine. After a short moment they finally drove off and pulled onto a busy highway. Raymond leaned forward, looking around for directions as he spoke to Tavia.
“You’re awfully quiet today,” he commented.
She laughed and shook her head. “I can’t believe you’d take me to see that,” she replied.
“It was unexpected. I was originally planning to take you out for a drink.”
“A lot of things are unexpected with you,” Tavia joked.
“That’s the life sweetie,” Raymond smiled, flashing her one of his killer smiles as she rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. “That’s no way to thank me for taking you out.”
“If you want to take me out, at least put some effort into it,” Tavia replied, partly joking but partly serious as well.
“Oh I almost forgot, you’re a classy lady,” Raymond laughed. “Fine, how about dinner next week?” he asked.
Tavia nodded with no words in reply.
“Wear the prettiest dress you’ve got classy lady,” Raymond laughed as he continued to tease her, finding amusement in making her smile and shake her head at him.
After a while of getting to know her, he found Tavia’s smile to be such a drug. She had the prettiest smile ever and he just couldn’t get enough of it. Beside that fact, he also enjoyed making her smile. He felt comfortable around her and he didn’t feel the need to keep her a far distance away. He felt something odd traveling through him when he was with her. He didn’t understand what it was. It was warmth but there was some fear in it at the same time. It made him feel good and happy. What was that kind of feeling?
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