My heart stopped when I recognized her. She was the girl I’d seen dancing for the STs that first night at Aloha Ballers. The one I imagined could have been me if not for Han’s intervention.
Her weave was gone now, and instead of dancing, her head lolled listlessly. The other Lacerda brother had to physically lift her into the passenger seat I’d occupied before they made me get out of the Infiniti.
I didn’t see much of what happened after my cop slapped handcuffs on me and shoved me into the backseat of a non-descript car parked behind the Hawaii State cruiser. But none of my guesses about the dancer’s and Bui’s fate were optimistic as the youngest Lacerda pulled a U-ey and sped off in the opposite direction.
The next thing I knew, I was being dragged into an old strip mall building in the Ala Moana shopping district and presented to a grinning Yaron and K Diamond.
The only nice thing I could say about the situation was that at least the Lacerda brother took off the handcuffs before shoving me into the storage room that would become my prison.
It was large and grey with concrete floors and walls. It also had an open window through which I could hear the sounds of traffic and even a bus, letting people on and off.
However, that window was located so high above my head, I could barely reach its sill without standing on my tiptoes. And even if I had the arm strength to pull myself up to it, it wouldn’t matter. The window’s only reason for existing was old-fashioned ventilation. So though it stood open, it was too narrow and small for a human body to fit through.
Other than the window, the only other items the room contained were one thin mattress, a metal pail to do my business, and a roll of toilet tissue.
I knew I couldn’t get away with yelling for help without someone coming in here to gag me or worse. But maybe I could use the pail the same way I used my bra underwire in Delaware….
That plan died on the vine, though, when Yaron walked in on me while I was trying to get the handle detached with no tools whatsoever.
“If you try to use that pail on me,” he said, setting a tray of food on the concrete, “not only will I hurt you, I’ll take it away and make you shit and piss on the floor.”
I’d known him for over a year, and those were the first words he’d ever said to me.
But as it turned out, creepy silent Yaron was much preferable to the one who talked.
“Why are you doing this to me? To Han?” I asked, jumping to my feet.
He was all too happy to tell me.
“They ruined my life,” he answered as if he’d just been waiting for me to ask. “I didn’t get to see my daughter grow up because of them. Then they exiled me here in Hawaii. And that was all before they killed my brother.”
I’d heard a few of the details about why Yaron might have decided to betray his triad, and his reasoning didn’t quite make sense.
“Your girlfriend dumped you and got a restraining order against you ten years ago. And Hawaii isn’t exactly considered exile by most people,” I pointed out. “As for your brother, his death was on you and him. He’s the one who decided to kidnap the partner of a Dragon. And you’re the one who decided to join with the enemy. That had nothing to do with Han.”
“You don’t think this wasn’t all part of my punishment for daring to make friends with a Dragon’s girl? I’ve had to watch everybody but me get advanced ever since I got assigned to Han’s detail. Most of the guys I came in with are in the upper ranks now, and they’ve still got me doing scut work.”
Yaron jabbed his finger in the air. “He made that fag a snakehead after a few months of driving you around. A few months! I’ve been his driver for nine years!”
“I…” As unsound as his reasoning was, Yaron was the closest thing to an ally that I might have in this ordeal. So I tried to validate him like we’d taught the kids to do at surf camp. “I didn’t advance as far as I wanted in my original profession either. So I get why you’d be mad.”
“You think you get it?” Yaron had asked, his eyes shining with hate. “You opened your legs, and Han gave you the world. Just like that Victor fuck did with Dawn.”
I swallowed, scrambling to reset. “You’re right. I don’t get it. I’m sorry I said that. But maybe if you let me go, I could talk to Han, help him see your side of things.”
