The Dragon (G.O.N.Y. - Double Dragon) (22 page)

“Jez?” He pulled back to see her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed but steely.

“I want a gun, Ramsey.”

“What?”

“I want a gun.” When he opened his mouth to protest, she pulled away, glared at him, and hugged herself. He remembered the cold and draped her into his wool jacket. As he went to embrace her again, she stepped back and said one word, “Gun.”

He acquiesced, removing his Sig from its holster, and after ensuring the safety was on, handing it to her. Ramsey watched her test the weight, before she dropped it into his coat pocket. He understood, had understood weeks ago why she refused to part with the gun in the Catskills, and he understood now. She wanted the added safety, the ability to protect herself if there was a need. If he had anything to do with it, there would never be another need. Twice was two times too many.

“Thank you,” she murmured in a soft, clear voice.

“Come here.” Pulling her back into his arms, he breathed a sigh of relief and inhaled the vanilla freshness of her hair. Alive. Jezebel and his unborn child were alive. He’d deal with everything else later.

“Truth
 
is not a matter of
 
accepting
 
or rejecting, it is something to experience, live and understand.”

―Samuel Aun Weor

Jezebel awoke to Ramsey curled around her and wetness between her legs.

A smile was already forming on her face before she recalled the events that had brought them here. She’d been kidnapped and on her way to Ramsey’s enemies before he’d saved her, saved them all. Two men were dead. She’d seen the bodies as Ramsey led her to one of the waiting SUVs. As they drove, the sun had risen, and knowing they were safe, Jezebel allowed herself to relax. When she awoke next, she was in Ramsey’s arms and he was carrying her into the house. There were men everywhere, wires sticking out from the walls, guns and other tools flashing when people moved. She held tight to him as he moved up the stairs, down the hallway, and into his room. He’d taken her directly to the bathroom, where he washed her dirty feet. There, he’d stripped her, removing every bit of clothing but her panties. He’d even patted her hair for broken shards of glass. By the time she was under the soft down covers, Jezebel was halfway asleep. As soon as his warm body wrapped around her, sleep came.

The smile faded and she sat up.

Next to her, Ramsey shifted. When she looked down, his eyes were open, watching. “How do you feel?”

Jezebel yawned and rotated her head against her neck. “Tired.”

Ramsey patted her pillow.

Something had awoken her. Jezebel soon realized what when she felt an insistent pressing on her bladder. “I have to use the bathroom.”

He only gave her a little smile as she pushed the covers back and moved away. She’d finished, wiped, and was reaching for her panties when she froze. Bright red stared back at her from the white crotch of her panties.

“No.” She shook her head and grabbed a wad of tissue. As she wiped again, Jezebel prayed it was a fluke, some trick of her mind. The paper revealed what she feared. Bright red. Blood. She was bleeding. She was losing her baby. “No!”

***

“Have you been under a lot of stress lately, Ms. Carter?” Dr. Chen asked as she scanned the charts in front of her.

Ramsey stood on the opposite side of Jezebel’s bed. When she’d screamed, he’d rushed into the bathroom, thinking there was another attack. What he’d seen was much worse. She’d been staring between a piece of toilet paper and her panties in horror. The moment he’d caught sight of the blood, Ramsey swept into action. Because time was essential, he’d rushed her to the nearest hospital and told Dr. Chen to meet them there.

“Yes, she’s been under a lot of stress lately,” he answered.

Jezebel nodded and placed a protective hand over her belly. “Am I losing my baby?”

His heart stopped and Ramsey clutched the bed rails as he waited for the answer. Dr. Chen looked between both of them. “You’re not in the clear yet but at the moment, it doesn’t look like it. I spent the last few hours running tests and observing you. Except for your pressure, which is very high, your other vitals are fine and your baby isn’t in distress. In fact, it looks like the bleeding’s stopped.” He allowed himself a smidgen of hope. The doctor addressed him as she spoke. “I’d like to keep her overnight for observation―”

“No,” Jezebel interrupted with a quick shake of her head. The fear he saw in her eyes made his heart hurt.

Ramsey brought a hand to her cheek and stroked gently. “Relax, baby. Let me worry about that.”

“She needs to rest, stay off of her feet for at least a week,” the doctor continued, looking back to her charts. “Nothing more strenuous than a walk to the bathroom.” She lifted her eyes and looked between them. “And no sex.”

That was a given.

“Can you and your team set up a room at my estate instead?”

The doctor sighed and nodded once. “Yes, but at least let her stay here for a few more hours. I’ll send my team over now and when they’re ready, we can move her.”

When Dr. Chen left, Ramsey sat next to Jezebel, took her limp hand in his and offered her a little smile. She didn’t return it.

“If I lose the baby―”

“Jezebel!” he interrupted, forcing himself to remain calm. “You won’t lose him. It’s the stress, just like Dr. Chen said.”

She swallowed and looked down at their joined hands. “God’s punishing me.”

“What?” He shook his head, trying to make sense of her words. It had been a harrowing afternoon with Jezebel being poked and prodded as they anxiously waited for news. It was a wonder they could both string together sentences much less thoughts.

She looked at him and the sadness he read there made Ramsey want to get into bed with her, hold her and tell her it would be fine. If he wasn’t afraid of making the situation worse, he would have.

“Karma,” she breathed.

“Baby, you’re not making sense.”

“I tried to get rid of him months ago.” She smiled sadly. “I thought I was being smart, doing the logical thing. It didn’t make any sense to have a baby in Witness Protection.”

He looked away, ashamed. This was his fault. He’d been selfish in bringing her into his world, and in doing so, had exposed her to so much pain. “You were doing what you thought was best for the baby.”

“And now I’m being punished.”

“No one’s punishing you.”

Her sniffles made him look up. “I didn’t want him then, but now that I do, He’s taking him from me.”

“Jezebel!” Ramsey snapped, pushing to his feet and towering over her. She blinked rapidly and lifted her head to stare at him. He could only imagine how he looked, towering over her like this with his hair uncombed and sticking every which way. “You are not losing our baby! Do you hear me? You’re NOT losing him. Do you understand me?”

When she only stared at him with wide lost eyes, Ramsey lowered his voice but stated firmly, “Nod if you understand.”

She nodded once, twice. He sat down, gripped her hand, and brought it to his lips. “Good. That’s good, baby.”

***

Ramsey Stone was in a foul mood. He’d spent the day reassuring and watching over his pregnant…watching over Jezebel and now, he was exhausted, angry, and ready to kill something. Chang Chul-Moo seemed to be volunteering so Ramsey decided to indulge him.

“Are you ready to talk about who’s responsible for that attempt on Jezebel’s life?” Ramsey clenched and unclenched his hand. His fist was on fire, likely bruised, but he didn’t mind. He’d take this pain and any other over watching the defeat on Jezebel’s face as she thought she was losing their baby.

“You know who’s responsible,” the older man muttered, spitting out blood and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You started a war and I was going to end it.”

“You failed,” Ramsey murmured, approaching the fallen man again. “Who are you working with?”

“I’ve never needed cheerleaders like you,
goja
,” he drawled.

“You’re working with someone who has access to my security systems, someone with access to my house.” Vince’s initial prediction had been right. Someone had hacked into his security system and shut it down while simultaneously overriding the command to Vince’s phone. “Who?”

Chang laughed.

“This is funny?”

“You’re funny.” The man sat up, and when he wasn’t knocked back down, pushed to his feet. He placed a hand against the tiled wall for balance. Ramsey had had his “guests” moved. The warehouse would have opened for business so he had them taken to a slaughterhouse. “You have no intention of letting me go, letting my daughter or grandsons go. You think I’m responsible for killing your niece and no matter what I say, you’ll still think it.”

“If you’re not responsible, why did you go through the trouble of kidnapping Jezebel?”

“Leverage,” Chang muttered, spitting again. “Ransom. You give me my family back and I’ll give you yours.”

“Give me a name, Chang.”

“And what happens if I do? You’ll let them go?”

“I tried to barter with you earlier and look what happened.” Ramsey clicked his tongue. “But, you need an incentive, don’t you?” He looked him in the eye as he said, “You’re going to die so your life has no worth.” The older man didn’t flinch. He’d accepted the truth. “Your daughter will probably die of an infection or pneumonia soon, so her life’s worth little.” Chang’s jaw tightened. “Not worthless, as a trip to the emergency room would take care of that, but worth little.” He walked over to the door and paused. “But your grandsons.”

“Only an animal would murder two six year olds.”

“I’m the animal you created when you murdered my niece and attacked my woman.
Twice.”

“What?”

“Kim told me of your plans: torture her, rape her, cut her open, take the child out and what were his exact words? ‘Chop him up.’ ” Chang blanched. “Shock won’t save you but if you give me the names―”

“I never gave that order!”

“No?”

“A pregnant woman? A child?”
Chang roared, shaking his head. “On my grandsons, I didn’t give that order!”

“Then who? If it wasn’t you, then who?”

The older man shook his head. “I don’t know…” He broke off and his eyes began to wander. Ramsey caught the look and moved closer.

“Who?”

Chang’s face grew shuttered.

“I’m growing weary of this game.” Ramsey walked to the door and knocked. It opened and grim-faced Vince stepped in. “Bring the twins.”

“Wait!”

He looked over his shoulder at the old man, who’d slid down the tile and was back on the floor. “Are you ready to give me a name?”

Chang nodded once.

Ramsey closed the door and waited.

“Bye…Min-Kyu.”

The name didn’t sound familiar. “Who is that?”

“My nephew.”

“You’re lying.” Ramsey approached him and shook his head, disappointed. He knew all of the important members of Chang’s family, and a nephew was important when the man had no living sons. “To save yourself, you’re making up family members. I expected more…”

“Min-Kyu is my sister’s son,” Chang snarled. “He was born in London and lived there until recently.”

“How recently?”

“Five years ago.”

“Where does he live now?”

“He travels.”

“Where?”

“Sometimes America, sometimes China, Japan, South Korea. He’s a business man.”

“Is he here now?”

Chang took his time, but he nodded once.

“Where?”

“Did you kill the men who took your
geomdung-i
?”

Ramsey’s still stare must have conveyed more than he wished because Chang nodded. “Where-ever you put his body, that’s where he is.”

“How convenient for you, old man. A nephew I’ve never heard of conspired with your son-in-law to kill my niece and my woman, and both parties are dead.” Ramsey smiled. “Dead men tell no tales.”

Chang shrugged. “I don’t give a shit if it’s convenient. I had nothing to do with the death of your niece or the first attack on your
woman
. This morning was all me…and Min-Kyu. He organized it.”

“With whom?”

“He had a contact on the inside.”

A rat, Ramsey thought with a snarl. One had already been discovered and Chang just confirmed his suspicions that there were more.

“Did he give you a name?”

Chang shook his head.

“Why did you meet with the Triad?”

“What?” When Ramsey only lifted his brows, Chang muttered, “We have a business relationship.”

“Business? With the Triad?”

“We trade.”

“You trade?”

“Narcotics.” Ramsey lifted a brow. “Meth…marijuana…there’s a market for it.”

“And you wanted to reaffirm that you had an ally if I came after you.” Ramsey smirked. “Where are your allies now?”

Less than ten minutes later, he stepped from the room and closed the door.

“Should I get the twins?” Vince asked. He’d taken a seat against the wall facing the door and had his phone in his hands.  

“No. What do you do know about Bye Min-Kyu?”

***

The week was a blur.

Jezebel was always tired. No matter how much she slept, she could still sleep more. She woke up for food, the bathroom, and conversation, and then she went right back to sleep. She’d fallen asleep on almost every visitor she’d had and there had been more than a few. Ramsey was her most frequent. He slept next to her at night and sometimes, when she woke up, he was perched on the bed beside her, reading something or staring at her. After him, was her sister. She’d opened her eyes to find Delilah in “her” chair, feet kicked up and iPad in hand, more times than not. Then there was Hannah, who was always with the servants when they brought her food. Hannah talked her through most of her meals, staying until Jezebel cleaned her plate and took the pills she’d been prescribed. Sarah visited as well and Jezebel grew to like her during those encounters. Sarah was timid, almost nervous at first, but once they found a topic she loved, she went on and on about it. Sweet. That was how she described Sarah Stone. She’d even seen Vince a few times, though he looked like he was scoping out her room rather than paying her a visit.