The Dragon (G.O.N.Y. - Double Dragon) (4 page)

Ramsey tapped the cigar on the balcony ledge before taking a drag. For a man in his fifties, that was a life-sentence. “So you’re squealing for immunity?”

“I never said I’d squeal on you,” Pat defended. “I said I’d give them information…”

“On what?” Ramsey drawled. “Our legitimate ventures?”  A thought occurred to him that made his jaw clench. “Have you been filtering the money from your prostitutes through any of my businesses?”

Like most of his family members, Pat sat on the board for The Osiris and had shares in other ventures Ramsey had undertaken.

“No…I had another cover.”

“What?”

“A pet store. The feds shut that down too.”

“What have you told them so far?”

“Nothing.”

“Pat,” Ramsey began in a low tone. “I’ve had a long and trying day. I buried my niece, I
interviewed
the man who hit her, and now I’m talking to you about your breach of code. I’m not at my most patient, so I’d advise you not to lie to me.”

“I told them about the old man.”

“Oh?” Why were the feds still curious about a dead man?

“They wanted to know about his businesses.”

“And you told them?”

Pat sighed and nodded once.

“About all of the businesses?”

“Most of them. I left out the ones you still operate.”

“What else did they want to know?”

“They wanted to know about Eun-Hee…Hannah.” Like his uncles, his mother had a traditional Korean name but chose to use the English name she’d chosen for herself.  

“Why?” He saw no reason why the feds would care about the daughter and mother of Dragons.

Pat shrugged. “I think it was an indirect way to ask questions about you.” When Ramsey raised a brow, he continued, “They asked about her upbringing, why she went to Egypt, your father, why she came back to South Korea, why she lives there now.”

“And you told them what?”

“I told them she was the favorite, that she went to Egypt because she asked and he could deny her nothing, that she married your father because she wanted to and was stubborn, that she came back to South Korea after he died, that she lives there because she remarried.”

Except for his grandfather’s favoritism, most of that was general knowledge.

“What did you tell them about me, Pat?”

“I told them I didn’t have any information on you outside of you being a businessman.”

“What did you tell them about the business I recently acquired?”

Ramsey had gone to Seoul to see about another business venture. He’d been leery of doing it because it entailed working with two other gangs, but it had been a way for everyone to make money, and a way to stop the rivalry happening in the streets of various South Korean cities. If everyone had something to lose, they suddenly became careful of who they pissed off.

“Nothing.” Pat shook his head. “I told you, I told them nothing about you outside of you being a resourceful businessman with legal businesses.” 

When Ramsey only continued to stare at him, Pat shrugged and replied, “A dead man has no reason to lie.”

Ramsey saw no point in correcting him. Pat knew the penalty for betrayal and he’d still done it. He could have come to Ramsey, and they could have shaken the feds off, maybe gotten him a lighter sentence if it had come to that, but he hadn’t. He’d squealed.

“Maybe he has every reason.” Keeping him in sight, Ramsey walked over to the deck table and snuffed out the cigar. “Maybe he’s concerned about his family.”

“Who wouldn’t be concerned about his family?” Pat retorted. “But that gives me no incentive to lie.” He took another drag of the cigar, and kept his gaze on Ramsey. “I know you, Ramsey. I watched you grow into the man you are. I know you’re fair and wouldn’t hurt women for the crimes of their men, especially when they weren’t involved.”

Pat had a wife and three daughters. He always said he’d been blessed in women. Now, he could say they’d cursed him as well.

“Who
is
involved?”

Pat looked confused, before he shook his head. “Just me. I didn’t want to risk bringing in any of the others, so I used…”

When he trailed off, Ramsey prodded, “Who?”

“Italians.”

Ramsey would have laughed if he were still inclined. Pat knew better. Italians claimed to be a loyal bunch but they were only loyal to family. They had no qualms tossing outsiders under the bus, which was likely what happened to Pat. He was surprised his uncle lasted five years in business with them and was still alive.

“Which Italian?”

“Gunzo Barelli.”

“The one sliced open by a prostitute?” The name was familiar because it had repeatedly been on the news a few months back. When Pat nodded, Ramsey smirked. “One of yours?” Pat nodded again. “And that was what tipped the feds off.” At Pat’s easy nod, Ramsey looked at his watch.

It was almost nine o’clock. He’d been here for almost two hours already. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“That’s it. I ran a prostitution ring, the feds caught me, threatened me, and I told them about the old man, but nothing about you.”

He didn’t believe everything the man said, but unless the man had changed so completely, he couldn’t see Pat lying with the knowledge that Ramsey would have access to his family after he was gone.

“This was a good conversation, Pat.” He approached the other man slowly, and Pat’s eyes narrowed and raked his body for a weapon. “Don’t worry. I won’t touch you.”

“Who will? Vince?”

Ramsey shrugged. “Get your affairs in order, Pat.”

The older man exhaled deep and nodded once. “Thank you.”

“If you try to run, I’ll find you and I won’t be as forgiving.”

“I’m not going to run.” Pat released a shaky breath. “I just want to make sure my girls are taken care of.” Pat looked back to the tall imposing buildings. “You’ll still protect them?”

“A Dragon always protects his family.”

Pat snorted. “You’re sounding more and more like the old man, Ramsey.”

“Thank you.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.” Pat half turned to him. “My father wasn’t a happy man; he was bitter and calculating. Everyone, except your mother, hated him.”

Ramsey nodded. But his grandfather had kept them alive, and the ones who hadn’t survived, had died by his hand for betraying him.

“Goodnight, Pat.”

Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heels and headed for the glass doors. Otis and Grant stood just inside, waiting for him.

“Ramsey?”

The uncertainty in his uncle’s voice made him halt, and look over his shoulder.

“How long do I have to get my affairs in order?”

“It could be a day, it could be more.”

He nodded, and Ramsey would have continued walking but Pat spoke again, “Tell Hannah I’m sorry.”

“For?”

Pat shrugged and a sad smile touched his lips. “Tell her I lied when I said he had nothing to do with it. She’ll understand.”

Ramsey nodded. His uncle was clearing his conscience. He’d indulge him.

“Is that all?”

“Try to find happiness, Ramsey. Today’s a sad day, but happiness is still out there.” He looked up at the clear sky and bright moon. “I’ve had a good life, a happy life, because of my girls.” Pat turned back to Ramsey. “Life’s fickle. Here today, gone tomorrow.” He smirked. “At least go happy.” With that said, he gave Ramsey his back.

Happiness, Ramsey thought with a derisive snort. His niece was dead. Happiness was something he didn’t deserve.

***

He arrived home fifteen minutes later but Ramsey spent close to thirty minutes in his car, replaying Lily’s funeral in his head. Dressed in a pale blue gown and holding a lone lily in her perfectly placed hands, she’d looked like she was sleeping or faking it. She’d always done that with him when she was little, pretend to sleep until he tickled her “awake”. But today, there would be no tickling her to see her eyes open and her instant smile appear. Today, she’d been sealed into a wooden box, and placed into the earth at her final resting place.

His chest grew tight, the only indication that his heart was still there, his right eye began to twitch and his nose tingled.

Opening his car door, he walked to the elevator and called it. Using his key, he pressed “P” for the penthouse and waited for the doors to close. Within seconds, he stepped into his dark apartment. He was heading for the kitchen in search of a stiff drink when her voice made him halt. Like a moth to a flame, Ramsey was pulled.

When he stepped into the living room, the first thing he saw was her smiling face. They were at the park, and Lily had commandeered the attention of someone’s puppy. Whenever he took Lily to the park, Ramsey usually brought along his video-recorder. She grew so fast, he’d wanted videos to show her when she was older of how adorable she’d been when she was little. Ramsey had been acutely aware that they’d embarrass her, but he hadn’t minded. He’d been looking forward to it.

The sound of crying pulled his attention from the video playing on the large, flat-screen and Ramsey looked down to find Sarah huddled into herself, remote in hand as she rewound and paused the video. Lily was immortalized on the flat screen, a large smile on her face as the puppy licked her cheek. Moving around the sofa, Ramsey sat next to her and gently pried the remote from her hand. Sarah seemed confused at first, but her expression gradually cleared, and she allowed him to turn the video off.

“I’m sorry,
oppa
. I was looking for a movie and found the DVD. It had her name on it.”

“Ssh.” Ramsey pulled her against him and brushed her forehead with his lips. “You don’t apologize to me, Sarah.” Ever.

If she’d attacked him and told him she hated him, Ramsey wouldn’t have blamed her. He was responsible for her daughter’s death. They remained like that for long moments, just holding each other as Sarah cried. When her sniffles grew less frequent, Ramsey asked softly, “Have you eaten?”

Sarah was staying with him indefinitely. When Lily passed, she’d refused to go back to her condo—there were too many memories there—so he’d brought her to his apartment. Bastian still stayed at the condo, but he too had decided the memories were too much, and was putting it on the market.

“
Omunni
made soup,
oppa
,” Sarah replied, her voice hoarse and scratchy. “I had some.”

His mother had come from Seoul for Lily’s funeral and was staying with him as well. It had been a long day. Hannah was likely sleeping.

“That’s good.” In one week, Sarah had dropped ten pounds. Considering she’d always been petite, it was cause for alarm. “You have to stay healthy.”

Sarah’s grip on him tightened and she burrowed closer. “Thank you,
oppa
.”

He didn’t know for what, and Ramsey didn’t feel like asking. She shouldn’t be thanking him for anything, but that was Sarah, polite and respectful. Ramsey didn’t know how long he sat there holding her, but he must have fallen asleep with her in his arms, because the next he knew, light was blinding him and Jezebel was standing directly over them.

“Jezebel?”

He was dreaming, Ramsey decided. The past week had been rife with nightmares, so it was only appropriate that he start dreaming about Jezebel. Was this to be a nightmare too? Would she disappear, and in her place, he’d see a coffin, a tomb, worse yet, her dead, broken body?

“You bastard!” she hissed, shaking her head and looking from his face to his chest. Ramsey looked down. Sarah was there. At some point, he’d kicked off his shoes, put his legs up and rested his back against the arm of the sofa. Sarah had shifted too, as had her robe, and she now lay in a less than graceful sprawl across his body. The position was intimate, and to the woman he was currently avoiding, too intimate. “How hard is it to pick up a phone to let me know you moved on?”

Against his chest, Sarah shifted and moaned. Realizing it was no dream, and somehow, Jezebel Carter was in his apartment, Ramsey gently moved Sarah from him, pulling her open robe closed, and stood. In Jezebel’s eyes, he saw hurt, confusion and anger. So many emotions swirled there it was impossible not to see them.

Without a word, Ramsey gripped her upper arm and pulled her from the living room.

***

Jezebel hadn’t known what to expect when she drove to Ramsey’s apartment at one in the morning, but she’d had a few theories. She doubted she’d get in, considering she didn’t have a key, but if the doorman she knew was working, he’d let her up unless Ramsey specifically told him not to. As luck would have it, he’d been on duty, and on seeing her, had allowed her in and called the elevator for Ramsey’s apartment. He’d done it before countless times and clearly didn’t know that Ramsey was now treating her like a stranger.

When she’d arrived on his floor, she’d still been skeptical. Jezebel had half expected someone to be there, waiting to send her right back down, but the hallway was clear, the glazed double doors as they always were, unlocked.