1. Life And Death #2
I think back over the past year and try to pinpoint when exactly our relationship went sour.
We moved in the same social circle for months and he never took issue with my friendship with Damiano.
In fact, he remained indifferent toward me most of the time.
Friendly but dispassionate and without warmth, regarding me with the same politeness he did everyone else.
It wasn’t until Rian and I began dating seriously that the dynamic between us turned acrimonious.
At first I thought it was jealousy and later distrust. But now…
“You knew the whole time…” I whisper.
Li lowers the gun beneath my coat and presses the barrel into my chest. “Dahlia was beautiful, well-educated, and somehow managed to infiltrate our inner circle despite coming from a low-class background. How on earth does a person go from penniless nobody to living in a multi-million-dollar townhouse in the most expensive city in the world seemingly overnight? Didn’t take a genius to figure out that her money was coming from somewhere, or rather, someone.
“A little extra digging and what do you know? Her mysterious benefactor is none other than our dear friend Alejandro Narvaez. The other scapegoat I had in mind. Imagine my surprise when I figured out that your latest sex toy was Narvaez’s kept woman.
God, the drama was so delicious I couldn’t help but sit back and watch it all unfold. ”
“Dahlia has nothing to do with this.” Rian says once more. “She didn’t force you to betray me.”
“No, but she certainly made it easier. Don’t get me wrong,” Li amended. “I felt guilty…setting you up to take the fall wasn’t easy.”
“So then why?” Rian’s fists clench at his side. “Thirty years, Li…there’s a picture of our mothers pregnant with us on your fireplace mantel. How could you do this to me?”
Li taps the barrel against my chest, the movement almost thoughtful.
“Rian slept in a bunkbed growing up. Did you know that, Dahlia? And as soon as he was old enough, his father made him get a job. Didn’t even help him find one either.
Rian worked at a hardware store in Queens all four years of high school.
He wasn’t even allowed to ask the family driver to pick him up so he had to take a bus and two trains to get home.
Can you imagine it? A proper prince of New York slumming it like a typical blue-collar pauper. ”
I’m not sure what Li’s getting at and it appears neither does Rian. Nonetheless he remains engrossed by the story Li weaves, all the while I slip my hand into my pocket, remembering I may have one more trick up my sleeve.
“The O’Neils could buy half the Manhattan skyline and still have money to burn but they lived like modest Quakers. Which was ironic because by the time Rian and I grew up and he came into his inheritance, we swapped roles completely.”
Deep within the inner folds of my coat pocket, my fingers wrap around the small, slim tube I thought was lost in the scuffle in Li’s car.
My lipstick.
“You see, my father was a banker. He was up there with the Ray Dalios and Abigail Johnsons of the world. Until the financial crisis of ’08 bankrupted him and the business he sold his soul to build.
I went from eating with a silver spoon to wearing Rian’s hand-me-downs.
School uniforms are expensive and Rian went through so many growth spurts as a kid, he grew out of his clothes before he even got to wear them. ”
“Is that why you did all this?” Rian asks. “You’re bitter because you had to wear my school uniforms as a kid?”
Li tsks and looks at me. “He still doesn’t get it.”
“Then fucking explain it to me!”
In an instant, Li yanks his gun out from under my coat and aims it at Rian. “Do you know what it’s like? Knowing you’re beholden to other people? To their wealth and the control they wield over your life? Your father had mine in his pocket. Trapped him there for years.”
“You ungrateful bastard,” Rian seethes. “We saved you. My father couldn’t save your dad’s bank but he paid off Jian’s personal debt which kept you and your mother off the streets. And we never held it against you!”
“Never held it against me but still felt the need to remind me that it was Patrick O’Neil’s generosity that kept us ‘off the streets’.
” Li tilts his head thoughtfully. “I was going to save you eventually, you know. I’m not completely heartless.
Sure, you would’ve taken the fall for the bank fraud and maybe even the narcotics but I would’ve hired an army of lawyers and bought every juror and judge from here to kingdom come to make it as easy on you as possible.
You’d have suffered in a white-collar prison for a few years to appease my ego and as soon as I secured full control of my enterprises and established financial independence, I was going to get you out. Until…”
I pop the cap off the lipstick tube and gently roll it between my fingertips. A thin blade pricks the tip of my fingers and I have to hold in a sigh of relief.
Li’s freehand rises until it’s at my throat. He closes his fingers around my windpipe and squeezes.
“You started taking her side over mine.” He hisses between gritted teeth.
“The fact that you allowed her to swindle that pistol out from under me and made no attempt to get it back after you found out…Did you really think I was going to tolerate being sidelined for some low-class slut who’s been passed around Manhattan more times than a blunt at a college frat party? ”
“Come up with a new insult, Li,” I tell him. “Cheap shots at my sex life are tired and old.”
“No more tired than that machine between your legs. Tell me something. After you—”
I pull my hand out of my pocket and plunge the pocketknife into his thigh.
A howl of pain leaves his lips and I spin around in his grasp, yank the pocketknife out, and ram it into his right eye.
The blade is short and almost useless which is why I didn’t aim anywhere vital like his chest or head.
But his eye would certainly stop him in his tracks.
Li cries out as he yanks the knife out of his eye and I almost think to disarm him but can’t risk a struggle over the weapon. If it goes off, it could kill me.
“Dahlia, move!”
I spin around and Rian makes for his gun. I turn to run but Li grabs me by the scalp with his bloody hand and although Rian reaches his gun in time, he isn’t fast enough. Li lifts his arm and fires his weapon.
A scream tears through me. “Rian!”
Moans of agony echo across the empty park as Rian rolls over in the snow and attempts to get to his feet. Blood oozes from an injury in his thigh at an alarming pace. No matter how many times Rian tries to stand, he collapses onto the ice. Oh my God…Li must’ve hit an artery.
On cue, he yanks me back by my hair and presses his bloody lips against my cheek as he speaks. “It’s a pity both of your lovers couldn’t be here. I’d have loved to see the look on Narvaez’s face when I blow your fucking brains out.”
“Fuck you,” I spit in his direction. “I’m coming for your other eye next.”
At that, he manages to laugh. “Oh really?”
Li spins us around and aims his gun.
“Because I think we just entered the final act.” He yells across the bridge, “Drop the gun, Narvaez!”
Alejandro stops in his tracks. In the commotion, he managed to sneak onto the bridge undetected but was likely unwilling to take a shot when he knew he risked hitting either Rian or me. With a clenched jaw, he lowers his weapon and lifts his hands to demonstrate his surrender.
“I’m going to give you the choice between life or death.”
“Li…” I plead quietly.
But he already has his gun pressed against my temple.
“Gun to your head: Alejandro or Rian?”