“I tried to stop it, but Kingston purposely shoved me to the ground to make Qi snap. What Kingston didn’t take into account was that Qi’s a fighter. He’d been taking karate classes and earning belts with so many colors and stripes I lost count and don’t even know which one he was wearing at the time.
“So, when he lost control of his temper completely, he punched Kingston until Kingston stopped moving. I knew he was alive and still breathing when I finally pried Qi off of him, but I knew there was no way Kingston’s pride would let the humiliation pass when he woke up.
"I needed to get Qi out of there and figure out something quick because between Kingston’s recollection and the surveillance cameras, there was no denying what Qi had done.”
Qiang curls up more, bringing their feet up on the couch in frontof them and leaning forward to lay their head down on their knees, their eyes meeting mine.
“Qi had never trusted Kingston. Not for a moment. He’d tell me all the time things he’d see Kingston do that rubbed him the wrong way. What I didn’t realize was that Qi had been slowly taking pictures and videos and saving them to a thumb drive. Not just of Kingston’s indiscretions, but also little snippets of us together. I don’t know why he thought doing that was necessary, but between Kingston and my ongoing text threads, and the things Qi had saved, there was enough to leave no doubt about the nature of our relationship.
“He’d shown me the thumb drive as soon as he’d found out what happened. He believed Kingston should have had the same punishment, if not more, than I did, and he thought the thumb drive would be the proof we needed to make sure that happened. Instead, after what went down in the alleyway, I knew how the thumb drive really needed to be used.
“While Qi slept, I grabbed it and snuck out of the house. There was a housekeeper Kingston had that I knew would tell me where he was, and that’s how I knew which hospital to find him at.
“I had hoped to use the thumb drive to threaten Kingston into not pressing charges against Qi. Out of everything that happened, if there was anything I believed, it was that he was terrified of his dad finding out that he was bisexual.”
They stop for a moment, the memories playing behind their eyes. Their eyes glisten, and their shoulders stiffen, and somehow I know we’re getting to the part that has Qiang in knots.
“But when I got there, his dad, Sterling Adair, stopped me. Before I could even tell him what I had against Kingston, he approached me and told me he knew of his son’s unnatural indiscretions, as he called it.
“Sterling was trying to scare it out of him, or some stupid shit like that. I don’t know. I think in his mind, he believed if Kingston continued to live in fear, that he’d still screw around with guys on the down low, but only go public with hetero relationships, which kept Sterling’s cookie-cutter pristine family image up front and center.
“And of course, Sterling knew everything else. He knew who had put Kingston in the hospital and why, so he knew I’d eventually show up to beg for Kingston’s silence in exchange for mine. So Sterling came prepared with terms of his own to barter with me.
“He thought he had complete control of the situation. He didn’t know what I had. He told me that men like him could do whatever they wanted, as long as the public didn’t get hold of it. And then that’s when he told me he’d make sure Qi didn’t suffer the consequences of his actions earlier that night if I introduced them,” Qiang grates out with fury and disgust on their face.
I furrow my brow, an alarm ringing in my head that I know what this is leading to, and I want to recoil because it’s one of those things that are so completely unnatural that it sickens the system and twists the brain at the very notion that it does, in fact, exist.
“Introduce who?”
Qiang swallows, a tear falling down their face before they sniffle. “Introduce Qi to Sterling.”
“What for?”
I already know the answer, but my brain is hoping with everything I have that I’m wrong. Qiang blinks, fighting back tears, but there are too many, and they start falling.
“Because hewantedhim, Marcus. Sterling isn’t into men; he’s intoboys. Qi was only fourteen at the time. He was barely taller than me, and with all the child youth still in his face, he looked even younger than that. It was ironically devastating that he had the audacity to call Kingston’s indiscretions unnatural and then turned around to seek after Qi, which was just so completely worse on every level.”
For a moment, I trip on the words that confirmed my worst fears. Cade said there were rumors of the father being a different kind of evil. I doubt he knows about this particular one, though, because I feel he would have mentioned it if he had. I’ll have to message him later to see if he can find anything linking Sterling to more children.
“He wanted to trade Qi’s potential criminal record for Qi paying him with more intimate services,” Qiang continues when I remain silent for a moment. “Of course, you know me; I flew into an all-outrage fit at that. I told him all about the thumb drive and warned him that if either he or his son came after me or any member of my family, I’d make damn sure it hit every social and live media outlet. I’d make damn sure it grew too big for him to contain it, and he’d have to watch his image get blown apart.”
“And he let it go just like that?” I probe, because rich men and pride are a concoction that leaves devastation in its wake. The sting of losing a prospect usually prickles the pride because it challenges their deluded belief that they rule the world or some shit.
“Sterling Adair’s image is everything to him, and his son presenting the same image is equally important. So, I promised my silence about Kingston’s sexuality for Qi’s safety. The only one who knew he’d lost Qi was me, and I was definitely not worth his pride. And with men like the Adairs, there are always options. Qi’s price came too high; there are others for him to choose from that didn’t come with such high stakes.” Qiang’s mouth twists at the end, and I know the statement isn’t a careless one being made to justify making Qi undesirable, but disparagement that a man can get away with such abhorrent things.
“Do you have proof?” It’s an almost callous question at the moment, but if they do, it’d be an amazing point to start from with taking Sterling down, because there is no longer a question ofifanymore. Even if I can’t find the proof, I’ll find a way to make goddamn sure he never lays a hand on another child again, even if it means cutting his dick off myself and shoving it down his throat to choke on it.
Qiang lets out a sardonic snort. “Do you think his reputation would be intact if I did? Without proof, there was nothing I could do. I mean, who am I? Just some middle-class kid who just got kicked out of their high school halls for an explicit sex tape of their own, against someone like Sterling Adair? He would have destroyed my family and me, and there wouldn’t have even been the beginning of an investigation into the accusations.”
They turn and look at me imploringly with tears streaming down their face. “How many kids has he hurt in the four years I’veknown him for the kind of predator he is, and I’ve never said a word.”
And now I know the true root of Qiang’s trauma. They’ve hyperfixated it onto Kingston because Kingston was the stone that led them to the real horror. The heart of Qiang’s pain is right here, buried so deep that they’ve hidden it in a cocoon of a false trauma to protect themself from the hell within the hell. And in true Qiang-like fashion, they blame themself for this evil as well, as though they’d ever had an ounce of control over it.
I reach out and tuck a strand of their hair behind their ear, taking the time to drift my fingers soothingly along the shape of their face.
“Qiang, without proof, what could you have done?”
“I don’t know, but it’s always felt like I should have donesomething. If knowledge means power, then why is it not enough? I don’t know how I could have stopped him, but with his money and connections, every road I could think of was a dead end,” they say quietly.
