“And what does Grant say about all of this?”
Qiang shrugs. “That he could leave an anonymous tip to have an investigation started, but with how meticulous Sterling is, they’d most likely find nothing and just have him put up more barriers to make it even harder to trap him if something usable did happen to surface in the future.
“Even when Sterling brought it up to me, he didn’t expressly say anything damning. He hedged his words, used double meanings, facial expressions, and body language to express his intentions and desires without actually explicitly saying anything concrete, beyond the blatant request for me to not only step aside so he could assault my baby brother, but for me to facilitate the meeting for him to do so. But I wasn’t exactly recording him at the time, so it’s my word against his.”
“I wasn’t asking about that aspect of it. You’re obviously holding on to a heavy amount of blame for what Sterling has been doing behind closed doors, simply because you know it happens and have no way to speak out or prove it. What does Grant say about that? Especially since his advice seems to be leaning towards you getting the pain off your chest by leaning on others and telling Qi the truth ofwhat happened. That doesn’t sound like the advice a professional would give to someone in a situation like this if they felt they were in the wrong and should pay a price for it, does it?” I point out.
Qiang swallows hard, their eyes meeting mine with so many emotions it’s hard to grasp them. The pain is so visceral I can feel the barbs of it in my skin. I run my thumbs across their cheekbones, gathering the lingering tears on their face as I seek out their eyes.
“And all this time you’ve lived with the devastating knowledge that that man is hurting children, and even propositioned you to hand your baby brother over to him on a silver platter. Maybe you knew Qi was safe and that you protected him. But what about protecting yourself from the trauma of having an adult actively ask you to give your kid brother’s innocence over to him? Or to know what that man has been doing behind closed doors all along?”
Qiang shakes their head, at a loss for words as they break down the rest of the way, and a painful sob tears its way out of their body. The sound shatters my heart as it splinters at the thought of what they’ve held on to all on their own for so many years. No wonder tackling their trauma over Kingston was left untended to, when part of their brain knew that, to tackle that, they’d eventually have to tackle this too.
I reach over and pull Qiang into my arms, their legs landing on either side of my thighs as their head nestles against my chest. Under any other circumstances, I’d be over the moon, but right now, I just want to set the whole fucking world on fire.
Qiang’s cries ring through the room, bouncing off the walls and coating every surface with the veracity of their pain. Years of holding this inside. Of surviving behind a wall of apathy. Of surviving without really living because the reality of being that tangibly close to something so horrific had crippled them.
Eventually, as it always does, the well runs dry. The hysteria in Qiang’s cries dies down, but they remain curled against my chest. The violent shaking of their body as heartrending sobs tremble through them slowly fade into quiet little hiccups and wavering breaths.
“Everything is going to be okay. I’m here now,” I murmur in their ear while running my fingers through their hair.
They nestle their face deeper into my chest, and I feel the vibration of their question more than hear it.
“How can this ever be okay?” they rasp out, their throat raw from their tears.
“Because I told you before, they are going to get theirs.”
“Marcus–” they start to chide me as they pull away from me enough for me to see their face.
Their pretty eyes are bloodshot, their cheeks blotchy, and moisture still clings to their eyelashes. They are, as always, the prettiest sight I’ve ever seen, both internally and externally, and it only strengthens my conviction as I stare at them now and see nothing but the strength and fortitude they have to fight their way back to the surface after being submerged in apathy and avoidance for so long.
I reach out and cup their cheeks, my thumbs wiping away the tracks of tears and runny makeup that have stained their face.
“I swear on the first football I ever held, Qiang, if you seriously get all bristly about me getting involved right now–” I huff out a bit before taking a steadying breath.
“I’ve told you, you’re a part of my family. It doesn’t matter what our relationship is; it’s always going to be tied from here on out. And Tristan and I have already been investigating Kingston and his father for weeks now, but you just told us where to look. Trust me, he isn’t gonna get away with this for much longer.”
Qiang shakes their head. “How? We have no proof, and even if we did, he’s the kind of man who can escape punishment. He’s got officials in his back pocket that can help him lose evidence, drag investigations out, get cases overturned, make people disappear; you can’t just throw justice at him and expect it to play out,” they say, and I realize how deeply they have thought about finding a way to turn him in.
I nod and lean my forehead against theirs. “You’re right. We live in a society that gives the rich and the powerful the means to hide behind cloaks and daggers and get away with the most horrid ofcrimes, even when they are thrust right in the public’s face for all to see. But Qiang, power has levels, and my family, Tristan’s family, and even Darryl’s family are all higher up the chain than the Adairs are. Trust me, now that we know what we’re looking for, they will be handled.”
Qiang swallows hard, a hitch in their breath racks through them, and they slowly shake their head.
“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt by this,” they say, fear evident in every facet of their voice.
“Well, one, people are going to keep getting hurt if wedon’tdo anything. And two, if anyone has the power to do something, it’s Tristan and me. We can fix this. We can make sure he never hurts anyone else, and we can make him pay for the harm he’s already caused.
“And you’ll be able tobreathe, Qiang. No more ghosts; we’ll chase them all out,” I tell them, running my hands through their hair and slowly pushing it behind their ears.
“I don’t like it,” I hear their words tangled in a heavy sigh that forces its way out of them before their body slumps exhaustedly back into mine.
They burrow their cheek into my chestbone, and I reach my arms around their waist and just hold them. I open my mouth to reassure them, but I hear the front door open and know that there are more important matters to attend to at the moment.
I pull Qiang in a bit deeper, trying to transmit however much strength I have into them, because I know they’re going to have to have this conversation all over again.
“What’s going on?”
Qiang must not have heard them come in because they startle at the sound of Qi’s voice. Qiang lifts their head, and I hear a sharp intake of breath when Qi sees Qiang’s face, full of tear tracks and makeup streaks.
