Page 134 of No Greater Oblivion

His henchman sit up front and I watch them make eye contact through the rearview mirror. Li flicks his chin and the driver nods before pulling out of his parking spot and making his way down the street.

“Where we going?” I ask.

“Around.” Li glances out the window. “We could do a little sight-seeing.”

“I’m a native. There isn’t shit I haven’t already seen.” I plaster on a saccharine smile. “Do you mind? I have plans for tonight.”

Li ignores me, so I take a minute to observe my surroundings.

The car’s windows are blacked out and all the doors are locked. I haven’t seen any weapons, but Li and the others could easily be hiding guns in their bulky winter coats. Surprisingly, they didn’t check any of my pockets or my purse but it wouldn’t have mattered if they did. The only thing I have on me is a tube of lipstick that turns into a knife but the blade is no longer than my thumb. Hardly capable of any significant damage and it’d be wiser to keep its existence a secret for now.

God, I hope Alejandro hasn’t hung up. I wish there was a way for me to check but I can’t run the risk of Li seeing my phone.

I look outside and take note of the street signs. We’re on Park Avenue heading south and ride in silence for about thirteen blocks or so when we reach 79th Street and make a right.

“We’re on 79th and Park,” I say aloud. “This isn’t the direction to the lounge. Why are we going this way?”

“I told you, we’re going for a ride.”

We take all of 79th street and I expect us to make another turn somewhere but we don’t. Instead, we drive straight through and into Central Park.

“Alejandro is expecting me at his hotel, and you’ve already made me late. I’m not taking a stroll through Central Park with you.”

“Rian’s tolerance of you is a mystery to me. You’re almost as insufferable as you are pretty, though I suspect the latter is the root of his obsession with you.” He reaches out to graze my cheek and when I try to pull away, he lets a strand of hair curl around his finger and tugs. “He’s always had a weakness for nice toys. As children, he envied the way my parents indulged my every desire whereas his father forced him to live in modesty. Can you imagine it? A proper prince of New York living like a blue-collar pauper.”

“Your attitudes toward social classes are antiquated.”

He laughs abruptly. “Antiquated? What a big word. Perhaps you aren’t just pretty after all.”

“My IQ level is higher than the number of inches on those hideous shoe lifts you’re wearing,” I remark. “Judging by how we’re almost eye level today, I’d say it’s a lot.”

Li brings his right arm around and strikes the side of my face hard enough to make my ears ring. A gasp leaves my lips and I collapse against the door behind me, clutching my cheek and momentarily too stunned to speak.

Li has never raised a hand to me before. No one ever has. Fear should force me into submission but my blood boils and simmers with the desire to get even.

“I much preferred handpicking Rian’s sluts for him. They were quiet and far more malleable.” He reaches into his pocket for something. “Give me your hand.”

“No.”

Without warning, he lunges across the backseat and tries to pin me down. One hand wraps around my throat and he applies pressure to my windpipe when I try to scream. The car passes under one of the park’s bridges and the streetlights are few and far between which means when I try to reach into my pocket and the lipstick weapon inside, I lose track of it in the darkness. Kicking and scratching at whatever I can grab hold of, Li manages to get the upper hand by applying all his weight my ribcage. Trapped in an uncomfortable position with my head against the door and my back on the leathers seats, I still manage to land a hard punch to Li’s face. His head whips back and I hear the crack of bone and cartilage. Blood drips onto my face followed by the harsh sting of a needle piercing the flesh of my upper arm.

Whatever he’s injected me with is swift and powerful. My limbs go numb almost immediately and I can feel the slowing of my heart in my chest.

My phone, where’s my phone.

Where is it?

“Alejandro!” I say his name as loud as I can. “Alex…”

My pocket. I put my phone in my pocket.

I try reaching for it but my arms are numb. Li yanks me upward by the collar of my coat and starts searching me frantically.

“You bitch,” he seethes. “Where is it!”

“We…we’re driving…79th street…the park—Li drugged⁠—”

Another hand strikes me across the face and this time I fall off the backseat, landing on the floor. I try to prop myself up but my fingers tingle and my legs are deadweight. Li’s hands continue to scour my body and the many layers of my winter clothes until he finally finds my phone.