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Manny groans.
“You won’t be so lucky,” JD spits at him.
“Did you get the shooter?” I ask.
“We got the name. He’s PSB. We’ll catch up with him.”
Manny looks to me again. “I didn’t mean f-for you to get hurt, Darren. Honest.”
A mix of emotion renders me unable to respond right away. A small part of me pities Manny. He’s family. His mom and my mom are friends.
But I’m also furious. I was going to give the motherfucker another loan. Instead, I got shot.
“I just—I wanted…opportunity. It had n-nothing to do with you,” Manny continues.
I believe him. It makes sense. But he’s delusional if he thinks Hao Young will promote him just because JD’s out of the way. Or maybe Manny just finally snapped after years of being bullied by JD. He has no real issue with me, unless he resents that I haven’t done enough for him or that I’m closer to JD. Either way, he’s full of shit.
“Darren, p-please…”
“You think Darren’s going to save your sorry ass?” JD asks before driving a right hook into Manny, knocking two of his teeth out.
JD stumbles from the force of his own blow but regains his balance.
“You were always a sorry piece of ass,” JD continues. “You’re going to die a sorry piece of ass.”
Manny pleads with me. “Darren…”
I take in his bruised face, split lip, the blood dripping onto his designer suit. What if it had been Bridget’s blood that had been spilled on the pavement outside my club? What if I hadn’t pushed her out of the way in time?
Fury wins out.
“You could have killed Bridget,” I tell him.
“Fuck Bridget. You could have died,” JD says.
“I didn’t mean to,” Manny whines between coughs that spray more blood onto his clothes.
“Doesn’t matter,” I reply coldly. “Your stupid stunt could have gotten us all killed.”
I turn away and head out. Behind me, I hear JD going to town on Manny. By the time JD’s done, there might not be enough teeth left in Manny for the coroner to ID his body.
For a second, I consider turning back. But I can’t let the police have Manny. I can’t trust that Manny won’t go rogue. And I can’t trust Manny to be on the loose, either. What if he makes another shoddy attempt on JD again? What if Bridget and I aren’t so lucky next time?
I head outside with Marshall. The door closes behind us. A few seconds later, I hear several muffled gunshots.
We get in the car, and Marshall starts the engine.
“I need a minute,” I say.
“It had to be done, boss,” Marshall tells me.
“I know.”
It’s facing Bridget that’s going to be the hard part.
