Lay Me Down to Sleep

Chapter 2

"You want money? That can be arranged."

Chay stirs slightly at the words and wonders who they are aimed at. He doesn't need money. Not anymore. And even when he did, it was never to the point where someone would say something like that to him. 

"I'll give you my bank and routing number. Take everything. Just let him go." 

He knows that voice. It's Kim's voice, except Chay feels too disoriented to feel any way about it. 

"Or do you want something else?" Kim asks, his voice a murmur, "My father, maybe? I can arrange to meet with him. You can kill him as soon as we sit down for lunch. Just let Chay go. You can kill me too, if you want-"

"Kim," Chay groans, then winces as he tries to sit up. Kim's hands are immediately on him.

"Chay?" Kim asks hopefully, "You're awake?"

Chay opens his eyes and looks at his surroundings. It's dark and dingy. They're in a cell with bars. The only other person there is sitting across from their cage, staring at them in silence. 

"What do they want?" Chay asks, "Money?" 

Kim scowls, "I offered it. She won't budge and hasn't even spoken to me, which is unreasonable." 

Chay turns to look at her and glares, "Our brothers will track our phones, you know. They'll figure out where we are."

"Which is why we left them near the house. Yours was broken anyway."

Shit. Of course they left them. But Chay can't focus on it because the voice didn't come from her. It's from a man walking up to her chair. 

"Did you speak to them?" He asks gently. The woman shakes her head. The man smiles down at her, then taps her chin. She obediently tilts her head up. 

"Good."

Then, the man promptly slits her throat and gathers her blood in a jar. 

Chay lets out a shout and Kim immediately forces himself in front of Chay to block his view, to block his throat, Chay doesn't know. But he can feel Kim trembling, like he might be scared too. Chay hasn't had insider knowledge of the ins and outs of the Mafia world for long, but he is pretty sure this isn't a thing. A person letting someone kill them and collect their blood is not a mafia thing. And going by Kim's change in demeanor? Chay knows for a fact it isn't. But before Chay can find the nerve to demand what this is, the man leaves with his full jar in silence, abandoning the woman's body in the lone chair. 

"Kim?" Chay chokes out, then finds himself gripping onto Kim's shirt. Kim tries to put an arm around him, only for Chay's arm to swing back too. 

Right. The handcuffs. It’s probably for the best they don't hug anyway - even at an angle that will work - considering Chay hates him. Although, he doesn't hate Kim right now. His resentment towards Kim doesn't seem important at the moment.