𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐄 | 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴

22: To Seek Forgiveness

"A loan shark?" Craig blinks, visibly taken aback. "And how exactly did you find out about this?"

"He's harassing someone I know," Kai replies. "We don't need scumbags like him roaming these streets. I'm sure he's ruining a bunch of other people's lives too. You can look into it and arrest him, right?"

Craig frowns. "Since when do you care about helping others? You're always telling me you can't stand the people in this city, and that they're constantly getting under your skin. As far as I know, you don't have any close friends."

Kai scowls. Being called a friendless loser-even if that's technically what he is-doesn't exactly feel great. Especially when it's coming from his own father.

"I have friends," Kai denies. Craig tilts his head to the side and gives him a dubious look, which makes Kai clench his fists in response. "Shut up. Sometimes I do actually hang out with people, okay? Anyways, it's this girl I know. She's being screwed over by that Johnny asshole, and since I'm going to be a cop one day, I figured it can't hurt to start making a difference early on."

"Hm. I see. So, this is about a girl."

Craig nods in understanding, and Kai's cheeks reflexively flush. His stupid dad is getting the wrong idea about this entirely. It's not that Kai likes you or anything. He just wants to prove to you that he's a much better guy than you could possibly imagine. It's time for you to accept how amazing he is. That's all there is to it.

"Just whatever," Kai grits out. "I don't know much else about him besides his name and what he looks like, but I'm sure [Name] can give me more details. Once I have more to go off, can you open up an investigation on him?"

"Is that the name of the girl you like?" Craig muses.

"Huh? Who the fuck said I like her? She's kind of cute, I guess, but she's constantly got a stick up her ass," Kai huffs, crossing his arms like a bratty teen. "I mean, I'd be down to sleep with her and all that, but it's not like-"

"Stop, stop," Craig groans. He buries his face in the palms of his hands and furiously shakes his head. "No more. Please spare me the details. I get the gist of the situation. This girl has unfortunately gotten involved with a loan shark, and you want to do something about it."

"Yeah, basically," Kai nods.

"Alright. Good on you for being concerned about someone else," Craig praises.

Kai smiles widely.

"...but unfortunately, I won't be able to help you with this."

And just like that, his smile drops.

"What the hell do you mean?" Kai blinks repeatedly, not understanding. "You're the Commissioner, for fuck's sake. You're the big man in charge of all the police. If you wanted to launch an investigation, do you seriously expect me to believe you don't have the power to pull it off?"

"No, I have the power," Craig admits. "There's just no benefit to doing this. I don't think you realize how difficult it is to find actual evidence against these kinds of people. They aren't morons. How do you think they get by without being arrested for their crimes? Most of them use a front for their business, and they hide any and all proof of their loan sharking. Not to mention that their victims have no intention of stepping forward as witnesses. They're too scared of the repercussions. Without actual evidence, I can't arrest anyone. Even if I were to launch an investigation on this man, there's a good chance he would catch on. Do you really want to take that risk and put the girl you like in danger? Because once we start looking into him, he'll know someone ratted him out. And then it's only a matter of time before he goes after the people he suspects."