Ch 125 - I'm Your Friend

"All right, don't think about it now. Try to calm down." Seeing that Slayer was distraught, Alex held his shoulders and tried to comfort him. Slowly, he started to relax.

"Let me ask you a question," Alex said. "Who do you think really sees you as an equal? Henry or me?"

"Um—" Slayer thought about it seriously for a moment and said softly, "You."

"Good, good," Alex said, and then he was quiet. He felt that Slayer had made great progress by seeing the truth.

"Do you think that what Henry told you to do was right?" he continued.

"No, but he's my employer, and he saved me. I must do what he says," Slayer replied.

Alex said resolutely, "You know that I'm right. You've been completely brainwashed by him. I hope that you can see that now and that you'll stop helping him do these terrible things in the future." He looked at Slayer and asked him, "Slayer, what's your real name?"

"My name is Daniel Wiseman. Danny."

"Good name," Alex laughed. "You're my friend now, Danny. Let's go out for a few beers some time."

"Friends?" Danny mumbled in a daze. He looked at Alex with a small smile, but he still couldn't believe what he had just said. He asked, "You said I—I'm your friend?"

"Yes, we're friends. Of course," Alex said with a smile.

Danny lowered his head and wiped away his tears. Friend. How much he'd yearned to have a friend over the years.

"A man doesn't cry easily. If you cry again, I'll feel very awkward," Alex said with a smile.

"I wasn't crying," Danny replied. He finally had a friend, and he didn't want to make his new friend feel awkward.

"Danny, if Henry asks you to kill me again, will you do it?"

"No, I won't kill my friends, and I won't let them be bullied either," he answered without hesitation.

"That's great, buddy." As Alex patted his shoulder, Danny's face broke into a broad smile. It was the first genuine smile of his life.

"I should go. If Henry can't find me, he'll get angry," he said to Alex.

"All right, but please remember what I said."

Danny could see no pity, no discrimination, and no mockery in Alex's eyes. There was only friendship.

He nodded and was about to leave when his gaze shot toward Monica.

"Monica, go hug Danny," Alex said to her. Vivian pushed her forward, but Monica tried to hide behind her.

Alex smiled awkwardly at Danny. He could guess how crushed his friend would feel by the child's reaction, so he walked over to her.

He squatted in front of her and said, "Monica, Danny saved you. He's your friend, and it will make him very sad if you're still scared of him."

"But he's a ghost," she said as she hugged Vivian, obviously still afraid of Danny's face. Alex sighed.

Alex got into the car and drove to the police station with Vivian and Monica. They wanted to find out who was behind Monica's abduction and their motive.

The officer in charge of their case led them to the interrogation room. Through the window, they saw that the two kidnappers were being questioned by the police. From the solemn expressions and furrowed brows of the two officers, Alex guessed that the interrogation was not going well.

Two hours later, the officers exited the interrogation room. Alex and Vivian had also finished giving their statements, so they approached the officers and asked them what they had learned from the two suspects.

"They seem to be seasoned criminals. They're not giving much away under interrogation, but don't worry, we have a lot of evidence. They'll definitely end up behind bars," they promised Alex.

"Thank you, officer," Alex said respectfully. Vivian nodded slightly to express her gratitude. Monica was still asking the two officers for banana candies.

"Let's go," Alex suggested to Vivian. It didn't look like there were going to be any answers that day, and it was already dark.

Just as they were leaving the police station, a distinguished-looking man in his forties walked out from an office. All the police officers turned and looked at him with respect.

"Commissioner," one greeted him.

Another said, "Commissioner Hargreaves."

Another simply greeted him, "Boss."

This middle-aged man was the police commissioner. He acknowledged his subordinates with a nod. His brows were deeply creased, and he was clearly worried.

The commissioner addressed the two officers who had been interviewing the suspects and whispered a few words to them. Finally, he waved his hand and said, "Go."

They walked reluctantly to the holding cell.

When the commissioner saw Alex and the others, he walked over and said, "I'm so sorry about this. I want to convict these men, but it's been taken out of my hands. I'm under a lot of pressure from my seniors."

Alex and Vivian didn't understand what the commissioner was apologizing about. Then they saw the two suspects smugly walking out from the detention cell.

Vivian grabbed Alex's arm and asked in shock, "Commissioner, you're not releasing them?"

The commissioner could only grimace and reiterate, "Sorry, it's out of my hands."

One of the suspects walked up to Vivian and said brashly, "Hey, Miss Carter, we meet again."

"You wanted to leave, now leave," the commissioner cursed angrily. He was struggling to hold on to his temper with these two thugs.

One of the suspects said, "Commissioner Hargreaves, you'd better treat us with a bit more respect. If Mr. Granger wants your badge, he only has to say the word to the chief." He was sure that Dale Granger was behind their release.

The commissioner could only glare at them and try to suppress his anger. He knew that he couldn't afford to lose his temper with the two suspects.

"You coward," one of them scoffed arrogantly at the commissioner before shifting his gaze to Monica, who was hiding behind Vivian. With a sinister smile, he said, "Little girl, I didn't get to keep you this time, but watch out. I'll definitely be coming for you again."

As he spoke, he moved to pinch Monica's cheeks.

A figure stood in front of him. When he looked up, he saw Alex's face glaring at him with a stone-cold smile.

Although Alex had beaten them before, now that they knew they had Dale Granger's support, they were no longer afraid of him.

One of them pointed at Alex and spat out, "Get out of my way. Do you know who I work for? If you don't move right now, I guarantee you'll regret it."

Alex replied calmly, "Really? No, I have no idea who you scum work for. Why don't you tell us?"

The other suspect said to Alex, "I think you must have a death wish. Listen, we work for Mr. Dale Granger. Now are you afraid?"

"I don't know anything about Dale Granger, but from where I'm standing, you're just a couple of scumbags who don't deserve any respect." Alex's eyes showed a trace of coldness. He asked himself, who is Dale Granger? What does he have to do with everything that's been going on?

The suspect stood in front of Alex, shouting, "Screw you, you crazy piece of shit. You want to hit me? Go on then."

"Bam." Alex beat him down to the ground with a punch.

"Damn, you really do want a fight?" the other suspect said in surprise. Before he could say anything else, Alex's fist landed on his nose, and he instantly joined his friend on the ground.

The two suspects pointed at Alex and complained to Hargreaves, "Commissioner Hargreaves, he hit us right under your nose. Quick, arrest him."

"Commissioner, you heard them yourself. They asked me to hit them," Alex said innocently. Then he thanked the police officers, said goodbye, and left with Vivian and Monica.

Watching them go, the commissioner sighed. He had been under pressure to let the two suspects go. The reason for the order was that they were hoping that they would lead them to capture much bigger fish. Their real goal was to bring down the whole criminal gang that these two lowlifes were part of.

Alex took a cab home with Vivian and Monica.

Vivian cooked dinner and then coaxed Monica to sleep.

Alex was sitting on the sofa in the living room when Vivian came out of her daughter's bedroom. He called her over.

"Why has someone been coming into your home and assaulting you?" Alex asked gravely.

"What?" she looked flustered. "What are you talking about? Who has been coming into my home?"

"Vivian, stop lying to me. Today, Monica told me that men sometimes come into your home, drag you into the bedroom, and beat you up."

When she heard that he already knew about her situation, Vivian sat down on the sofa dejectedly.

"What's going on? Tell me. Maybe I can help you," Alex said gently.

"You can't help me, but I will tell you what's going on," she said calmly. "I used to be in a relationship with this great guy. We were very happy. He was well respected by everyone, and he protected me. No one would dare bother me while he was around."

She continued, "But then, something happened, and he was forced to leave New York. Without his protection, I started to get harassed—"

"Who is this man? Why did he abandon you?" Alex asked. His first thought was that this must be a scumbag.

"It's not that he abandoned me. He had no choice but to leave." She looked at Alex and continued, "Do you know about the Azure Dragon Society? He was one of the society's leaders. Two months ago, the society was completely demolished by a guy from one of the city's powerful families. No one from the society was allowed to stay in New York, so my partner had to leave."

The Azure Dragon Society. Alex was stunned when he heard this. He and Ken Stokes had been responsible for the extermination of the Azure Dragon Society. He realized that the guy Vivian was talking about, who forced her boyfriend away, was him. He said stupidly, "I heard that the Azure Dragon Society was one of the poisonous tumors of New York. Surely this young guy did a good thing?"

"A good thing?" Vivian's eyes were cold as she said angrily, "He forced my man to leave and is therefore personally responsible for my situation. What's so good about that? Why do you think everyone from the Azure Dragon Society must be bad? My partner is a good and honest man."

She continued, "After the Azure Dragon Society was destroyed, all the gangs of New York, big and small, rose up again. When my man fled, there was no one to protect me. They come to my house whenever they feel like it under the pretext of collecting protection fees from me. I am just a woman; I can't do anything to stop them."

Vivian's tears were falling to the ground like pearls from a broken necklace.