Lux had been hospitalized for a week before being emitted back to her parents. In that time police were in and out the the room to further their "abduction" investigation but left with no new information. Lux's parents became angry with the detectives knowing that their daughter didn't remember anything and just wanted to go home. She cried to them and said she couldn't remember what happened no matter how hard she tried. They believed Lux and told the cops to leave her and their family alone.

"I brought this for you." Yuji held out a picture frame that had a graduation diploma displayed on the inside. "Since you're gonna miss graduation."

Lux reached out and stared at the piece of paper that she had worked so hard for. She must have resided her valedictorian speech at least a hundred times in the mirror only for it all to mean nothing in the end, just like her perfect attendance record that had gone down the drain. Lux tossed the award to the corner of the room like it was a piece of dirty laundry and went back to cleaning out her backpack that shared no purpose to her now that the school year was practically over. Yuji looked over at the diploma with a sad frown.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, not knowing what else he could say.

"How am I supposed to be feeling? My arms broken. My body hurts. I'm not going to be able to walk the stage to receive my diploma. Do you even know how embarrassing it'll be to go out there looking like this?" Lux stopped herself before she would begin screaming. All of her hard work was wasted and the girl she competed against her entire school career was going to be the one speaking for the graduating class on her behalf. "I just want to hide and be left alone."

While the two teens talked, downstairs Lux's mother was arguing with Voight to leave their house. She and her husband had made it clear to the police that Lux didn't have anything else to say, so prying her was pointless. "Lux has been through a lot." Her mother said, "If she can't remember then what's the point of asking the same question every day?" Voight sighed and gave Lux's mom a look that she knew all too well. "You think she's lying?"

"It's a gut feeling."

"Why would she? Lux is a good girl. We raised her to tell the truth."

"Have you noticed any changes in her behavior at all?"

Lux's mother thought back to the talks she's had with her daughter about staying out late, the attitude, the new revealing clothes. She mainly wanted to forget when cleaning out Lux's room she had found condoms and birth control but that was something in Lux's life that she couldn't stop. "She's seventeen. Going on eighteen in a few weeks. What girl that age doesn't act rebellious?"

Voight could tell that the woman was in denial about the possibility of her daughter not being as well behaved as she had hoped for. She'd rather have that perfect image of Lux in her head than taint it with the truth. "Has Lux ever mentioned a boyfriend?"

"No." She answered quickly with a straight face. "Lux doesn't have time for a boyfriend."

"Do you know any of her friends? Any that give you a bad vibe?"

"Lux has only ever been friends with Oz. And she's friends now with that boy upstairs. They seem like good kids." As she went through the mental list of people that Lux had mentioned, there was one name that stood out to her. "Oh. There's Sing. Sing Soo Ling. You've had encounters with his older brother in the past. Lux would tutor Sing before he got kicked out of school. You think he has something to do with this?"

Voight recalled the conversation outside the hospital with Shorter. He knew the mafia boss was behind this, he just needed the evidence to move further. "Couldn't say. Has Lux ever ran away before?"

"No. She's a good child. A happy one. There's no reason for her to run away."

"What about sneaking out?"

Lux's mother paused. Every other night she could hear voices coming from Lux's room. She and her husband would write it off as Lux watching tv but it got to a point where she figured that she had someone visiting her. "Like I said. She's a teenager doing normal teenage things."

"So that's a yes."

She sighed and went over to sit on the couch where Voight joined her. "I know she's been leaving with a boy but what am I going to do to stop it? Lux will find a way to do what she wants. She's almost eighteen and going to be out on her own pretty soon. My husbands the one that doesn't want to accept the fact that we're not going to be in control of her life forever. It's best to just let go now."

"Do you know who the boy is?"

"Not at first but it has to be Yuji, seeing that he's here now and visited the hospital a few times."

Voight sighed, "I've got reason to believe that your daughter has been seeing Shorter Wong."

That name was infamous within the criminal justice department. The King of Chinatown and his comrades in the Chinese Mafia were at the top of the list of criminal organizations that needed to be taken down.

Lux's parents worked as defense attorneys, and it was common for their office to be asked to represent a troubled Chinese boy accused of gang activity. Lux's father and she had previously worked with some of these boys to prevent them from going to jail, regardless of their guilt, as long as they had the money to pay for their services. Mr. Lee, The Main Head, who funded some of these boys, had money to burn.

"How long have you suspected that?"

"A few weeks. We've been investigating the mafia and an informant brought up Lux's name saying she was getting close to their Boss."

Lux's mother snapped up out of her seat and held back her urge to slap the man. "She's been seeing the leader of the Chinese Mafia and you didn't bother to tell me?"

"They never interacted once during our investigation. We thought our informant was trying to waste our time."

"Okay. Then what changed?"

"I can't give out that information." He told her, "Just please. Let me talk to Lux one more time. Maybe I can get the truth out of her."

When Yuji asked about what happened Lux lied once again saying she doesn't remember. It pained the boy knowing that Lux was hurt not once but twice by people and no justice was going to be served. He wished to god that he could find the person who did this and beat his ass like he did to the last guy to put his hands on Lux.

"Sweetie." Lux's mother and Voight entered the room. "Sergeant Voight has a few questions to ask you."

Lux groaned, "I already said I don't remember anything! Just leave it alone."

"It'll be real quick." He promised. Lux stared between him and her mother then rolled her eyes knowing it was best to just give in and repeat herself for the millionth time.

"Fine." She plopped down on the bed beside Yuji who got ready to get up until she told him to stay, hoping to use the boy as a form of faux emotional support to gain sympathy. Lux held onto Yuji's hand and prepared herself to cry if she needed to. "Ask away."

"Tell me what you know about Shorter Wong."

That name made Lux's heart rate spike. Nothing she had said to the police could have possibly tipped them off to suspect the Chinese mafia. "Not much."

"But you do know him, right?"

Yuji raised an eyebrow at the feeling of Lux's trembling hand that was clinging onto his.

"I met him through Sing. He'd sometimes pick him up from school."

"Would he have any reason to hurt you?"

Yuji's eyes darted towards Lux not understanding what the hell was going on.

"He wouldn't do that." She answered seriously.

"You sure? Cuz you just told me that you don't even know him that well."

Busted.

"That's not what I meant."

Voight understood that Lux was shielding him and the gang, and this could have been for one of two reasons. The first being her connection with Shorter and her desire to remain loyal to him. The second reason could be her fear of exacerbating the situation now that she was involved in the chaos. "Let me tell you something about that boy. They call him the King of Chinatown. He's the leader of the Chinese Mafia. A notorious gang that your friend Sing and his brother are apart of. They're killers, Lux. These boys have nobody but themselves to look out for. You threaten one with jail time and they'll flip in order to save their own ass."

"Why are you telling me this?" Lux tried to hold back a scowl. This cop had the wrong idea. Shorter was kind. He was protective. And he'd never do anything to intentionally hurt her.

"If he had something to do with you getting hurt then you need to tell me."

"There's nothing to say." She retorted.

"Lux." Yuji spoke up, "He's right. You know something and you're not saying it."

"Stay out of it!"

"No! Look at you. If you're protecting these guys because you think Shorter cares about you then you're wrong. You were left bleeding out in a parking lot for fucks sake."

"You got it all wrong! Nobody was trying to hurt me so leave me alone about it!" Lux screamed, "Get out. I'm done."

Voight sighed in disappointment. He'd seen this story play out a million times and it always ended the same way with the girl six feet under or never found. "I'm trying to help you."

"You just want to use me for a bigger case against a gang."

"That's not it."

"Don't come back, Sergeant. I have nothing else to say to you."

The man stood up to leave, debating if he should pry once more but it was a lost cause. It would take Lux getting seriously hurt again for her to spill the truth and unfortunately that's what he was going to have to count on. She'd have to suffer in unimaginable ways in order to see that this love was blinding. Lux wasn't the first and most definitely wouldn't be the last to throw her life away for a good for nothing boy.

Yuji turned to see Lux with a scowl still plastered on her face as she continued to toss out old assignments and notebooks. To say he was worried was an understatement. He knew all too well what gangs could do to someone's life and he wasn't about to allow Lux to put herself through that.
______________________
"How could you?!" Lao screamed, reaching out to attack Shorter while Hook held him back. "He's my little brother!"

"You know how this gets handled. All the evidence pointed to Sing." Shorter and the gang decided to interrogate Sing while Lao was at his lowest, when he was detoxing in his room so he wouldn't interfere. He was too sick to even catch a clue on what was being planned for his brother. Now that it was done with, Shorter decided to tell Lao himself what had happened behind his back.

"You were going to kill him... then you'd kill me too." Lao cried. His stomach twisted into knots knowing that he had no right to be angry at Shorter. He was the rat. Not Sing. He became a CI to protect his little brother and it almost got them both executed in the end.

Shorter sighed and took off his sunglasses to show more of his bruised face. "I cleared this shit up with Sing already. Now I need you to move on."

"Move on? How could I-"

Hook clenched his teeth and pushed Lao's face against the apartment wall. Lao grunted in pain as his hair was pulled and arm was twisted behind his back while Hook snarled against his ear. "You don't have a fuckin choice. Yuh understand me? All that matters is that your brother moved on. Only reason we're telling you this shit was cuz The Boss thought you deserved to know."

"Let go of me!" Lao grunted, breaking down into tears. Hook and Shorter stared at each other as Hook unhanded his crying comrade. "I'm sorry..." he wiped his tears and runny nose along the sleeve of his jacket. "I... I- Sing would never do something like that-"

"We know." Shorter confirmed. "He's loyal."

"I'm such a fucking idiot!" Lao cursed himself and dropped to his knees. The guilt consumed him, much like the drugs that had taken over his life because of it, and his hidden truth had almost resulted in his brother's death. However, with this conversation, it signified that the past would be left behind, so confessing and incriminating himself would serve no purpose. Lao was determined to keep this dirty secret until his dying day.

"You had your own shit to deal with." Shorter picked Lao's head up to look at him. "I want you to pull yourself together, Lao. I still need you by my side." Lao swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. "Good. But I have one condition. You need to stay clean."

"I promise."

"Alright. We're done here." Lao obeyed his bosses orders and left the room, leaving his thoughts of revenge behind him. Hook watched Lao walk out the door and followed behind. "Stay for a minute."

Hook looked over his shoulder and shut the door. He leaned against the wall, putting his hands in the pocket of his black hoodie. "What is it?"

"Thank you."

Those words took Hook by surprise. He didn't know what he had done to deserve any type of thanks. "For what?"

"You have your own way of showing that you care."

Hook chuckled and shook his head no. "Think you've been mistaken, Boss. I haven't done anything to imply that." His words were monotone and uncaring. He took pride in being the cold hearted one. Emotions would never get in the way of best interests and judgements if things came down to it. He was a perfect gangster who got shit done.

"Right. Everything with Lux. How you took her to the hospital. Sing and how you convinced him to take a shot at me so he could move on. Talking down Lao too. You didn't care? Not once?" He asked, not being convinced.

"Nope." Hook denied, shifting around in his stance. "Your girl shouldn't have been there in the first place. I didn't do it because of you. I took her to the hospital cuz I didn't wanna be responsible for someone dying that shouldn't have. The investigation for that woulda been ten times worse than it already is if she were dead. Lao and Sing well," he huffed and gave a simple shrug, "If they held a grudge against you then that wouldn't be good for the gang now, would it? Nothing I do is because I'm nice, alright."

Shorter listened to everything Hook was saying, but the words didn't carry as much weight as Hook's actions. Shorter understood that Hook blamed himself for his cousin's death, and he believed this was why Hook decided to take Lux to the hospital - he didn't want to bare the guilt of another innocent life on his conscience. As for Lao and Sing, Hook empathized with holding onto grudges and the misery it caused. It ate him alive every single fucking day and he didn't want others to suffer as he had if it could be easily prevented. Shorter saw through Hook's facade but chose not to press further.

"My mistake then."

Hook gave another shrug. "Are we done?"

"Yeah. You can go."

Hook went about the rest of his day, meeting up with other guys in the gang, and checking in on stash houses within the Chinese Mafia's territory. It was an ordinary day at first until he heard someone call him "Tyler". Hook turned around, raising a curious eyebrow at the person who shouted his real name. The familiar face of his younger cousin approached. "You've gotten taller since the last time we saw each other." Hook continued on his path knowing his cousin would follow behind.

"We need to talk." Yuji gave Hook's arm a harsh tug to spin him around.

"I'm busy."

"Yeah well your gang got my friend hurt. So I want answers." Yuji scowled.

Hook smirked, being amused by the familiar angry expression. Yuji used to always get upset when his older brother, Dreamer, and Hook would leave at late hours of the night, meanwhile he was stuck at home. "Don't know what you're talkin about."

"Lux. She was in the hospital and I know you guys had something to do with it." Yuji interrogated.

"I've never heard that name in my life."

"Cut the bullshit."

Hook leaned in closer, hovering his mouth over his younger cousins ear and whispered. "Go home, Yuji." He then pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and bumped past Yuji, leaving him with unanswered questions.

Lux felt injured, achy, and frustrated. She was unable to attend her own graduation because of the trouble caused by the gang and her reluctance to disclose the truth. Yuji was curious about how Lux became involved in this situation and why. He believed that his cousin would at least make an effort to assist, given the history that had led to their family ties being severed. He had hoped that this might be Hook's way of reconciling their relationship. However, Yuji's assumption was clearly mistaken, as he had overestimated the intentions of his troubled cousin.

"Figured you'd owe me some type of answer since you got my brother killed." Yuji looked on, taking notice of how Hook stopped with tense shoulders that pressed up towards his ears. "You let someone I care about die once before and you're gonna let it happen again!?"

Hook squeezed his eyes shut and stiffened his body. He wanted to turn back around and say how sorry he was but he was cursed with a strong willed mindset and wouldn't allow himself to give into these temptations, regardless if it were the right thing to do. He swallowed the dry lump in his throat and kept walking, leaving his cousin and guilt behind him.
__________________________
"I've been worried sick about you!" Fang pulled Lux in for a tight hug, making the girl wince and let out a squeak of pain. After not hearing from her friend after a couple days, Fang had become uneasy and assumed something terrible had happened to her best friend. Arthur soon got sick of hearing about Lux and told his girlfriend to go check in on her if she was that concerned.

With his blessing to leave the territory on her own, Fang did just that and was thankful to find Lux still in one piece. "I'm assuming my parents weren't that welcoming when you showed up."

"They looked at me like I was an alien." Fang chuckled, sitting down beside Lux in her bed. Her eyes traveled down Lux's damaged body, taking notice of the white cast on her arm as well as other cuts and bruises. She reached outward and ran her fingers through the girls hair, feeling a small shaved spot on the back of Lux's head where stitches now remained.

Lux's body stiffened up and quickly slapped Fang's arm away, both girls shared shocked expressions. "I'm sorry."

"Dammit, Lux." Fang shook her head, "I'm no one to talk or judge you. But please. Leave this all behind you. Go to college. Become a nurse like how you wanted. Don't waste your life trying to fit in with the likes of us."

"Who's saying anything about fitting in?" Lux raised her voice. There was a sheer of annoyance in her words. She was sick of people always thinking they knew what was best for her. And now Fang was on that list.

"Who are you trying to fool? Look at you. You could have gotten killed. And for what? For Shorter? Sing? Think about yourself. This isn't who you are!"

"What makes you think you know about who I am huh? Last I checked you helped make me this way. You told me that my feelings for Shorter weren't wrong and that people might call him a monster but they didn't understand what we had! I'm making my own decisions and I don't regret it!"

"You will though! I'm telling you that right now while your hearts still beating." Fang argued, "Take it from me. A low life street girl. Yeah, I may be with a guy that I love. But let's get one thing clear, if I had any other options in life to not turn out like this, I'd take it. I wish I was as blessed as you are, Lux. And y'know what? It's really making me sick that you're throwing your life away so easily like this."

"I'm a big girl. I know what I'm doing. I still have my priorities straight and that's not going to change just because I'm with Shorter. Everything that happened was just a big misunderstanding and I forgave him for it."

"You did huh? He apologize to you in person or sent one of his guys to do it?" Lux stayed silent. Fang scoffed and rolled her eyes. "He hasn't apologized at all has he?"

"He's laying low right now."

Fang sighed and raked her hand through her tangled hair. She recalled how difficult it was to adapt to changes in her own relationship once Arthur got wrapped up in the gang business. It wasn't easy but then again her life before this wasn't either. Her father was hurting her every night. She'd sneak out of the house whenever she could to find comfort in Arthur's arms.

The pain of being her fathers personal punching bag got too much to bare and one day Arthur took it upon himself to do something to stop all of that pain in her life. Her father was found dead in a ditch where there was no evidence to be recovered. That became their dark secret that brought them closer than ever. Forever bound by murder and blood. Those two horrid things shouldn't be what tied Lux to someone that she loves.

"You're not strong, Lux." Fang forced herself to say. "You think you are cuz you're smart. But the truth is, Shorter can see that you're not built for this life and that you can't hold your own. He won't always be there to protect you either. And sooner or later, one of you is going to be the reason why the other is six feet under. That's the harsh reality."

Everything Fang was saying made sense. Every braincell in Lux's head knew she was right and yet Lux chose to listen to her heart instead. "Thank you for caring about me. But like I said before, I know what I'm doing and I don't need a babysitter."

Fang sighed and dropped her head down in disappointment. This must have been what her past parole officers felt like after trying to help get her off the streets. Lux had no idea about the current pulling her out further into the sea to soon drown her in a crazed wave. "Fine." Her hands smacked down onto her legs as she gave up trying to get through to Lux. "The most I could do is warn you. And pay attention when I say this. It only gets worse, so brace yourself for that."

Lux stayed silent, not having anything else left to argue.

"So what now?"

"I want to see him."
___________________
-Outskirts of Chinatown-

"I'm not allowed past this point." Since Fang was associated with Arthur and his gang, she wasn't allowed in the Chinatown territory and had to respect gang borders. "Be safe, Lux."

Lux made it to the apartment complex and was met with shocked silence as some of the guys took notice of her injuries sustained from the wreck. None of them knew what she was involved in besides Shorter's inner circle, but still, the sight was concerning.

She had gotten directions to his room, top floor at the end of the hall. Lux slowly made her way down the dimly lit corridor, past the rooms where muffled voices came from and continued down her path, soon passing by a room that had the door slightly ajar where she could hear coughing. Lux stood still, the sound of the heaving was concerning but she didn't know if it was safe to go inside and see for herself. Before she took another step, she heard a crash of what sounded to be metal, clattering against hard wood floors and her body instinctively ran inside to see if whoever was in that apartment was okay.

Upon entry, Lux first noticed that the room was dark and the only source of light was coming from a flat screen at the far end of the room. Off to the right was the kitchen area, where she saw that a rack full of dishes was knocked off the granite counter and shattered onto the floor. She cautiously made her way around the counter to see a pair of dirty, bare feet on the other side.

Lux gasped, covering her mouth to hold in a scream immediately noticing who was passed out. "Lao..."