Landon smiled to himself. He hadn't done any drugs in almost a week. Hadn't had a drop of alcohol in even longer. He couldn't remember the last time he'd spent so much time sober.

So it fucking figured that when he'd decided to go on the straight and narrow, his life would decide to hit absolute rock bottom.

“You mock us by laughing!?”

A solid right hook across his jaw did nothing to stop his smile from turning into actual laughter.

“Not you,” he coughed as he spit out blood. “Just thinking to myself. It's been a weird week.”

“Yes, yes, quite a week. First you make big mistake and steal from me, double cross your friend. Then the same friend buys your girlfriend from my auction! I wonder how they're doing?”

Landon didn't have to wonder. Before he'd turned himself into the drug lord, he'd managed to talk to Velez one last time. Tori was at a five star hotel in Bangkok. Liam was already flying over to get her and help her deal with the embassy.

It wasn't good enough, though. As long as she was in the city, there was a chance Niran and his goons would find out what they'd done. Velez was already gone, flying off to parts unknown, trying to escape two angry drug gangs. There was no one to protect Tori, not until Liam could get there.

But if they had Landon, there'd be no reason to go after Tori, so he'd simply gone back to the same night club. The bouncers had immediately grabbed him and dragged him to some dirty utility room on the second floor. It had only taken minutes for Niran to arrive and start beating the shit out of him.

“Hopefully they're doing better than me,” Landon sighed. “So what's next? You got your money. You gonna shoot me now?”

After the first round of beatings, Landon had arranged for the rest of his savings account to be wire transferred to the Thai drug dealer's bank account. Landon had figured it wouldn't be enough to appease Niran's anger, but he had kinda hoped.

“No. You'll see I'm very kind. Very generous! I got fifty thousand for your girlfriend, and then you give me another hundred thousand. I say that almost makes us even.”

“Almost, huh. Doesn't sound too promising,” Landon coughed. Niran moved to squat down in front of him.

“Rich American man. Boy. Thought you could come to Thailand and play with drugs. Thought you could do whatever you want. Now that I have a problem with. That money cannot fix. You need to be taught a lesson,” he explained.

“Will it be a quick lesson?” Landon asked. Niran chuckled.

“Very fast. Quick and easy. You are a big shot doctor, correct?”

“Doctor, yes. Big shot, eh, not so much.”

“A doctor is very important. You are very important.”

Landon finally started to get nervous. Death was one thing, but that didn't sound like Niran's end game. So what was going on?

“Not really, I haven't practiced in a long time,” he said, testing the bindings that were tying him to a chair.

“But you were sent here! To save us poor people!” Niran insisted. “Yes, I think your job is very important to you. Just like mine is to me. And when someone makes it hard for us to do our jobs, we have to teach them a lesson.”

“I've learned my lesson, I promise,” Landon panted, shifting around, trying to get free.

“No, you haven't. But you will.”

Niran stood up and snapped his fingers. A man walked across the room with a foot long length of lead pipe in his hand.

Landon's brain moved at warp speed. They weren't going to kill him, Niran had pretty much said as much. But they wanted to teach him a lesson. Wanted to hit him where it hurt. The only things that mattered to him were Tori and his job. They'd taken Tori away, so it stood to reason they'd try to take his job away.

“No,” he shouted, struggling in earnest. His bindings were loosened and a large man gripped his shoulders, holding him place.

“You are right handed?” Niran asked, shifting over to Landon's right side.

“No! Fuck, please, don't do this!” he kept yelling. “I'll get you more money! Not my fucking hands, I need my hands to work!”

“I remind you that you took two kilos of my drugs, yet I am only taking one hand. Generous, wouldn't you say?” Niran took a practice swing with the pipe.

“Listen. Listen to me. I own very expensive real estate in San Francisco. You know how San Francisco is, right? It's yours, it's worth millions. I'll give you the deed, anything, please.”

“Please, begging is so pathetic.”

Jesus, this couldn't be happening. Landon licked his lips nervously, then cried out when Niran swung the pipe again.

“Wait!” he shouted. “Wait, wait. I'm left handed. Left handed.”

There was a long pause.

“You only say that to spare your dominant hand,” Niran called him out.

“No, I swear. I'll write something for you. I just don't want you to bust it and then come after me when you realize you did the wrong one,” he spoke fast.

A piece of scrap paper and a pen were produced, then his left arm was let go. Landon took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Tried to steady his nerves. He waited a second, then wrote out his name. When that didn't seem to convince them, he started writing out the different bones in the human hand, the only thing he could think of.

“Very honest of you, Dr. Edenhoff. I admire that!” Niran complimented him as Landon's arm was stretched across the table.

“Thanks,” he whispered, wanting to look away, but unable to avert his gaze. He clenched his teeth together and stared while Niran leveled the pipe above his arm.

Landon had been a rambunctious boy, he'd suffered a couple broken bones. Then he'd grown up to be a doctor, and he'd witnessed dozens, if not hundreds, of other broken limbs. Bone pain was one of the worst kinds of pain, and the hand, well ... there were so many of bones. Tiny and delicate. Shattered badly enough, and he'd never be able to use his hand again.

Thank god I'm ambidextrous.

“This is for your own good, doctor,” Niran said in a low voice, and then the lead pipe came crashing down onto Landon's left hand with all the weight of the drug dealer behind it.

He managed to hold it together through the first three swings, but after that, Landon lost it. His shouts echoed around the room so loudly, he was sure they would hear him downstairs.

He couldn't focus. They finally stopped after something like ten hits, but by then, he was pretty sure his body had gone into shock. He was shaking and sweating and had long since lost the feeling in most of his extremities. He'd also stopped looking at the carnage, unwilling to see the mess that was now his left hand. Even though his right hand was technically his dominant hand and it was fine, there still wasn't a huge market for one handed doctors.

“I think Dr. Edenhoff as learned his lesson!” Niran was laughing while his henchmen cheered. “What do you think, doctor? Or perhaps it should just be Mr. Edenhoff now.”

Landon was past listening or caring. With no one to hold him down, he slid off his chair and fell to his knees, cradling his injured arm to his chest.

This is bad. This is so fucking bad. It'll be a miracle if I ever use this hand again.

“Alright, enough! We have our money and our revenge. Take this trash outside.”

Hands gripped under his arms and Landon was dragged across the floor. Before they could exit, though, Niran held up his hand, stopping them.

“And Mr. Edenhoff?”

Landon managed to lift his head enough to look at the small man, but he couldn't get his eyes to focus.

“I hope you enjoyed your visit to Thailand,” Niran smiled big. “Come visit us anytime.”

And with that, Landon was dragged out of the room.