mchenry-crisis.org Chapter 57 This time I was really scared to death.
Chapter 57 This time I was really scared to death.
It was 10 p.m. that night.
A red-brick detached house near Jefferson Avenue in the Southwest District.
Tessa, dressed in a simple nightgown, stood in a bedroom, staring intently at the head of the bed.
She held a note that had already been written in her hand, but hesitated to put it under her pillow as agreed.
Admittedly, the price of $1500 was tempting to her.
But the notorious reputation of Rat King Reg in this neighborhood also filled her with fear.
Meng Ran assured her over the phone that he wouldn't expose her, but she didn't know if she could believe him.
After all, she'd heard far too many men's promises. Especially in strip clubs, those men who wanted to sleep with her but didn't want to spend much money would say anything.
Compared to these people, Reg seems much more reliable.
At least he would actually pay $80 a day for prostitution, saving Tessa from the hardship of working at the scrap yard.
He let out a long sigh.
Tessa hesitated for a long time but still didn't dare to put the note in.
He turned and left the bedroom.
She walked down the corridor and entered another room.
Inside the room, a Black girl of about nine years old was sitting cross-legged at a desk drawing—Tessa's daughter, Gwen.
Gwen was thin.
Despite being of pure African descent, his face had an unnatural sallow complexion.
Hearing the door open, she happily turned around and called out "Mom!" before grinning from ear to ear.
It was this smile that revealed a clear blue-black line along the edge of her gums, a hallmark of lead poisoning.
Treating lead poisoning is very troublesome.
Because 90%–99% of lead is deposited in bones.
Current lead chelation drugs can only remove lead from the blood.
Just after the defecation was finished, the lead in the bones started to be released again, so another defecation was needed.
Unfortunately, while lead-removing drugs remove lead, they also remove essential trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron, and can damage the liver and kidneys.
Therefore, medication must be administered intermittently in segments, and the treatment cycle can last for several years or even more than a decade.
The medical expenses incurred would be astronomical in the United States, far beyond what Tessa, a low-income person without health insurance, could afford.
Looking at her daughter's thin body.
Tessa couldn't help but clench the note in her hand again.
$1500!
That's just enough for my daughter to do another round of lead removal.
If I were to save this money entirely on my own, I don't know how long it would take. After all, there are other living expenses every day, and being able to save $30 a day is considered very frugal.
Can we trust him?
Just as she was struggling with her decision, she suddenly heard Reg's shouts from downstairs.
"Tessa!"
"Get down here right now!"
Tessa shuddered and quickly stuffed the note in her hand into the coat hanging on the wall.
Once outside the room, she trotted downstairs.
But as soon as she stepped downstairs, the scene in the living room made her eyes widen instantly, and she involuntarily covered her mouth with her hand: "Reg, what is this...?"
"We've run into a tough opponent."
With bandages on his face and a cast on his leg, Reg sat down with difficulty on the sofa.
After Meng Ran left, he immediately called a few of his henchmen to come and pick them up. On the way back, they even went to an unlicensed clinic for some treatment.
"What tough nut to crack?" Tessa quickly walked around to the sofa and asked, feigning concern.
She genuinely didn't know that Jimmy had asked Reg to teach Meng Ran a lesson. Otherwise, she might have warned Meng Ran to be careful beforehand.
When Reg asked, he didn't hide it from her. The main reason was that he was increasingly frightened by what had happened today, and he really needed to talk about it.
So he told the whole story.
Tessa's eyes widened as she listened, her heart filled with growing horror!
Reg, of course, had no idea what she was thinking.
Instead, he tried to lighten the mood, saying, "I'm alright, just a broken tailbone. The beaver had it much worse, breaking four ribs. It almost pierced its internal organs and went to meet God, hahaha..."
Hearing Reg's laughter, Tessa suppressed her shock.
Her throat was a little dry as she asked, "Were there many of them? Were you ambushed?"
Reg's laughter stopped abruptly. He turned to Tessa, opened his mouth, and after a long pause, finally spoke: "If I said there was only one person on the other side, would you believe me?"
"one person!"
Tessa jumped to her feet.
At this moment, one sentence kept echoing in her mind—of course I know Reg; in fact, I just taught him a lesson.
So, what he said is true?
"My God!"
"Isn't he a reporter?"
Countless thoughts raced through her mind, and Tessa was too shocked to speak.
Reg continued his tirade, oblivious to his own predicament: "He even threatened me into doing things for him. He asked me if I wanted to be sleeping one day and suddenly find a gun barrel pressed against my forehead..."
Tessa listened to the insults, her eyes darting left and right.
As she pondered, she deliberately comforted him, "Honey! He can't possibly find you. Don't be scared of him. We don't need to be afraid of him."
"Yeah?"
"Of course, not many people know you live here, so how could he possibly find you?" Tessa continued to reassure him.
"You're right, you're absolutely right. How could he possibly find me? I have no reason to be afraid of him!" Reg reassured himself.
He leaned back and ordered, "Go upstairs and roll me two cigarettes. Damn it, I feel pain all over my body."
Tessa kissed Reg and then naturally walked upstairs.
As soon as I went upstairs.
Her expression changed instantly.
She glanced towards the stairwell to make sure Reg wasn't following, then quickly went into Gwen's room and took the note out again.
Just as she was about to put it away, she suddenly remembered something.
He stepped over to his suitcase, squatted down, and pulled out two bullets from inside.
A few minutes later...
Reg, leaning back on the sofa, was smoking a hand-rolled cigarette in one hand and walking up and down Tessa with the other arm around her.
Tessa, as usual, offered to help him take off his pants.
Reg reached out to stop him: "Let's skip it today, I'm in pain all over."
"Then I should comfort your anxious little heart even more. You don't need to move, I'll help you." Tessa pulled away from his embrace and half-squatted in front of him.
"Then help me upstairs. I want to lie down; my tailbone hurts when I sit." Reg laughed.
I struggled to get upstairs.
Tessa helped him lie down.
Reg smoked another cigarette, and only then did he feel all the frustration and fear in his heart subside.
Slightly separate your legs.
A wave of pleasurable sensation quickly washed over him, and Reg's hands instinctively began to dart around. As they slid, his hands finally brushed against something under the pillow.
"?" Reg was taken aback.
The hand, which had already moved elsewhere, reached back under the pillow to grope around.
"What is this?"
Reg took out the crumpled piece of paper and held it up in front of his eyes.
With a hint of doubt, he gently pinched the paper with his fingers, and the familiar shape made Reg's heart skip a beat.
He held up his hand and nervously opened the note.
Two brass bullets suddenly appeared before my eyes.
His eyes instantly turned to terror.
Desire also recedes like the tide.
"Honey, why did you go limp?" Tessa asked, looking up at that moment.
As Reg lay in bed, his hand trembled when he was asked the question, and one of the two bullets slipped from his grasp and hit him squarely in the face as he lay on his back.
Good guy!
The blow felt like a gunshot to him; he didn't care about the pain and jumped right out of bed.
"What's wrong?" Tessa looked at him innocently.
Reg was already leaning against the window, looking at Tessa with fear, and asked, "Has someone been here?"
"What?"
"I'm asking you, has anyone been here?"
"I've been home since 9 o'clock, and no one has come by." Tessa shook her head innocently. "Wait, what's wrong?"
"Bullets!" Reg pointed tremblingly at the head of the bed.
"A bullet?" Tessa then pretended to have found the bullet, climbed from the foot of the bed to the head of the bed, first pinched the bullet and examined it, then naturally picked up the note.
"There are words on it." Tessa turned to look at Reg, who was leaning against the window.
"Words?" Reg asked in a trembling voice.
"It read: Sweet dreams, Reg. Signed 'Mr. Agent.'" Tessa finished reading with a bewildered expression. "Who's Mr. Agent?"
Reg didn't answer; after hearing these words, he broke out in a cold sweat!
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!!"
"Damn it!!!"
After cursing "damn it" three times, Reg began to wander aimlessly around the room.
As he walked, he hurriedly picked up his phone from the bedside table and dialed Razor's number with trembling fingers.
"Listen, get some hidden cameras ready right now!"
"I need to see this camera tomorrow!"
"And I'm meeting that damn Howard tomorrow!"