Chapter 43
Ji-Su stared at Raul, eyes trailing from his head, down to his boots, and back up again. Blood stained his clothes. His boots were practically soaked with it. Bruises marred his handsome face and his hair was no longer in the neatly combed back style from earlier that evening.
“Were you in an accident?” Ji-Su asked.
“No.”
“But you’re covered in blood.”
“It’s not my blood.”
An awful suspicion took root in Ji-Su’s mind. He hated to ask, didn’t want that awful suspicion confirmed, but he had to know. “What happened?”
Raul didn’t speak for several long moments. They locked eyes, Ji-Su’s stomach twisting into knots as he waited for his answer.
“Cedric is dead.”
The cooly stated announcement rocked Ji-Su so hard he actually swayed on his feet.
He continued to stare at Raul, while everything else seemed to fade into a blur of vague shapes and colors.
Through the sudden loud ringing in his ears, he heard footsteps.
Gloria and Burke had walked away, leaving him alone with Raul. Alone with a murderer.
“You killed him?”
Raul nodded once. “I told you I wouldn’t let him harm you again. I meant what I said.”
Ji-Su shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t kill someone because they did something that pissed you off.”
“Let me explain, carino.”
Raul started toward him but Ji-Su swiftly backed up. In his clumsy haste to get away, his heel collided with the bottom step. He fell on his ass, hissing in pain when his elbow cracked on the hardwood staircase.
“Here, let me help you,” Raul said.
Raul came toward him and held out a hand to help him up, but Ji-Su cringed away. That hand was caked with dried blood.
“Stay away from me!” he shouted.
Raul went still. Ji-Su took advantage of that and flipped over. He scrambled up several steps on all fours until he managed to push himself to his feet. He kept going, running up the stairs, then down the hallway. When he made it to their bedroom, he rushed in and slammed the door behind him.
His heart racing, Ji-Su flipped on the lights, then stood there unsure what to do next.
Raul could follow him of course. This was Raul’s house.
Raul’s room. At the realization that he had nowhere to go to get away from Raul, Ji-Su knew that he had to get out of there.
He ran to the closet, prepared to pack a bag and leave.
Before he reached it however, the bedroom door opened.
Ji-Su spun around just as Raul walked in. Leaving the door open, he moved away from it but didn’t approach Ji-Su.
“Ji-Su please talk to me.”
“Okay, we can talk. I have questions for you.”
“Go ahead.”
“When we saw Cedric at the casino, he said you gave him a beat down. You blew it off as nothing and I stupidly let you. But I want to know the truth right now. What did you do to him?”
“The night he sent you your defiled belongings, I went out and found him at a club.”
“And?”
“And I beat him to within an inch of his life.”
A memory hit Ji-Su. “That’s why your hand was hurt the next day when you took me to the electronics store.
“Yes,” Raul answered with a tight nod.
“You didn’t tell me. And you weren’t going to tell me you’d killed Cedric.”
“I’m sorry I kept that from you. I didn’t want you to be concerned with that ugliness. I wanted you safe and happy.”
“How can I be happy when you kill in my name? How do I know you won’t hurt me one day?”
“I would never hurt you. I don’t hurt the ones I love.”
“You love me?”
“I do.”
Ji-Su’s heart skipped a beat. An hour ago, he would have run into Raul’s arms and whole heartedly returned his love.
Now, he slapped his hands over his ears and wildly shook his head in denial.
This was the absolute worst time to hear a declaration of love from Raul.
After taking a moment to calm himself, he lowered his hands and glared at Raul.
“Don’t drop that on me right now!” he yelled.
“I don’t want to hear about love. I want to know how many people you’ve killed. And don’t lie.”
“I don’t know.”
“More than five?”
“Yes.”
“More than ten?”
“I’ve been alive a long time, Ji-Su.”
“Why do you kill people?”
“I’m a criminal.”
Ji-Su chocked on a horrified laugh at that simple answer. “Can you stop being a criminal?”
“I’d have to leave my family—leave the Syndicate—if I did. Are you asking me to do that?”
Ji-Su seriously considered before answering. “No. Even if you stopped today, it doesn’t erase the fact that you’ve already killed.”
“I was going to ask you to stay here after our contract ended. I still want you to stay. So, if you want me but you don’t want me to continue working with the Syndicate, I’ll quit.
I’ve got enough money where I don’t need to work ever again.
We can even move somewhere else. Move out of the state if you prefer. ”
Ji-Su stood unmoving with sadness weighing heavy on his heart for several long seconds before he answered.
“I would have loved to stay here with you. I liked you and wanted to be with you because you were kind and gentle. But now I see that you’re someone who uses murder to solve his problems. You’re not who I thought you were at all. ”
“I’ve never stopped being kind and gentle to you.”
“But you kill people!” Ji-Su shouted. He was angry and confused and unable to get past the fact that Raul had murdered someone. How could he? Raul was standing there soaked in the evidence of it.
“I kill when someone deserves it,” Raul calmly stated. “Cedric deserved it.”
“How can you say that?” He didn’t understand how Raul could be this blasé about ending someone’s life.
“Do you not understand that Cedric’s harassment was going to continue to escalate? Do you not realize that he wanted to kill you the night you ran from him?”
Now Raul looked upset, raking his hands through his already messy hair. His eyes started to glow and he took a step forward.
“Because he did! He was fixated on you, stalking you, and he wasn’t going to leave you alone. Ever. The only way this was going to end was with your death or his. I chose his.”
Out of nowhere, a wave of exhaustion hit Ji-Su. He couldn’t process that someone had wanted to kill him and that his gentle lover had killed them because of it. “I need time to think.”
“I understand.”
“Away from here,” he added.
“You mean away from me.”
“Yes.” Ji-Su swallowed past the tightness in his throat. “That’s exactly what I mean.”
Raul looked at him in silence, the glow slowly fading from his eyes. Finally, he nodded.
“You can leave if you want. I won’t stop you. But I can’t let you go out unguarded.”
“Fine. Send a guard with me. Do whatever you have to do. I don’t care, as long as I get to drive myself out of here in the next ten minutes.”
A muscle clenched in Raul’s jaw before he turned around and headed for the door.
“I’ll go make the arrangements for your hotel.”