Sevastyan #2
“They’ve forgotten the point. They want revenge for a dead husband or business partner, or to see Gang Junseo’s fear or submission. I saw him, crouched over the bodies. He would have kept going if I hadn’t offered him a way out. As long as he has something to protect, he can be reasoned with.
If he has nothing to protect . . .”
Sevastyan let his voice trail off. “Without 5N, there will be no recouping the debt, not through BBB3. And without Gang Junseo, there is no 5N. It’s cold hard math. Gang Junseo can be used, so use him. Just know what kind of tool he is.”
“And the most significant obstacle to this solution is?” Alexi inquired, eyes careful.
Sevastyan grimaced. “There are multiple individuals in leadership who feel insecure. Gang Junseo not only resisting but killing his buyer has brought too close to home the truth that they are vulnerable. Their pride, but even more their sense of security, depends on seeing Gang Junseo on his knees,
submissive, penitent, and above all, helpless.”
Alexi tilted his head. “Then why not just give them what they want? The money can be made elsewhere.”
“Technically, as a Hand of the Yadro, I’m still tasked with finding a way to recoup the debt from Bak, even though I’ve been pulled from direct oversight. Second, Damian Sathers and Richard Reevesworth. Have you seen the profiles on them?”
Alexi shook his head. “It hasn’t concerned me.”
“Richard Reevesworth walked into a hostage situation last fall with a flash bomb and set it off while holding it. His household is known as The Residency by those close to him. He allows only a select few inside. It’s anchored by him and his husband.
Damian Sathers has been part of the Residency for more than a decade, and last year a Collin Ryker was added. All my surveillance confirms that Gang Junseo has been accepted as a member of The Residency. During the initial incident in South Korea, while Gang Junseo was being sold,
Damian Sathers and Richard Reevesworth were on the ground. Why, I’m not certain. But they brought the full force of Reevesworth Industries to bear on the regional economy. It was significant enough that the sale was ordered to be stopped and Gang returned unharmed by the Yadro itself.
By the time I arrived, it was too late to fully fulfill those orders. The best I could do was return Gang and let it appear that it was an isolated incident between the dead buyer and Bak Gyeong.”
Alexi sighed. “Mismanaged from the beginning.”
“Very much so. Bak Gyeong became desperate. And those around him and above compounded the problem.”
“Who sent you in?”
“The Yadro, technically the directors themselves. It was a direct order after they lost confidence the situation was going to be handled. Which is one of two reasons why I arrived too late to stop the sale before it went through.”
“You still think Gang Junseo can be convinced to pay back Bak Gyeong’s debts with as powerful a patron as Richard Reevesworth?”
“I think it’s a possibility,” Sevastyan said carefully. “With the right carrot and stick. Not foolproof, but more than a forty percent chance of success.”
Alexi nodded. “You should be running the operation, maybe the region. It sounds like a mess.”
Sevastyan shook his head and groaned.
“It could come to it,” Alexi prodded. “Bak Gyeong has been allowed to reach this point because others were benefitting. From numbers I’ve seen, that goes up to the regional level, right below the Yadro itself, if not into the Yadro.”
Sevastyan kept his thoughts about Bak Gyeong’s connections to himself. He couldn’t say what he knew without revealing sources.
“You’re bringing moral clarity and business sense to criminals,” Alexi said, after a short silence. “Your logic is sound. It’s not even na?ve. It’s cold and hard. But the kind of people who base their lives on shadows and the illicit have egos. Egos will eventually cease to speak with logic.”
“Is that why you half retired?” Sevastyan stood and went to the bar, waving towards the alcohol.
Alexi nodded, accepting the offer of a drink.
Sevastyan busied himself pouring.
“You’re not drinking?” Alexi asked.
Sevastyan raised the glass tumbler meant for Alexi to his lips and sipped, then brought it over. “Alcohol will mess with the meds, and I have to be in shape soon.”
Alexi raised an eyebrow.
Sevastyan smiled ruefully. He went back to the bar and returned with a non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider. He twisted off the cap with his bare hand and tapped the rim against Alexi’s glass.
Alexi leaned further back in his seat. Sevastyan resumed his.
“I left because I couldn’t stand their egos anymore,” Alexi said after a sip.
“The lack of logic can be manipulated, if you get in front of it. Like you do with your mother. That’s how I know you could play the game, if you ever decided to try. In a way you already do, but you’ve been waiting to truly engage.”
“I haven’t felt ready,” Sevastyan confessed.
“Why?”
Sevastyan snorted. “You’ll think I’m sentimental.”
Alexi laughed out loud. “Boy! I flew across the world to check on a slave I knew very well was in the best hands possible. Spare me the false embarrassment.”
Sevastyan grinned ruefully. “My mother, then. She’s afraid of me outshining her. If I want to go above where I am now, she will stand in my way.”
“So you’re staying small to please her?”
“No.” Sevastyan dropped his eyes to his bottle and swirled the liquid inside it around, keeping it just below the rim. “I’ve been staying small so I don’t have to find out if I can commit matricide. It will be me or her, eventually.”
“Ah.” Alexi took a larger sip from his tumbler. “So you still love her?”
“Love is such a strong word. She’s my mother. I suppose that has meant something.”
“And now?”
“I have an excuse to make it sound like her idea. And if that fails, well . . .” Sevastyan dropped his eyes. “I suppose when I saw blood on Rei’s face, it clarified things.”
“You love him.”
“And you let Lisa run wild.”
“Guilty.” Alexi raised his glass, and Sevastyan tapped his bottle against it, both of them toasting their foolishness. Alexi took another sip. “Why even do the things we do, unless we can have what we want? Why even be alive if you can’t indulge?”
“If I fail, Rei goes to you,” Sevastyan said.
“And if I drop dead, Jonathan knows to find you first. I know you don’t want all my lovelies, but you’ll do right by them.”
Alexi held out his tumbler again and Sevastyan accepted the responsibility with another tap of his bottle.