21
Jason stared at the silver thumb drive in his hand, knowing it had to hold the key to unraveling David’s web of deceit. There was no other reason why Naomi would’ve hidden it someplace only Jason would know. But to use it, he first had to access it. It was too big to plug into his phone. He needed a computer.
“My father had a laptop in here somewhere,” Jason said. “Help me find it.”
Seong Hyeon nodded, leaving Jason at the desk to approach the cabinets behind him. Jason tore through his father’s meticulously organized desk drawers but found nothing he could use. He knew he’d seen his father using a computer but couldn’t figure out where he’d kept it for the life of him.
“I’ve got it,” Seong Hyeon announced, approaching Jason from behind to set an ancient, heavy laptop on the desk.
Jason almost laughed. Why would his billionaire father use such a fucking relic? But he cracked it open anyway, tapping the power button to turn it on. He anxiously waited as the computer ran through its interminably long power cycle before it finally presented him with a login screen, asking for either a fingerprint or a password.
“Shit,” Jason angrily spat. “Of course, it’s fucking locked. ”
Seong Hyeon frowned. “You don’t know the password?”
“Why the hell would I know that?”
Seong Hyeon shrugged. “I don’t know, sir. Perhaps you could guess it.”
Jason huffed and tried using his birthday. Then he tried his mother’s birthday and, after double checking his phone calendar, his father’s. But nothing worked. And, at that rate, short of digging up his father’s body to steal a finger, they’d be at it all night. No, that wouldn’t do. He slammed the laptop closed.
“We’ll just have to use mine,” Jason reluctantly admitted. “But it’s at my house.”
“We should go there now, sir,” Seong Hyeon said, already moving towards the door.
Jason urgently nodded as he followed Seong Hyeon from the office. “Hell yeah, we should. Time’s wasting.”
The thumb drive in Jason’s pocket called to him as he stared through the passenger window. Each bump in the road sent a jolt of anxiety coursing through him. He could barely sit still, the tension in his lower back building with every passing minute. The heavy silence in the SUV was broken only by the low rumble of the engine and Seong Hyeon’s steady breathing. A hundred questions clawed at his mind, each sharper and more urgent than the last. What had Naomi uncovered that made her fear for her life? Had she stumbled upon something so damning, so explosive, that it drove David to such desperate measures?
The drive felt like an eternity, each second stretching into a torturous minute. He wanted to scream, to rip the thumb drive from his pocket and demand answers right then and there. Images of Naomi lying unconscious in that sterile hospital room flashed through his mind, feeding a white-hot rage. He wouldn’t let David get away with this. He’d find out what he’d done and what he was still trying to hide. And he’d make him pay.
Jason fought the urge to jump from the SUV as they pulled into his driveway. Security at the gate ushered them through with a wave from Seong Hyeon, who practically drove into the house. Jason rushed inside with Seong Hyeon on his heels heading directly to his den. The room had essentially sat empty for years, turning into a sort of storage space, except for the rare times Jason had actual business to conduct. But business was an afterthought as he shouldered his way past a stack of boxes and found his desk. Compared to the stately grandeur of his father’s office, Jason’s was a closet.
Seong Hyeon watched in silence as Jason plugged the thumb drive into his laptop, his fingers hovering over the keys.
“Let’s see what you’ve been hiding, David,” Jason muttered, not bothering to disguise the menace in his voice.
Jason’s heart pounded as he clicked on the drive’s icon. The screen flickered to life, revealing a folder and a single video file. Jason clicked on the video file and hit play. Naomi’s worried face appeared on the screen as her voice filled the room, her tone frantic and full of barely contained fear.
“Jason, if you’re watching this, it means something’s happened to me.” Based on the background, Naomi had made the video from her office in the Brightstar building. She paused, her eyes darting towards something off-camera. “I figured he was on to me,” she continued, “so I made this just in case. In the folder, you’ll find everything I’ve discovered–financial statements, voice memos, emails, and, most importantly, the real missing contract addenda. They show how David was embezzling from Brightstar, trying to ruin it from the inside out. It’s everything you need to take care of him in case he gets to me first.”
Jason blew out a low whistle as the video ended. Then he clicked into the folder, revealing a treasure trove of files. He didn’t need to go through it all. Naomi knew what she was doing. And she’d been right to be afraid. “Damn.”
“Indeed.” Seong Hyeon’s brow furrowed as he frowned. “If what Ms. Bell claims is true, sir, then her accident may not have been an accident at all. It could’ve been a deliberate attempt to silence her.”
A lightning bolt of cold fear struck Jason. Naomi was still in danger. “If that’s true, then the job isn’t finished. Call Carlos right now.”
Seong Hyeon already had his phone out. He tapped on the screen and held it to his ear. His face tightened with each breath as they both waited for Carlos to answer. Then, he finally gave up and disconnected with an uncharacteristic scowl. “That’s concerning.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Jason frantically gestured toward Seong Hyeon’s phone. “What about the other one?”
Seong Hyeon shook his head. “My apologies, sir. I don’t have his direct number.”
Jason scoffed. “Well, your apologies don’t help shit. Those idiots were supposed to be watching her.” He yanked the thumb drive out and handed it to Seong Hyeon. “Don’t lose this.”
Seong Hyeon tucked the thumb drive into his jacket as Jason slammed his laptop closed. “Back to the hospital, sir?”
Jason grimly nodded. “You’re goddamn right. ”
The pair rushed back outside and climbed into the SUV. Seong Hyeon pressed the start button, and the engine roared to life. But he paused before putting it into drive, glancing at Jason.
“Open the glove box, sir.”
Jason frowned but did as he was told. Nestled in among the paperwork and other items inside lay a matte black handgun tucked into a leather holster. “Is that for me?”
Seong Hyeon nodded. “You claimed to know how to handle a firearm, sir. I hope you weren’t exaggerating.”
Jason shook his head. He’d handled many guns on set, especially in his last film, and the prop masters had always required that he receive proper training beforehand. He quickly checked the weapon, ensuring it was loaded and ready, before returning the gun to the holster. “Do you really think I’ll need this?”
Seong Hyeon quietly huffed. “Normally, I’d never allow it. But I don’t want to take any chances with my men out of contact. Don’t use it unless you absolutely have to.”
“Of course.” Truthfully, Jason wasn’t sure he even wanted it. He was much more comfortable using his fists. But Seong Hyeon would never have offered it if he didn’t think there was a chance it could be necessary.
Jason removed his jacket as they pulled away, slipping into his gun’s shoulder holster before putting his jacket back on. It was the second time in his life Jason had sped across town to rescue someone in danger. He really hoped he wouldn’t make a habit of it.
The truck’s tires squealed against the smooth pavement as Seong Hyeon expertly steered them through the hospital’s parking garage. Jason’s heart pounded with a rich cocktail of adrenaline and rage. He was out of the vehicle before it had fully stopped, sprinting towards the nearest hospital entrance with Seong Hyeon hot on his heels.
“Should we alert hospital security?” Jason asked, huffing as he ran.
“We’ll secure Ms. Bell first, sir,” Seong Hyeon replied, his voice steady despite the urgency of their pace. “Then assess the situation.”
Jason nodded, adrenaline sharpening his focus. He ducked into a nearby stairwell, taking the steps two at a time as he hurried. He quickly reached the next floor without even breaking a sweat and ran down the corridor toward Naomi’s room. A quick glance confirmed what he’d feared. The door to her room stood ajar, with her guards nowhere in sight.
“Damn it!” Jason hissed, pushing through the doorway. The commotion startled the figure in blue scrubs and a surgical mask who hovered beside Naomi’s bed, an IV line in one hand, a syringe in the other. But something about the doctor’s eyes seemed familiar. Then Jason knew. It had to be David.
Jason tugged his gun free without thinking, pointing it at the supposed doctor. “Get the fuck away from her,” he growled. “Right fucking now!”
The doctor froze, his eyes widening in shock. But his hand remained on the IV line, the syringe poised dangerously close to piercing it. Jason watched the gears turning in his mind, weighing his options, perhaps calculating the odds of escape. But he made no move to back away. Maybe he’d noticed that Jason had left the gun’s safety on. There was no way he’d fire a weapon that close to Naomi.
Then, Seong Hyeon charged past Jason in a blur of motion, his shoulder aimed squarely at the doctor’s chest. The doctor yelped, scrambling onto the bed as the syringe clattered to the floor. Seong Hyeon flew past him, slowing but unable to stop before he slammed into the far wall.
The room erupted into chaos. Jason lowered the gun and lunged forward, desperately grabbing for the doctor, but the man was slippery and agile. He still managed to snag the doctor’s mask, tearing it away to reveal David’s contorted face, a snarl of fury twisting his features. Then David leaped from the bed, narrowly avoiding Jason’s second grasp, and bolted out the door. Jason spun on his heel and took off after him, tucking his gun away as his footsteps pounded down the corridor.
“Wait, sir!” Seong Hyeon shouted.
But Jason was already in pursuit. He was fixated on David, who’d already tried to kill Naomi once and was about to try again. David, who’d been secretly funneling Brightstar’s money into his pockets, trying to bring the company down. No, there was no way that asshole was getting away.
Jason locked his gaze on David’s retreating figure, his rage charging every step. David was a cornered animal, desperate and dangerous. But Jason was fueled by something more powerful–a primal need to protect and a fierce loyalty to the woman who’d become his family.
David reached the stairwell first, flinging the door open and disappearing into the darkness. Jason, not far behind, briefly hesitated at the landing. Then David’s footsteps echoed through the concrete stairwell from above. David was heading up. With no time to guess why, Jason took off, fury surging through his veins as he charged up the winding staircase.
David showed no signs of stopping as Jason rounded the eighth-floor landing. That could only mean he was headed for the roof. With an angry growl, Jason took the stairs two at a time again, his legs burning from the exertion. But he was closing the distance, just a handful of stairs behind David’s frantic footsteps pounding above him. He gritted his teeth against the pain. He wasn’t about to let the man get away with what he’d done.
Then David burst through the rooftop door, a silhouette against the moonlit sky. Jason quickly followed, the wind whipping at his hair as he dashed out to the open roof.
“That’s far enough,” David’s voice rang out, sharp and commanding.
Gravel loudly crunched under Jason’s feet as he quickly skidded to a halt. David stood several feet away, his hand steady as he aimed a pistol directly at Jason’s chest. A cold shiver ran down his spine. Of course. The asshole had come prepared.
“What are you gonna do, David?” Jason calmly asked, ignoring the sudden fear that twisted in his stomach. “Shoot me?”
David’s lips twisted into a chilling grin. “If I have to,” he replied, eerily calm as he took a careful step backward. “Now, slowly take your gun out and toss it away from you.”
Jason cursed under his breath but complied. He was no fool. Even super-ninja Kenji Shoda would know when he was outgunned. He gently removed his gun from its holster under his arm and tossed it aside. “We already know everything, David. It’s over. There’s nowhere else to go.”
David’s maniacal laugh made Jason shiver. “You’re wrong,” he taunted, glancing over his shoulder as he took another step backward. “There’s always another way. I thought even you were smarter than that. ”
Jason’s eyes followed David’s gaze, a cold dread settling over him as he realized what he was planning. “Maybe I don’t want you to take the easy way out.”
David, perhaps expecting a different reaction from Jason, stopped before reaching the roof’s edge. “Oh, of course you don’t,” he snarled. “The impotent billionaire’s spoiled brat, here to deny a dying man his last wish.” He bitterly laughed. “Why not? You’ve already taken everything else from me.”
Jason could hardly believe what he was hearing. That asshole had the nerve to lay the blame on Jason after everything he’d done? “I haven’t taken a fucking thing from you, David. I didn’t even know who you were until a week ago.”
David huffed, emphatically shaking his head. “See, that’s what I mean. You’re so fucking ignorant. You didn’t know a goddamn thing about Brightstar. But he still gave it to you anyway.”
“I never asked for it,” Jason countered. “I told my father I didn’t want it.”
“That’s right, you didn’t,” David sneered, dripping with venom. “But you still got it. Just like you got everything else. The looks, the talent, the charmed life–” His voice cracked as his composure faded. “I worked my ass off, Jason. I was the perfect son your father never had. I was loyal. Faithful. Always putting his needs before my own. But it was never enough for Gerald Park.”
David took another step back, his voice rising. “He always compared me to you, the prodigal son, the golden boy. And you know what? You were always off fucking around, chasing your frivolous dreams, while I kept his company afloat.” He bitterly chuckled. “I did everything right, but it didn’t fucking matter. He was never going to choose me. Not over his own flesh and blood, no matter how worthless that blood might be.”
Jason swallowed a frustrated sigh and ignored the slowly blossoming pain in his temples. But he finally understood where David was coming from. Jason was no stranger to parasocial relationships. You couldn’t be a celebrity in the modern world without running into crazed fans who thought they knew everything about you. The only difference with David was that he‘d learned all about Jason from the only source potentially worse than the tabloids. His father.
“You’re wrong, David,” Jason countered, struggling to keep his voice even. “My father never gave a shit about me. He barely even knew who I was. Brightstar was the only thing he ever fucking cared about.”
“But you’re still his son,” David countered. “That’s all that mattered to him. And then you brought her in. Naomi–” His voice cracked again, sharp with pain and anger. “You didn’t care about the company, not really. I could have bled it dry before you even noticed. But Naomi? She saw right through me.” He paused, his gaze hardening. “I had no choice, Jason. She forced my hand. I had to protect myself. My future.”
Jason quietly growled, his headache threatening to split him open. And he was so very tired. Tired of coming to the rescue of friends who’d been hurt because of him. Tired of constantly battling a world that didn’t really know what it wanted from him. And, tired of dealing with Gerald fucking Park’s messes.
“You know,” Jason said, surprised by his own calm. “I get it. Gerald Park was the worst. He was cruel, selfish, and never did anything that didn’t serve his interests. And he was fucking awful to both of us. So, yeah. I get it.” He gestured toward the nearby edge. “But jumping off the roof won’t change any of that. And it’s a shitty way to pay yourself back for all your hard work.”
David shook his head with a bitter, unhinged chuckle. “No, you don’t get it. This wasn’t–” He stopped, swallowing what he was about to say before he took another step back. He was right at the edge. One more step was all it would take. “There’s nothing left for me. This is my only option.”
Jason fought the urge to rush David, knowing it would spook him into going over the side. He wasn’t even sure why he was trying to talk David down. The guy was the fucking worst. Except he wasn’t. Not really. David had been used and discarded by Jason’s father. Just like Jason had. Except Jason had turned his pain and anger inward until it manifested as self-destruction instead of trying to murder his rivals.
“This wasn’t what?” Jason asked. “It wasn’t all? What else did you do?”
David said nothing as his gaze fell to his shoes, showing Jason his first genuine look of shame. Then Jason understood. “Your father?”
David slowly nodded. Jason had asked Seong Woo to learn more about why David’s father had retired. It never occurred to him to ask if David Soh, Sr. was even still alive.
Jason frowned. “Okay, yeah. But, still. Every judge in LA County was at my father’s funeral. I’m sure I could ask them to go easy on you if you turned yourself in.”
“No,” David said as he looked up. His tone was firm. Final. He took another step back, his heels hitting the roof’s edge.
“Seriously, David.” Jason cautiously spread his arms as an invitation for David to take advantage of his mercy. “If you just–”
“I said no.” David took one last step backward, his body disappearing over the edge as Jason watched in horror. The wet thud of David’s body hitting the pavement below was a sickening sound and the brutally tragic end of a twisted life.
Jason flinched, his hand instinctively curled into a now-useless fist, his mind reeling from the sudden, violent turn of events. Shaken, unsure of what to do or where to go, he slowly turned away as the city lights blurred into a disorienting bokeh. Then, the sharp, metallic creak of the stairwell door snapped him back to reality.
Seong Hyeon emerged from the stairwell, his face ashen, his usual stoicism replaced by a look of grim resignation.
“Are you alright, sir?”
Jason barked out a harsh, bitter laugh. “Better than that asshole. How’s Naomi?”
“She’ll be fine,” Seong Hyeon admitted. “But we need to get you out of here, sir.”
“What?” Jason defiantly shook his head. “No,” he insisted. “I didn’t do anything. I’ll just explain–”
“No, sir,” Seong Hyeon firmly interrupted, his tone belaying any of Jason’s potential arguments. “That’s not how things work for someone like you now. No one saw you arrive. No one knows you’re here. We need to keep it that way.”
Jason wanted to argue. To rail against the injustice of it all. He’d just watched an angry, broken man take his own life. But he knew Seong Hyeon was right. He was no longer just Jason Park, the actor. He was Jason Park, the billionaire heir and the face of Brightstar. He was important. And important people didn’t get their hands dirty like that. Or, at least, they didn’t get caught doing it.
“Alright, fine,” Jason reluctantly agreed. “Let’s go.”