Chapter 5 Elise
FIVE
ELISE
I hit the ground in a rolling tumble.
The impact knocks the wind out of me, but my body knows how to take it—years of training make sure I don’t lose momentum. I twist mid-roll and come up low, balanced on the balls of my feet.
He’s already spun around to face me, breathing hard, eyes narrowed with equal parts betrayal and bloodlust.
Good.
Now he finally understands.
This was never anything more than a black widow luring a fly into her web. It was always about seducing him and then going for the kill.
The taste of our kiss still lingers on my tongue, sweet and addictive, but the air between us is pure static. It crackles with tension and hostility as we glare at each other.
No more flirting. No more teasing.
Just two predators thrown into the same cage.
Gun gives no sign of what his next move will be… until after seconds of tense silence, he cracks his signature cocky grin.
“I didn’t know it was possible, feline. You’ve made my cock even harder by trying to kill me. We can fight first then fuck later, if that’s what you prefer.”
I inch along the edges of the room, still crouched low in a defensive stance in case he tries anything. As soon as I’m within reach of my top, I snatch it off the floor and quickly slip it on.
“You should leave it off,” he taunts as we start circling the room. “This is our foreplay, is it not?”
“Do you have a pain kink, Rhee?” I ask in return, adding a smirk of my own. “Because I’ll gladly make that wish come true.”
“I’m not afraid to be torn up a little if that’s what the kitten’s asking. Feel free to claw me all you like. But make no mistake—a kitty cat could never beat a dragon. She will always be a snack for him at the end of the day.”
I scoff with open derision, eyebrow arching. “And who’s the dragon? Is he in the room with us?”
“The dragon is the same man who had you gasping and squirming like a helpless little kitten two minutes ago. And he’s the one who will tame you by the end of the night. But you already knew that. Isn’t that why you’re here?”
We lap the room again, circling each other like the suite really has become some cage for a death match.
That’s essentially what this moment has become—only one of us is making it out alive.
I had counted on Gun already being dead. If not by the poison I slipped him in the glass of soju, then while he was distracted playing with my breasts.
But now things have taken a messy turn.
I’ll have to really earn this kill. Perfectly fine with me.
I’ve been waiting years for a chance like this.
Rhee Gun-woo thinks he’s dealing with a kitten, but the truth is, he’s really facing off with a panther.
“You knew who I was,” Gun muses aloud. “You sought me out to assassinate me. Which means I know what you are.”
“And what am I?”
We go in another circle, standing opposite each other, bodies coiled like snakes about to strike. We’re both waiting for the other to make the first move.
“You’re a Black Suit,” he answers. “But not just any Black Suit. You… you must be the Black Silk.”
Another slow, tense lap around the room.
The corner of my lips quirk. I give him one of the long flirtatious blinks he’s grown so fond of, my eyelashes fluttering.
Then… I strike.
I’m known for my speed, and now is no different. I rush at Gun with pure agility, driving low. My heel skims across the floor as I go for a sweep.
He proves to be just as fast and reactive, jumping to escape my takedown attempt.
I’m not one to give up easily. As he lands, I’ve already pivoted to jab at his ribs. My fist arcs in a wide sweep with both speed and strength packed into the punch.
This hit lands.
Gun grunts and stumbles a few steps back, on the defensive. I launch my next assault, demonstrating what I can do in a series of quick strikes and kicks.
He blocks each blow, ducking when necessary.
“Too slow,” he taunts, holding up his forearm to shield his face.
“Or maybe so fast you only think I’m slow.”
My knee connects with his ribs, my attack targeted.
Find a vulnerability. Expose said vulnerability, then weaken it until the target can’t go on.
A few more blows and his rib will fracture.
I drive my knee in again. But this time he catches me, his forearm hooking under my thigh. His other hand shoots out to clamp my wrist and wrench me off balance.
It’s a show of pure brute force.
Gun tosses me to the floor like I weigh nothing.
He’s doing some targeted attacks of his own. I crash into the ground a second time in minutes, not nearly as graceful or quick as the first.
Air sputters out of me as blunt pain throbs up my side. But I never let myself stay down for long; I’m up after barely touching the floor, fists balled and ready to strike again.
Gun merely grins. “You flirt better than you fight, feline. Think I’ll call you Goyangi-ne from now on.”
I grit my teeth at the patronizing nickname meaning little cat. “Yeah well… I kill better than I flirt.”
“Is that so? Then show me, Goyangi-ne. Give me what you’ve got.”
We clash in the middle of the room. I rush toward him as he takes a defensive stance.
What he doesn’t realize is that it’s a distraction. I throw out a series of punches and kicks designed to make him exert himself, then as he lunges forward to restrain me, I’m ducking him.
I dive into a smooth roll on the ground, coming out of it right where my discarded switchblade lies. My fingers wrap around the handle in time to take my next slash at him.
Gun dodges me, and I swipe at him; the two of us locked into a new dance.
“You really trying to kill me, Goyangi-ne?” he asks, breathing hard. He leaps out of the way of the blade in the nick of time. “I’m beginning to think this is more than just foreplay. You actually want me dead.”
“What was your first clue?” I swipe at him several more times, finally drawing blood.
The blade slices him in the arm as he’s a millisecond too slow outmaneuvering me. He dives under the glass tabletop to put more space between us. I roll to the ground to keep up with him, but it’s as I’m coming out of it that he makes a move of his own.
Gun retaliates by grabbing me by the hair and slamming me against the wall. Sharp pain prickles at my scalp as once again I’m colliding with a hard surface that makes me sputter.
He’s pinned me in place, wrapping his long fingers around my wrist to force the blade from my grip.
“I’m really trying not to hurt you, Goyangi,” he grunts. “I don’t like hitting women… but you are attacking me with a knife—”
“That’s your problem. You underestimate me!”
I break his hold with a twist of my arms, slipping out from his grip and going for the kill. He staggers back to avoid the blade.
It takes us both another second to realize he’s unsuccessful.
A deep crimson splotch spreads across his abdomen, the blood dying the once perfect white fabric.
Gun looks up from his stab wound, his teeth bared as he huffs heavy breaths. Any playfulness about him has vanished.
His almond-shaped eyes have darkened. His features sharpened.
He pounces fast enough that he becomes a blur. I barely have time to react as we collide, knocking over the glassware on the minbar and crashing to the ground. The knife flies out of my hand and clatters to the floor halfway across the room.
We’re left grappling, limbs tangled. The sounds we make—thick grunts, angry hisses, heavy pants—all sound like sex noises.
We might as well be fucking.
Gun voices this aloud, pinning me to the ground. “You could’ve just fucked me, you know. Would’ve been a lot more fun, Goyangi-ne.”
“Don’t flatter yourself!”
I buck hard, gaining enough leverage to push him off and roll on top.
At least for a few seconds, until Gun wraps an arm around my back and pulls me into a submission hold. We roll over yet again, fighting hard and relentlessly.
In the back of my mind, I’m aware if he really wanted to he could be putting up an even harder fight. But it seems even now he won’t let himself. As I slip free from his grasp and stagger onto my feet, he doesn’t even go for my legs.
Click.
I haven’t stood all the way up yet when I hear the hammer of a gun being cocked. That’s when I realize why Gun didn’t try to grab me—he was grabbing his handgun instead.
He holds up the gun he’s grabbed from the nearby nightstand drawer, pointing it right at me.
“I didn’t want it to come to this, feline,” he says. “But you’ve left me no choice. If it’s either me or you, then you already know your fate.”
An uncertain moment passes where I stand still and he points the gun. At the very last second, he slightly shifts his aim and fires a shot.
The bullet cuts through the air and shatters the lamp on the desk a few feet from me.
It’s a warning shot.
He intentionally missed.
I take it as my cue to get the hell out of the room. My mission has imploded and there’s no way I can realistically get it done if he’s armed.
I snatch my wristlet on my mad dash out the door, making it to the hall as Gun shouts something after me.
But I don’t pause to listen, nor do I even glance over my shoulder. I sprint down the hotel corridor, making it to the emergency exit and shoving the door open to vanish into the night.
I leap from the exterior stairwell, jumping to the rooftop of the building next door, and then I take off all over again.
It’s not for another several blocks that I eventually slow down. Sweat slicks my skin, my cropped top damp from exertion. It’s still not as bad as the ache in my ribs from some of the collisions we had.
I’ve barely caught my breath when my phone buzzes and I see Director Hart’s name on the Caller ID.
Shit.
I bite my tongue and answer. “This is Silk.”
“Silk, I have it on good authority tonight’s mission has failed,” comes the cool, icy voice of Director Camille Hart.
My boss.
“You failed to complete the operation targeting Lieutenant Im, and what’s this I hear about you going on a late-night side quest to target Rhee Gun-woo?”
Ugh.
Thanks, KD.
You damn snitch.
“His guard got in the way,” I grit out, clutching my phone tight. “But it’s nothing that’ll hinder me and Onyx from moving forward. Tomorrow we’ll—”
“Nothing that will hinder you, and yet now the Cheongryong are aware we’re after them,” she snaps uncompromisingly. “I’d say that throws quite the wrench in our plans, Agent Silk. Expect an earful from the board tomorrow. If you can’t get the job done, then I’ll bring on a suit that will.”
She hangs up on me with no further words.
Just the abrupt end of our call and the dial tone to drone in my ears, letting me know I’ve been summarily dismissed for the night.
And you know what?
I can’t even be mad or angry at the director—she’s right that I’ve failed tonight.
I didn’t land Im Hyun-sang, and to make matters worse, I went on a rogue mission to take out Rhee Gun-woo.
…then failed again.
I draw a deep breath into my lungs and touch my fingers to the ring dangling around my neck.
The truth is, I don’t give a shit about pleasing the director, the board or the agency. I didn’t join Vanguard for the job perks and benefits or the prestige of black ops.
I joined for one reason and one reason only.
The chance to avenge Dad and finally make the assholes responsible for his death pay.
Everything else is just a mandatory part of the gig.
But even though I failed tonight, it won’t be the end. It won’t stop me, and I’ll only try harder. I’ll take out Rhee Gun-woo and the rest of the Cheongryong myself, because it’s what they deserve.
Only then will I finally be able to move on from the past.
I just have to recalibrate and devise a new plan.
Sometimes being a predator means having patience.