Chapter 17 Elise
SEVENTEEN
ELISE
The next forty-eight hours are a blur.
We successfully evade the Cheongryong and escape Itaewon for a different district within Seoul. Gun revealed he had another secret apartment he keeps for emergency situations. This one located in Pangyo, a tech-heavy neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.
Otherwise known as South Korea’s Silicon Valley.
“Even more discreet than Mullae-dong,” Gun reassures as we speed down the expressway in our stolen taxi.
“Is this another sex hub?” I ask sullenly.
He shoots me a sidelong look, one hand on the steering wheel. “No, Goyangi. I only have one of those. How many women do you think I’m fucking?”
“I don’t want to imagine even a little bit.”
“You enjoyed yourself. You came three times—”
“Okay!” I say instantly, my cheeks warming. “Thanks for the trip down memory lane. But that’s not necessary, Rhee.”
“You’re one to talk—what about you and that lovesick puppy back at your apartment?”
“His name is KD, and he’s not lovesick. He has a girlfriend.”
“Yeah, right. He only has eyes for you. If you can’t see it, then you’re blind.”
“I’m not blind,” I say defensively, folding my arms. “We’ve already dated, and KD moved on. He and Priscilla are deeply in love and obsessed with each other.”
“Goyangi-ne,” he says, the side of his mouth quirking in a lopsided grin. His eyes are still set on the road as we break speed limit laws. “I’m a man. I know these things. That guy’s got it bad for you.”
My belly flutters with unease. I’ve long ago stopped thinking of KD in a sexual light. But he has insisted over the years that we remain close—he immediately started dating Priscilla, my roommate, once we were put on this assignment in South Korea.
…he even got me the job at Vanguard in the first place.
I shove those thoughts aside and decide to give Gun a dose of his own medicine.
“So what you’re saying is, takes one to know one?” I ask in return, raising my brows and half smirking. “Because you two seemed to be having some pissing contest back there.”
In a first, Gun’s ears go red. The grin on his face vanishes, and he clears his throat, changing topics back to his loft apartment in Pangyo.
The accommodations are nicer than his love nest in Mullae-dong. The loft is spacious, with heated flooring, two big bedrooms, and mood lighting.
“Really?” I ask, flicking on a light switch. The room dims into deep violet with twinkling silver specs that are supposed to be starlight.
Gun shrugs and says, “So I like to set the mood. Sue me, feline.”
For the first night, I insist Gun takes the bed. His second bedroom is unfortunately converted into an office, which means the options are share a bed or one of us crashes on the couch.
“We could share,” he says, shrugging. Or doing his best to, given his injured shoulder. “It’s an American King. Plenty of room for us both.”
I stubbornly park myself on the couch. Then end up regretting it when I develop a crick in my neck after only two hours sprawled out on the stiff leather sofa.
Gun’s out cold when I nudge the bedroom door open and pad inside. I gently lower myself onto the far edge of the bed with the extra pillow and blanket he’s given me and pretend I’m not climbing into bed with the man who’s supposed to be my mortal enemy.
This is about comfort and rest and nothing else.
But as my head touches the pillow, a sleepy Gun murmurs, “I knew you’d come, Goyangi-ne.”
And then he’s out again.
On day two, we sort out what the fuck it is we’re even doing. I’m now essentially a fugitive on the run from the Cheongryong, fired by Vanguard, and still with a vendetta I’m on a kamikaze mission to carry out.
Gun sits down across from me at the table in the dining area between the living room and kitchen. The loft is so wide and open-spaced that it almost feels strange compared to the cramped place I share with Priscilla.
“We could get you out of the country,” he says. “I’ve managed to avoid my father and the others for the past couple days—they think I’m suffering a severe hangover after another wild night partying.”
“Smart alibi.”
“It helps that Joon corroborated it. Anyway, sooner than later, I’ve got to return. But you… you can make it out. Fly back to the States. Start over new.”
“If you think that really sounds like me, then you don’t know me.” I scoot back my chair and move to stand up.
Gun grabs hold of my hand to stop me, pulling lightly to signal he wants me to sit back down.
“Sit, feline.”
“Am I dog or a cat? Don’t give me commands like a dog.”
“Please,” he adds. The sincerity in his tone and on his face makes my heart flutter. He hasn’t let go of my hand, his touch so instinctual that it’s a reminder how good it feels.
…how natural it is when his skin touches mine in any way.
I’ve never had that thought before—never had this kind of reaction to a man simply grabbing my hand.
I slowly obey, sliding back into the chair while trying to ignore my sensory reactions.
He draws a breath and takes a second to go on.
“I realize asking you to run is like asking a pig to fly. It’s just not in your nature.
But I also know what you’re dealing with.
And the Cheongryong will not stop ’til they have Black Silk’s head on a pike.
You’ve now been identified, Goyangi-ne. Which means I can’t protect you forever. ”
“I’m not asking you to—”
“It doesn’t fucking matter if you are,” he interrupts, dark eyes flashing with assertiveness.
Yet another detail about him that draws a reaction out of me.
A quickened pulse and ache somewhere I don’t want to admit.
“It has nothing to do with what you want. It has to do with me… not wanting any harm to come your way.”
I’m speechless for a second, lost for words. “I’ve told you I hate you.”
“I know you have. There have been moments I thought I hated you too. But I was wrong—I don’t hate you. I never have. It’s more like... I’ve been impressed by you. Turned on by you. Fascinated with you. Obsessed with you. And I like you. Even as you hate me.”
“Gun.” I shake my head and snatch my hand back. I’m on my feet that quickly, a bubble of panic growing inside me.
It’s the need for escape. My urge to separate myself before… before…
“And you know what, Goyangi?” he goes on, the left side of his mouth tilting. “I think… you like me too. I think you keep telling yourself we have to be enemies because of our fathers. But if you truly hated me, you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t react the way you do when I touch you.”
No.
No. NO.
STOP. RIGHT NOW.
The words bounce around inside my brain as I take a step back and shake my head to refute his claims.
But as I back away, he rises to his feet like a predator in the wild that’s just spotted prey. He comes around the table and starts toward me.
Still so slow. Still so knowing.
His gaze hooking mine. The space between us diminishing. The air in the room evaporating.
I back up and he stalks forward ’til there’s nowhere else to go, even in this spacious loft that once felt so impossibly huge.
Rhee Gun-woo backs me up against the wall of exposed brick in such slow-motion you’d think I’d do something. I’d shove him away or duck out from under him.
I’d tell him to back the fuck up and leave me the hell alone.
I do none of those things.
I look him in the eye as he leans in close and cups my chin. He stares at me like he’s caught in a trance too.
He can’t bring himself to look anywhere else but at me. Then he bows his head and kisses me.
My heartbeat pounds in my chest. All thoughts are instantly wiped out.
Time, place, and circumstance cease to exist as I let myself be swept up by my enemy. By the man who I’m supposed to hate and even kill.
His mouth seals over mine and his tongue prods my lips open. I give in without a fight, melting into him in every way possible. I hold onto his arms, nails raking his skin as he kisses me so tenderly it sends shivers down my spine.
He makes his intentions clear. His kiss speaks for him, a declaration of where he stands. I can feel it as he takes his time and massages my tongue with his. He strokes my face and hip and holds me against him.
I’m trapped in a moment I never thought I’d be in—kissed passionately by a man who actually seems to care about me. But even more than that, by a man who I’m unable to push away like the many others before him.
It seems no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to, I can’t escape Gun. I can’t shut him out like I’ve done my entire life.
…and that, more than anything I’ve ever encountered, is dangerous.
It’s everything I said I would never let happen.
I’m buzzing, half dizzy by the time Gun draws back. He looks equally as dazed and turned on, his dark gaze focused on my kiss-swollen lips even now.
“If that wasn’t clear enough, feline, I’m in this for the long haul,” he says throatily. He strokes my cheek and meets my eyes. “I’m with you on your quest. If you say it was the Cheongryong, then it was the Cheongryong. And if you say it was my father, then we’ll hold him accountable too. Okay?”
My tongue feels heavy, my lips tingling. I nod dumbly and repeat, “Okay.”
He kisses me again, a fleeting peck. “Then let’s take our time. Let’s make sure we get this right. My shoulder’s still healing, and after the last failed attempts, we have to get it right.”
As hard as it is to admit, I know deep down that Gun’s correct. I’ve been rash; I’ve been reckless trying to carry out my revenge against the Cheongryong.
When I failed the first time against Lieutenant Im, I went out that night and targeted Gun. And when Director Hart pulled me off the contract, I went after the syndicate again at Noir Norae.
I haven’t been successful because I’ve been blinded by desperation. I’ve been driven by anger and stubbornness.
My thirst for revenge.
This time’s going to be different.