“You’re asking for it, whore,” he spat, his eyes narrowed to slits as he backhanded me and watched me fall to the floor. “You should beg me for your life; maybe I’ll just keep you as a pet instead of killing you.”
“Get fucked,” I spat, far from resigned to my fate. As long as I still had breath in my lungs, I’d fight this fucker. I might die doing it, but I’d give it a hell of a shot.
“Why don’t you do it for me?” he countered, jerking my body against his as that gun pressed against the edge of my temple again. “Might as well make yourself useful one last time.”
“Not a chance.” I didn’t care if there was a gun to my head or not, I was not about to let this man touch me sexually while there was breath in my body.
“Brave words for a woman with a gun to her head.” He shoved me at the arm of the couch, bending me over with his free hand as he brandished that gun at me with the other. “I’m not asking.”
“I said no, you piece of shit!”
I launched myself backward and slammed my head into his nose, catching him off-guard. The gun moved away from my head and we toppled to the floor in a jumbled mess of limbs, rolling around as we fought for control of the deadly weapon inhis hand. The bastard underneath me rolled on top, and I winced as he delivered a knee to the side of my ribcage, knocking the wind out of me.
“Arista!”
A third body launched itself into the fray, and I screamed when the gun at the center of the struggle suddenly went off, temporarily bringing our scuffle to a halt as we scrambled to see if it had hit anyone.
That’s when I recognized the third body in the room.
Jun.
Fucking Jun.
The gun lay abandoned on the floor, too far away from us to have been the source of the shot. I glanced around, spotting Pujin in the doorway, his gun at the ready, pointed at the intruder in the center of the room. Jun moved to my side, his eyes wild, sweat beading on his brow like he’d run all the way here from HQ. Worry was etched in every line of his face, but he refused to meet my eyes.
“Next time, I’m shooting youandyour kid, bitch,” the intruder spat as he took the chance Pujin’s moment of hesitation afforded him. “Kim isours,and we’re not giving him up.”
I watched him slip out the open window to our left like he was a damned spectre in the night, the only indication he’d ever been here the trail of blood he left behind.
Pujin’s shot must’ve landed a hit on him. He wouldn’t get far.
Jun looked down at me as I turned and started patting him down, checking for injuries. “Are you okay? Where’s Yejin?”
“She’s with Grant and Pujin’s second,” he breathed, checking me up and down for injuries. “Why would you wrestle a psycho for a gun?—”
“I wasn’t about to let him kill Yejin,” I pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “They’ve tried itbefore, and they didn’t win then. I’m not about to let them win now.”
Jun stilled beneath my hands. “What do you mean they tried before?”
I realized my mistake a second too late. The cat was out of the bag now, and there was nothing I could do to take it back. “Nevermind,” I said quietly, hoping he’d gloss over it if I redirected us. “You’ve gotta let Pujin know to send someone after him?—”
“He’s already on it. We got an alert when you called the security office. He brought backup. I’m sure the guy won’t get far.”
“Yejin’s safe?” I asked again, to clarify and ease my own mind.
“Thanks to you,” Jun said with a hint of pride and astonishment. “But what did he mean when he said you should’ve gotten rid of her sooner?
“Jun,” I hesitated, knowing there was no way around it this time. The truth was in the air. I had to come clean.
“Ari,” he demanded, his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t lie to me.”
“They tried to get me to abort her when I found out I was pregnant.”
His breathing halted. “Who?”
As if it weren’t perfectly clear who would have motive to do such a thing. “SeoulSOUL, your old label.” The memories welled up in my head, strangling me bit by bit. “When I refused, they tried to run me off the road once or twice, cut my brake lines. I fled the country to have her, and then . . . well, you know what happened after that.”
I felt the tears well up in my eyes as Pujin approached us warily, his gun down at his side again. “Miss Simmons, are you alright? Mister Kim?”
