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Prologue
Jae Han
“Idon’t do flesh. The Songs don’t trade flesh,” I ground out, ice spreading through my voice and seeping into the air. Seo Jun knew that, yet my uncle was determined to push the sight before my eyes.
He shrugged, raising a cigarette to his lips. “Time to reconsider.”
“And why would that be?”
His grin split his face open. “Because they’re already here.”
My heart sank. We were standing in my offices near the port. Shipping was the Song family strength, and since our arrangements with the Lucianos, business had been booming. That said, even criminals had to have a line, and mine was being pushed in my face.
“Tell you’re joking,” I said, still icily furious.
“I can’t. I’m not that funny,” Seo Jun said with a chuckle, clearly enjoying himself. Only that sick fuck could joke about trafficking. The man was a monster, which was chilling coming from me. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
I followed, icy anger creeping along my veins. If he was serious, the power struggle we’d engaged in since I took over from my father was coming to a head. Seo Jun wanted to be the boss, but he wasn’t capable. He was lacking in everything that made a good boss. He was hot-tempered, selfish, vindictive, and illogical.
If he wasn’t lying about the trafficking, he was also dead.
He led me down a long, winding corridor under the office building. We often used it to unload straight from the docks into a secure place. It was dark and smelled like rotten fish and fetid river weeds. The walls were wet, and the weak lights dotted along the ceiling did little to dispel the gloom.
He stopped at a door with two armed guards outside. I studied their faces, committing them to memory. Anyone who helped Seo Jun with this could die with him, as far as I was concerned.
The door opened, and the smell hit me—fear, dirt, and the scent of the human condition, in all its terrible glory. I flinched as I stepped inside. Women lined the room, maybe as many as twenty. Their pale faces stared at me through the darkness. Sobbing filled the air.
“Where are they from?”
“All over. Strays. No one will miss them,” Seo Jun said proudly.
The ice in my belly hardened. My hand fell to my gun and flew toward my uncle’s face before I could stop it. I hit him hard, and he fell to the ground with a wet smack.“How dare you do this. We don’t deal in flesh. It’s a liability. It's messy.”It’s wrong.
“It’s business. Good business and you’re too pussy to see it,” Seo Jun muttered.
I hauled him up and pressed my pistol to his forehead, cocking back the hammer.“I’ll kill you for this.”
“What will your father say? I’m Min-Ho’s favorite, and you know it,” Seo Jun spat, gripping my hand.
He was right. I couldn’t kill him like this. I needed everyone to know why I was killing him and how he endangered us. I needed time, but one thing was clear—my uncle’s days were numbered.
“Clean up this mess. I want them taken back wherever they came from. Do a good job, and you get to live. Fail, and I’ll lock you in here with them and let nature take its course.”
I shoved him back, and he fell to the floor.I turned back to the room of women, and they cowered—all but one. As they turned their dirty faces, they dropped their eyes, hiding behind stringy hair. But one woman held my gaze.
My eyes snapped to hers and fixed. She had long hair, blonde, maybe? Hard to say. Her eyes were narrowed and watchful. She watched me without fear. It was an odd feeling. Few looked at me like that now I was boss.
“No one in or out,” I commanded the guards as I turned away, leaving the woman with the pale eyes behind me and striding from the dank corridor.
Despite the door between us, I felt her eyes on me.
CHAPTER1
Jae Han
“You will go on the arranged date, and you will be polite. Her mother is from my card club.” My mother’s grating tone did nothing for my mood that morning. It had been two days since the incident with my uncle, and he still hadn’t reassured me he’d taken care of it.
“Umma, I’ve told you repeatedly. I don’t need your help finding a date, girlfriend, or wife.”
