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Jason shrugged. “I didn’t want you to get upset and throw me out of the meeting.”
Seong Woo winced. “Ouch. Too soon.”
“Is it? Shit.” Jason grinned. “Now you’re gonna throw me out of the elevator, right?”
Seong Woo chuckled. “Damn. You’re never gonna let me live that down, are you?”
“Nope.” Jason stepped toward the elevator doors as they slid open. “You’re too late, anyway. But you can still throw me out of the lobby.”
Seong Woo snorted as he followed Jason from the elevator. “Will you shut up about that if I buy you a drink?” Jason held up two fingers, and Seong Woo laughed. “Okay, deal.”
Seong Hyeon and Min Kyu waited in the lobby near the building exit, each seemingly trying to outdo the other’s silent stoicism. Jason quietly snorted as he and Seong Woo headed their way.
“Great. Where should we go?”
Seong Woo glanced at a hundred-thousand-dollar Van Houte & Hospers timepiece on his wrist that must’ve weighed at least a quarter pound. “It’s almost happy hour, and this is Yeouido. There’s probably a hundred places to drink around here if you don’t mind being around drunken office workers.”
Jason shook his head. “I don’t mind being around drunken anyone, as long as–” His pocket started vibrating, so he stopped to check his phone. He’d hoped it was Tae Hyun, but the call was from a Seoul number he didn’t recognize. He picked it up anyway, remembering at the last minute to answer in Korean. “Hello?”
“Jason? It’s Yun Seo!”
Tae Hyun’s sister was the last person he expected to hear from. “Oh, hi. What–”
“Tae Hyun’s in trouble!”
Jason’s mind blanked, refusing to register Yun Seo’s words or tone. There was no way Tae Hyun could be in trouble. What did that even mean? “What?”
Yun Seo huffed. “I just called him, and I heard some commotion. Then he told me some men had come for him and to get help. I don’t know what to do, so I called you and–”
Sudden panic tore through Jason as he finally grasped what she was saying. Tae Hyun was in trouble. People came for him. “That’s all he told you?”
“No.” Yun Seo huffed again. “Well, yeah. But I heard some fighting, and I think he dropped his phone, and the call disconnected. And, maybe–” She suddenly stopped speaking. All Jason could hear was the wheezing of her breath.
“Maybe what?”
“I might have heard a gunshot.”
Holy shit. “What? Are you sure?” Seong Hyeon, hearing Jason’s panicked tone, anxiously hovered nearby. “No, don’t answer that. I’ve gotta go. Keep your phone handy in case he calls you.”
“Okay. I’m sor–”
Jason ended the call before Yun Seo could complete her apology. There’d be time for all that once Tae Hyun was safe and accounted for. In the meantime, Jason’s fearful panic battled his fearsome rage for dominance. But he ignored them both for the moment. There’d be time for that later, too.
Seong Hyeon opened his mouth to speak, but Seong Woo beat him out of the gate. “What’s up?”
“Trouble.” Jason turned to Seong Hyeon and relayed what Yun Seo had told him. “He was supposed to be at his designer meeting in–shit, I don’t even remember where.” He pulled up the tracking app on his phone to look for Tae Hyun. Sure enough, his phone was offline. Shit. Cold fear crept up from the darker corners of his mind, but Jason pushed it away. He needed to focus, so he checked the phone tracker’s history. The last place Tae Hyun had his phone powered on was at his appointment with the designer in Seongsu-dong. “In Seongsu-dong.” He pointed his screen at Seong Hyeon. “But his phone’s offline.”
Seong Hyeon nodded, pulled out his phone, and started tapping on his screen. “Seong Min’s phone is offline, too.”
Despite clamping down on his fear and rage, they weren’t so easily dismissed. Jason roughly grabbed Seong Hyeon’s arm, startling him. “You made me a promise.”
“I know, sir.” Seong Hyeon’s voice was tight and controlled as he thumbed through another app on his phone. His brother had been with Tae Hyun, so he probably already felt his own worry and didn’t need Jason adding to it. But that was too fucking bad.
“Then you need to keep it,” Jason growled.
Seong Hyeon gave Jason a single nod before returning to his phone.
Seong Woo frowned and turned to Min Kyu. “What can we do to help?”
