Heartless People |Book 1|

Chapter 4

FOUR

"Every murder turns on a bright hot light,

And a lot of people . . .

Have to walk out of the shadows."

~ Albert Maltz

DONG-SUK

"Thank you for lying to her. I know it is not your forte." I coughed. I was always bloody coughing. I wanted nothing more than to rip my damn throat from my neck.

"Yes, well," Marco said, handing me a glass of brandy. "One day she may thank me for keeping the identify of your daughter secret."

With shaky hands, I held on to the glass before tossing the contents down my throat. It helped the hacking this damn cancer caused, but not by much.

"She's your daughter now." I hated saying it. I couldn't even meet his gaze. I just stared at the empty glass. My own hands looked so foreign to me.

When had I become this man? This broken and tired old man who was frustrated at watching the sun come up in the morning and seeing the moon fill the night sky? When had I become tired of living? In my youth, all I did was live, some say a little too much, but I knew this was to be my future.

Even now it wasn't enough. I wanted to live more. I wanted more. It was the curse of being a Kim. We wanted it all, even if we didn't know it yet. I rode like lightning and—

"Dong-suk?"

Snapping out of my trance, I stared at the gracefully graying man before me with slight envy. Even now, he did not look a day over thirty-something. The Manobans, I swear, had found the Fountain of Youth.

"My apologizes. What did you say?" I frowned, trying to sit up, but my body was my prison and I couldn't.

Walking over to me, Marco slowly lifted me up with one hand. "I said, she would forever be your daughter. I wish to know why you didn't tell me about the cancer. I wouldn't have used it against you."

"Liar." He couldn't help himself, a small grin spread across his face. "I didn't wish for anyone to know, Jen included. But that damn girl was too bloody smart for her own good and blackmailed the doctors into telling her." Snickering, I grabbed the bottle off my desk, spilling a few drops on my hands.

Marco nodded, staring out the window as he drank. "When I first found out about her, I was shocked and angry that you would allow your daughter to get tied into the life we have chosen. I had to see it with my own eyes, and watching her chop off two men's hands down in Mexico sure did the trick."

"So you saw her on a good day."

His eyebrow rose, and all I could do was snort.

"I didn't allow Jen to do anything. She doesn't ask for permission. She takes what she wants. By the time you've figured out what happened, it's too late to stop her. I didn't even realize it when she started taking over. One moment she was helping me balance cocaine and clean guns, the next she was telling me not to worry because she already knew what to do. I tried to fight her, but the damn girl's plans always worked so well. I was left speechless."

"Your empire may have needed us once upon a time, but not now. I must admit, she has done well, frighteningly well, in fact. You could have terminated the contract," he said, and he was right, I could have. Any self-respecting Boss would never have shared his or her throne with another, and yet here we were.

"If Jen was a man, no one would dare deny she has the capability to be the best there ever was. But there will always be a fool who thinks she can be run over, and she would never stop fighting. If someone backed her into a corner, she would either fight or tear down the wall and attack them from behind." I chuckled. It was one of the things I loved about her. That fire in her eyes reminded me so much of her mother.

"Lisa is not going to just let her rule. In fact, I fear the years of peace we've enjoyed inside my house will be on hiatus." Marco grinned and I knew he was looking forward to it. Behind his polished accent and polite demeanor, he enjoyed chaos. I had an old bullet wound in my arm to prove it.

"But"—he turned back to me—"that is not your only reason, Dong-suk. If you minded her fighting, you would have locked her away from it all the moment she was born. The fighting does not bother you. What does?"

Damn bastard, I thought as I glared at him.

"The difference between a female and male Boss is that the female sells not only her soul, but her heart. Jen hasn't felt anything but rage in years. She is walled-off and will stay that way if she does not marry. Even if she were to hate Lisa, at least I know she will never be alone. She will still have a family." Everyone she has ever loved has died, and I was well on my way, too. In return, Jen died a long time ago.

Marco frowned, shaking his head. "It is odd. You believe that Jennie needs Lisa to end the loneliness, and I believe Lisa needs Jennie to not fear being alone. She has all the makings of a Ceann na Conairte. I knew it the very first day she was born. Bambam was . . . not mentally strong enough. He doesn't have it. But Lisa? She was born for it. It is in her DNA. Even as a child she loved to leave her mark on everything."

"But?" I coughed.

"But behind Lisa's façade, she craves to be loved, and she hates to be alone." He frowned, hating that he had to admit the truth, and that was the truth. "She is not focused as she should be and is too compassionate sometimes. I blame her mother for that."

"And compassion is only for the family," I said.

He nodded. "She is merciless in many ways. But to be the Ceann na Conairte, you must not show mercy to anyone but your family. You are cold. You are distant. You enjoy the blood, the death. Lisa kills, but she does not relish in it as he should. If she did, the Valero would fear her as they fear you, or should I say, the woman now acting as you."

"I must ask you for something, Marco," I added, wishing more than anything to never have to speak the words that were about to break free from my lips.

"Whatever it is, say it, and I will have it done," he said, only making the ache in my heart burn more.

Swallowing my pride I nodded. "I wish for you to walk Jen down the aisle."

There was a pause, and he searched my eyes. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. My bambina dolce deserved to walk down the aisle and be proud. She would argue about how proud she was of me already. How she didn't care that I would cough throughout the ceremony, or that I needed to be pushed down the aisle, or the fact that more people would be focused on me rather than her. But I cared, and I did not want that. If I went and our enemies saw how weak I was, they would try to use that against her, against her empire.

"I will call Evelyn, and she will have everything ready in three days. You can watch from a secret room. No one will see you," he said with a grateful nod. Offering any more than that, and he might as well carve out my heart.

"Do you not feel like we are Pandora just as she is about to open her box?" I grinned at him. "They will bring chaos like we never could, and we did it simply with the hope of bettering them for the future."

Marco chortled before finishing off his brandy. "Yes, in a twisted sort of way."

"We do live in a twisted world," I replied as the door opened to reveal Adriana once again.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Kim, Mr. Manoban. I am sorry to intrude, but I was told to come get you both," she said with her head down.

"Why is that?" Marco asked with a coldness in his voice that he hadn't had since our conversation started.

"The Boss and Ms. Manoban apparently cleared the room in the basement so they could be alone and no one was to enter. But, a few minutes later, a gun went off."