Heartless People |Book 1|

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

"Like Alexander the Great and Caesar, I'm out to conquer the world."

~ Jarod Kintz

JENNIE

"Five." I kissed her nose

"Four." She kissed my forehead

"Three." I kissed her cheek.

"Two." She kissed my chin.

"One," we said at the same time before kissing each other deeply.

"Happy New Year," I whispered into the darkness of our room.

"Happy New Year, love," she whispered back.

Hearing the fireworks go off pulled me away from her, much to her protests, but I did want to see all the effort Evelyn had put in. Grabbing my robe, I stood at the window taking in the sight of all those celebrating like drunken fools.

"You know they say the first year of marriage is the hardest," Lisa said, kissing my shoulder.

Groaning, I leaned into her. "We're still in the first year."

"Really? I swear it's been longer than that." She laughed, trying to untie my robe, but I slapped her hands away.

"Control yourself. We have a meeting, remember?" Despite the fact that I wanted her as well, this was important.

"You're starting the year off wrong."

"You'll forgive me, now put on pants." She was such a pain sometimes.

"You put on pants." She glared at my bare legs.

Rolling my eyes at her, I threw her pajama bottoms. "I can wear whatever I want! So let's go, the family is waiting."

She frowned but wore her stupid pants, following me out of the room and into the study. There sat the whole family, along with Senator Myoi, Mina's Father, who looked very confused about why he was here.

His whole demeanor changed when Lisa took a seat in her chair while I sat on the desk.

"Thank you all for coming," Lisa said to them coldly. "As you all know, it's been a stressful year. However, that's what happens when you take over a state."

"And now that we have the state eating out of our hand, we want the country." I smiled at them all.

"How do you plan on doing that?" Marco asked, leaning into his chair.

Lisa and I grinned before Lisa spoke. "You run for the highest office in the land."

Nickhun coughed up his drink. "You want to run for President?"

"Hell fucking no," Lisa replied. "Senator Myoi does, and we're going to support him one hundred percent."

Senator Myoi's eyes widened as he gaped at us. "You want me to run for President? Have you lost your mind? Is this a joke?"

I glared at the idiot. "No, this is an order, or did you forget who has been funding all your other campaign events?"

"You're going to run for office, and you're going to win," Lisa said as fact. "And then you're going to work for us."

Senator Myoi shook his head. "That isn't possible. Not only am I part of an unpopular party right now, but I'm divorced and have only been in the Senate for a few years."

"Why are you under the impression that we're asking?" I stood, turning to face him. "You're running for President, you will be the President of the United States of America, and you will also work toward our best interests."

"As for your wife," Lisa said, paging Adriana who opened the door to reveal the ex-Mrs. Myoi.

"Mom?" Mina gasped quickly, rising to give her a large hug.

"There, look, a wife. And by coming back together, you will prove you can work with both parties, blah blah blah . . . you have a ready-made family with a lot of connections and deep pockets. When we say you're going to be President, we mean you are the next Commander and Chief. "

"We want the country and the world. Truthfully we wanted it yesterday so don't try to get in our way," I told him.

"It took even God six days to create the world, Jen. Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Bambam acted like this was a joke.

"We may be all powerful, but we are not God. We do not want to create the world, we want to own it." Lisa rose from her chair. With the end of the fighting, and wars, we could finally do what we did best—make money. We had a whole shipment of drugs pouring in, and we needed to focus on the business.

By the end, we would be untouchable, and what better way to do it than having the President of the United States in your back pocket?

LISA

When they all left, only Nickhun and I remained in the study as the sunlight slowly started to creep in through the blinds as it rose over the forest. A new year, a whole new brand of problems, and I wasn't sure how to even begin to tell Jennie.

"Check it again, Nickhun," I commanded pouring the brown liquid in to the crystal glass, this was just . . . fuck.

"Lisa, I've checked more than ten dozen times in the last two weeks. Nothing is going to change the fact that—"

"Don't you dare fucking say," I snapped, squeezing the glass. "If you say it with that much conviction then it's true. And if it's true, I'm going to be the one who has to explain it. I do not want to fucking explain it."

"Lisa, it's time we face this head on. You know it. I know it. It's time Jennie knows it."

Easier said than done. I pinched the bridge of my nose and cracked my knuckles trying to ease the tension through my body.

"We've been so happy, Nickhun," I whispered, staring at the sun as I drank slowly. "She's been happy. How do I tell her that everything she knows is a lie?"

He paused, taking a deep breath as he walked up beside me at the mirror. "It's better that she hears it from you, than finds out on her own."

He handed me the folder once again, and I stared at the woman with short black hair and warm olive skin. Standing tall and proud with her sunglasses on.

"They look so much alike."

"They are alike Lisa, and all the evidence shows Vance was right. There is much more to this than we knew. Not only that Scarlet Kim, Jennie's mother, isn't dead, but that she's been behind it all. She wants to kill not only you, but her own daughter."

"And Dong-suk knew?"

"He did what you're trying to do now and protect her. But I doubt that's going to work much longer. Scarlet Kim just entered the States."

And just like that, I could feel the floodgates of hell beginning to open.

"May God have mercy on all our souls when Jen finds out."