REPLICA (BOOK 2)

Know Your Enemy

Back at Park Investments, Seonghwa was dying to go home. He's never stayed at the office this late, but he did as Hyunjin instructed just to be safe.

"I wanna take Ace on a walk." Hongjoong said, still playing with his puppy. It'd been several hours and he still wasn't tired out.

"You can't, Joongie, I'm sorry." Seonghwa sighed, hating that he couldn't allow him to do what he wanted. But it was only for his protection.

"Why not?"

"It's not safe right now."

"I can handle it."

"I know you can, but I don't want anything happening to you."

"Nothing will."

"Hongjoong, please."

Taken aback by the use of his full name, he didn't ask further questions.

"You know, if something is going on, you can tell me." Instead of getting angry or upset at the CEO, Hongjoong sat on Seonghwa's lap and kissed his forehead.

The small display of affection sent the older man into a spiral. That was the first time a move like that had been made.

"People are after me." He lied.

"Who?"

"I don't have all the details yet, but I'll find out soon."

"Are they trying to kill you?"

"I think so." He nodded. "They wanna kill you too. That's why I need to protect you."

Hongjoong sighed. "That doesn't surprise me. A lot of people want to kill me."

"Why?"

"Minho and I had some bad deals a few times. I'm just assuming those people want to finish what we started."

For the sake of Hongjoong's safety, he was willing to stick with that narrative.

The door opened to reveal a very serious Hyunjin and Wooyoung. The CEO assumed they had all the details.

"Can it wait?" Seonghwa asked.

"Not if he might know something." Wooyoung replied.

"I don't want-"

Hongjoong put his finger over his husband's mouth and shook his head. "Shush, the adults are speaking." Hyunjin stifled a laugh as Seonghwa pouted. "Tell me what's going on."

"You ever hear of the Serpent Corps?" Wooyoung asked.

Both Seonghwa and Hongjoong rolled their eyes, knowing exactly who they were.

"Well," the CEO went into his top drawer and took out his checkbook, "at least our funerals will be paid for."

"Oh, stop." The former captain snatched the pen away. "We'll be fine."

"Give me all the details as I half pay attention while petting your dog." Hyunjin said, picking Ace up.

"They're a bunch of obnoxious guys who think they're hot shit just because of the way they present themselves. If you can look past the fancy equipment, they're not much."

"You seem very confident." Wooyoung's eyes were wide. "San is nervous."

"I can see why he'd be. The Serpent Corps was ultimately the reason why my dad decided to retire." Seonghwa sighed, remembering how scared his family was when they were an issue. "I talked him recently, by the way."

"Who? Your dad?"

"Yeah, I asked about San's dad. He said he was a good man."

"I'd like to see San go at somebody." Hongjoong said, making Wooyoung uneasy.