Page 21 of Fallen Starboy

Chapter

Seventeen

ARISTA

I refused to take the bait. Mi-Soo was playing a game. I knew damn well she didn’t have any better prospects lined up, and the longer she was off the market, the harder it’d be to get back on top. If she wanted to work in Nocturna Beach, she’d sign the new contract and stop jerking our chains.

Tanner understood. But there was no doubt in my mind I’d have a stern talking-to lined up from my superiors when they caught wind of the tactics I used.

Mi-Soo had been a frustrating, spoiled, entitled bitch from the start. And girls like that only understood one type of handling—the tough kind.

I had to force her hand to make things happen. I just hoped the bosses would understand.

But there was no hiding the emotion that ran through my veins when I spotted her hands all over Jun.

Rage. Jealousy. Anger.

I wanted to rip her arm off her body and beat her with it. I wanted to claw her eyes out. I wanted to do a number of things that could land me in jail.

But he wasn’t mine. I had no say over his life. Hell, wasn’t I currently rushing temp hires so I could run in the other direction from this shit show?

But seeing him with someone else still hurt.

I didn’t wait for them to finish the meeting. I gave Pujin orders to escort Jun for the remainder of his daily schedule, and I bailed like a fucking coward.

I made it to the parking garage before I realized something was off.

I stopped walking, and behind me somewhere, someone else’s footsteps halted a second after mine. If I turned around, it’d give me away. Instead, I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and dialed our building’s security team emergency line.

“kNight Rising, Dan here. Is there an emergency?”

“Hey, Kathy. I’m just heading down to the parking garage now. Are we still on for dinner tonight?” I started walking again, slower this time, listening for the second set of footsteps as I waited for the guard to pick up on the code.

“Yes or no, ma’am: are you currently in the east garage?”

“Yes.”

“Are you in danger?”

I stopped, reaching into my bag as if I were searching for a compact. “Maybe. What do you think about that new restaurant in the main building? I hear the view from the third floor is amazing at sunset.”

“Third floor, east garage. We’re sending someone out to you right now. Please stay on the line with us.”

My relief was short-lived as someone came up behind me and put what felt like a gun to the back of my head.

“Hang up,” a raspy voice whispered. “You can talk to your little friend later.”

“I’m sorry, Kathy, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you at the restaurant in a bit.”

The second I hung up, the stranger behind me pulled the phone from my hand and threw it to the ground, stomping it like a fucking bug under his shoe. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s have a little chat.”

The cold metal muzzle of the gun dug into the base of my scalp as he led me around the corner and shoved me into the stairwell.

I managed to keep myself from slamming into the wall, but his weight pressed me forward, pinning me against the concrete as I struggled to get free. “What do you want with me? Who even are you?”

The snarl that left his throat sent a chill down my spine. “You should have just gotten rid of the kid when we gave you a chance.”

The kid.

Yejin.

Oh my god, they meant Yejin. They knew about her.

How?

“That’s right. You’ve figured it out, haven’t you?” He pressed the gun further into my skull, his other hand digging into my bicep. “We want our star back, and we’re not picky about how we make it happen.”

They had to be from Jun’s old label. SeoulSOUL had threatened my life, and Yejin’s, on more than one occasion in the past, but that was all done and over with. They washed their hands of him; that was why he was with us now.

Why demand him back when they clearly wanted nothing to do with him?

“You dropped him,” I protested, hoping to buy myself some time. “Why try to steal him back?”

“His popularity was supposed to tank when people found out about that brat.” The grip on my arm tightened more, and I could feel his nails digging into my skin, breaking the surface layer. “Either you get him to ditch the kid and come back, or we’ll have to take care of things the hard way.”

A door in the stairwell opened up a few floors below us and I shouted for help, twisting away from the assaulter and injuring myself in the process.

“Up here, up here!”

The perp made a run for it, skipping out before the guard could catch up. But he landed one more parting shot before he disappeared into thin air.

“We’re watching you.”

My heart hammered in my chest as the security guard rounded the corner, his taser already drawn and ready.

“He ran off that way—” I shouted, pointing in the direction the perp fled.

Without hesitation, the guard called for backup and went in search of the armed asshole who ruined this whole fucking day.

I didn’t realize how much the whole thing affected me until my knees gave out and I sank to the floor, shaking uncontrollably as a flashback from seven years ago washed over me.

“You’re asking me to kill my child to keep your cash flow safe.”

“We’re not asking, Miss Simmons. Asking implies you’re being given an option.”

I paced the floor anxiously, trying to find a way out of this. “What did Jun have to say about all of this?”

“What he thinks isn’t important. He’ll fall in line eventually. They all do.”

The strange man stepped toward me, a menacing glint to his eyes that set me on edge.

I found myself backing up until I hit the wall, my hands instinctively covering my stomach.

“Don’t come any closer,” I warned him, though what I could possibly do to overpower him, I had no idea.

I was a seventeen year old pregnant girl who barely weighed a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet.

He was almost double my size, and clearly worked out.

Still, I couldn’t just roll over and give him what he wanted.

So I bolted.

I’d never run so hard in my life before, and to this day, I don’t know where the speed came from. I took off and just kept going, with no idea where I was headed or whether he followed.

And I didn’t stop running until I touched down in another country. Even then, looking over my shoulder became second nature. And it didn’t stop when I left Yejin with her father. In fact, it only got worse.

The number of close calls with cars I had after Yejin was safely with her father couldn’t just be bad luck.

“Miss? Miss Simmons, are you alright?”

The second guard was standing beside me, his hand out to help me off the ground. I took it gratefully, still shaken up and very much on edge. If not for his strong grip, I might’ve just slipped right back down to the floor in a puddle of anxiety.

Fuck, I hadn’t been this shaken up in years.

“I’ll be okay as soon as I’m out of here,” I replied coolly, proud of how strong my voice was. “Did your partner catch the guy who?—”

“We’re sorry, Miss Simmons, but we didn’t find him anywhere.

Our team is looking through CCTV footage right now to see if we can get a good shot of him to spread to local police.

” He glanced over his shoulder as his partner approached with a disappointed expression on his face.

“We’d like you to come with us to make a statement at the security office. ”

The last thing I wanted to do was to go back in that building. But they weren’t going to let me off the hook. With a situation like this, making sure it didn’t happen again, or to someone else, was of the utmost importance. That statement I gave could help other clients in the long run.

So I simply followed them back to the security office. I just hoped I could get back out of the damn place before someone spotted me again.

An hour and a half later, I walked out of the security office with a copy of the report in hand, a now-permanent scowl on my face.

I had wanted to be out of here sooner. I wanted to be at home, relaxing, avoiding anything and everything to do with my wayward emotions that I’d let get the better of me today.

Of course, fate was a cruel mistress, and she chose that moment to let none other than Pujin and Jun turn the corner and walk right in my direction.

When our eyes met, I hated to see the way they changed from malice and something else, to confusion, and then concern.

Was I really that easy to read?

“I thought you were leaving, Miss Simmons?” Pujin inquired gently, his smile friendly and innocent. Jun’s, on the other hand, looked forced. Clearly only one of them was pleased to see me. His eyes cast upward to the security office placard on the door. “Did something happen?”

I shoved the report behind my back and cleared my throat. “Oh, no. I just had to stop in for some paperwork I was overdue filling out. It slipped my mind.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Well, since we’re all finished now, we could save some time and share a car home.”

Pujin’s suggestion was innocent, but it meant putting myself in a confined space with Jun. It meant close quarters I couldn’t exactly escape from. It meant?—

“Sure we can,” Jun said suddenly, throwing an arm over my shoulder.

“After all, she is my assistant for the time being. It’s completely natural for us to share a car.

” He glanced over his shoulder with a shit-eating grin and steered me toward the front doors, strolling smoothly along without a care in the world.

“Mr. Kim, I?—”

“I insist on sending you back, Miss Simmons. In my culture, it’s a sign of respect and almost expected of a man to make sure the women around him arrive home safely.

It’s the least I can do for all the work you’ve put in for me.

” He leaned closer, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear.

“Just play along,” he whispered, his words laced with honey but no less intimidating.

I wasn’t sure what the hell he thought he was doing, but I wasn’t in the mood to fight with him in public. “Fine,” I growled out, my body stiff in his half-assed embrace. “The car’s waiting outside.”

Pujin took the front seat and Jun took the seat behind him, leaving the seat behind the driver as my only option.

I heaved a sigh of regret and slid inside, acutely aware of Jun’s nearness.

I had hoped to get home and sequestered in my room before he came home to avoid any interaction with him for the foreseeable future.

Now, we were a foot apart, and I could hear him breathing beside me, as loud as the heartbeat in my fucking veins.

The ride home was about to be more tense than a suspension bridge.