Page 160 of Lust & Lies

“Something's wrong,” I said, not believing him. “What’s up?”

“You. You and your inability to follow the rules. Is being with me that damn horrible?” he whispered.

“It has nothing to do with you, Leader. Aiden is and will forever be the only person in my heart.”

“But you can’t be with him. It’s forbidden,” he told me.

“No one gets to tell me who I can love.”

He shook his head. “If you keep being defiant, you’ll end up hurting the people close to you.”

The way he said that sent a chill down my spine.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Go to the office, you’ll find out. And remember this, choose wisely, because Aiden has already made his choice, and it wasn’t you.”

Those tears I’d been trying to hold back trickled down my face.

“Do not cry for him,” Seo-Jin told me. “He’s not worth your tears. No one is. You are Mist, the strongest person I know. Stop letting Aiden and Noelle treat you like this. If you were mine, I wouldn’t let you shed one tear.”

I quickly wiped my cheeks. “But I’m not yours. And keep Aiden’s name out of your mouth if you want to keep that tongue of yours.”

I turned to go talk to Grandpa Park.

“Why don’t you talk to your sister like that?” Seo-Jin said from behind me.

I stopped and stared at him over my shoulder. “Because she’s the only blood relative I have left in this world. But if she goes through with this marriage, she’ll be an enemy to me. And I’ll treat her the way I treat all of my enemies.”

“Am I an enemy?” Seo-Jin asked.

“No. We trained together. We’ve fought in life-or-death situations together. You’re my colleague. My friend. I’d die for you.”

“But that’s the difference between you and me. We’re comrades, so we’d both die for each other. But I want to live for you, Noe.”

“Stop it,” I told him. “You know I love Aiden. If you say anything else, I’ll no longer see you as a friend.”

With that said, I turned and headed into Grandpa Park’s office. I found him seated behind his desk, with a security padturned in my direction. The image on the small screen was of Aiden in bed, sleeping.

There was a bottle of whiskey on his nightstand. I sighed. He must’ve started drinking as soon as I left his place after our argument. The bottle was more than half empty. With how much he’d drank, he’d be knocked out until morning. Maybe I should’ve stayed there with him instead of storming out.

“Why do you have a camera in Aiden’s place?” I asked Grandpa Park. “That’s weird.”

“I only put it there yesterday while the two of you were out planning your escape. And I wouldn’t have had to put it there if I didn’t suspect the two of you of keeping secrets from me.”

I swallowed, wanting to ask how he’d known we’d been planning our escape. But there were eyes and ears everywhere. He’d probably already bugged my place and Aiden’s long ago. I checked my place for bugs every week. I now needed to make it a daily check.

“What do you want me to see?” I asked. “Do you want me to watch him sleep?”

“Sit down. You’ll see soon.” He nodded at the chair across from him.

I reluctantly sat down. Ten minutes later, I sighed.

“If this is all you wanted me for, I would like to leave. There are other things I could be doing.”

“Patience, Mist,” Grandpa Park said, smirking at me.

The Old Man had something up his sleeve. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. For me. Or Aiden.