Page 167 of Lust & Lies

I was never careless, never reckless. Yet, I found myself getting caught up in situations that shouldn’t leave me trapped. Yet they did. Only a Watchdog could bring a Watchdog down. Only a Watchdog could leak my information.

I’d begun to suspect Mr. Park was behind the leaks, behind the attacks on my life. My term was almost over. He’d stated during one of our last meetings that just because my term ended didn’t mean I had a right to interfere in Ellie’s and Aiden’s marriage.

As if I had to interfere with them. Every time I was unfortunate enough to encounter Ellie, she complained about Aiden. Complaining that he wouldn’t sleep with her. He wouldn’t tell the world she was his wife, wouldn’t even allow her to live at his place.

He wouldn’t allow her to go to business dinners with him or play the perfect host at dinner parties. She claimed he was out cheating every weekend, and that his friend Julian was the one influencing him.

Though I tried my best to avoid Aiden, I still kept tabs on him. I knew he wasn’t cheating. On me. And though I’d never met Julian Cattaneo, I also knew that when they went to the bar together, they drank a little, talked shit, and then went back to their own homes.

And Aiden went home alone and jacked off, moaning my name. I knew that because I had undetectable cameras in his place. It was almost funny watching him scan every week to make sure his grandfather wasn’t spying on him.

He always caught the cameras the Old Man put in his place. Never mine. I’d spent good money on my cams and had them upgraded by this young hacker I knew named Shado. He’d made them undetectable to the most commonly used scanners.

The Old Man was trying to keep an eye on Aiden, trying to make sure he and I never met up. But that wasn’t all he was up to. I’d had a feeling he was trying to have me killed before my term was over, and I was released from my contract.

He knew after the contract ended, I’d no longer be useful to him. He could no longer manipulate me. Other than to discuss a mission, he and I had stopped talking completely. In front of his grandsons and Ellie, he pretended we were still close.

But he knew the truth, and it had begun to frighten him. I, Mist, Noa, Noe, Noelani, Noah, all these motherfucking personalities, wanted him dead. And I’d had a feeling he was out to get me before I could get him.

I’d been in the process of investigating that when my sister and her boyfriend fucked up my plans. If they hadn’t kidnapped me, I would’ve been able to come face-to-face with the person who was behind the leaks.

A client at Magnolia Gulf AgriSupply and I were supposed to meet to discuss a contract Ethan had screwed up. But Mr. Park hadn’t wanted me to just discuss the contract. He’d wanted me to teach the client a lesson for trying to get over on his grandson.

However, a few days before we were supposed to meet, the client contacted me. He’d sounded nervous and told me that he’d been ordered to kill me when I came to the meeting. I’d asked him who was behind the order. He claimed he didn’t know.

He’d gotten a threat from a masked person, telling him that if he didn’t kill me, they would kill him. The person stated that they’d come pick up the body and clean the scene after the crime was done.

The client told me that he may be a lot of things, but he wasn’t a murderer, and that he didn’t want to die either. He said, since I always wore a mask when dealing with him, he was sure the person who’d threatened him was someone I knew because they’d worn a similar mask. And, they’d been a woman.

He wanted me to take care of them to protect us both. The plan had been to meet after hours to discuss the contract. And then have him call his blackmailer and tell them the deed was done, that I’d been killed.

I’d lie in wait to see who was after me and end them before they could end me. Seo-Jin was supposed to meet me at the warehouse as my backup. Unfortunately, Ellie showed up at my place before I could head out.

She released those crocodile tears of hers, hoping they would sway me as she tried to convince me that she’d stopped loving Aiden and found someone who truly cherished her. She’d apologized for everything she’d done to me in the past.

For teasing me. For not wanting to live with me and our father. For not treating me like a sister. But the one thing she hadn’t apologized for was what she’d done to Aiden. She claimed she wanted to right her wrongs by returning me to Aiden and leaving to be with the man she loved.

I told her Grandpa Park would never allow that. But she insisted that as long as I came with her, Aiden would make sure Grandpa Park never found out. She’d told me that she and Aiden had already secretly gotten a divorce.

And that he was going to provide her and her new man with a new identity if they brought me to him. I’d had no intention of going to Aiden until my contract was up and I’d found out who was trying to kill me.

But Ellie didn’t know that. Even if I’d told her that, she still wouldn’t have cared. All she ever cared about was herself and things that involved her. I’d stood there, watching her, noting the antsy look in her eyes.

In her gaze that was so much like mine, I saw the truth. She was afraid. Afraid of what Grandpa Park would do to her if he knew she was no longer his obedient princess, if he knew she was no longer following his rules.

Even so, the sheer audacity to come to me for help, after all she’d done to me, blew my fucking mind. And she wasn’t even there for me. She was there for herself. She needed Aiden’s help, not me.

If she hadn’t needed Aiden’s help, she would’ve run off on her own and left him to deal with the fallout. Though I’d had no intention of going with her, I lied and told her that if she told me the truth about what happened that night in Aiden’s bed, I’d go with her.

I just wanted her to admit nothing happened. I already knew the truth. But I wanted her to tell me. She couldn’t. Sheinsisted that she and Aiden slept together, lying to my face. I was about to kick her and her man out when he made a move.

It was my fault for not watching my back when he’d stepped out of view. The bastard drugged me and forced me into their car, proving that he and my sister were two peas in a pod. Then the crash happened, and when I woke up, it was weeks later, and I was lying in a hospital bed, staring up at a man I didn’t remember.

But I remembered him now. I remembered everything. From our time together as kids, to our crush on each other as teens, to our secret dates as adults, to us trying to leave this all behind to be together, but instead, being forced to separate.

I remembered playing with Ethan as a kid. Sneaking liquor from Mr. Park’s liquor cabinet and even stealing Tristan’s car together to go on joyrides. I remembered the nights Ethan cried because he felt his grandpa treated his brothers better than him.

In his grandfather’s eyes, he was just a screw up and couldn’t do anything right. But I’d told Ethan that no one could determine who he was. Only he could decide what type of man he wanted to be.