Page 104 of Ruthless Touch

I follow Father and the security guards to the back of the restaurant. When we reach the service area behind the main dining room, I stop dead in my tracks.

My blood runs cold, hackles rising at what I’m seeing.

The guards have both Elise and KD kneeling on the floor, weapons trained on their heads.

Elise’s server uniform is torn at the shoulder and there’s a cut on KD’s lip that suggests they didn’t go down easily.

One of the guards steps forward, addressing my father in Hangul. “Sir, I caught them fighting near the kitchens and realized they were Black Suits. When we searched them, we discovered all their surveillance equipment and weapons.”

Another guard roughly shoves KD’s head and holds up the smartwatch that’s been stripped from his wrist. “This one has a device linked to Vanguard. All their communications are routed through it.”

The watch is passed over to Father for him to examine. He eyes it with cold, silent interest before pushing it back into the guard’s hands.

My gaze is stuck on Elise, my head and heart pounding as I wonder how the fuck I’m going to get her out of this alive.

“Black Suits,” my father finally grunts. “I figured they would show up to an event like this. So easy to bait. How could they resist the opportunity? And you—I recognize you. You tried to kill me that night at Noir Norae, didn’t you?”

He’s gestured to Elise, his tone venomous and bitter.

I step forward, desperate to interject. “We should take them into custody and figure this out back at headquarters.”

Father shoots me a disapproving look. “What for? So they can try to escape in transit? No, this will be handled right here, on the spot. And you’ll be the one to do it.”

I try and fail to hide the reluctance that must be written all over my face. My father picks up on it instantly, his eyes narrowing and expression hardening.

He snaps his fingers, and one of the guards immediately places his weapon in my hands.

“Kill the Black Suits,” he orders. “Now, Gun-woo. Both of them.”

The gun hangs limply at my side as I look from Elise to KD to my father. The fucking weight of what an impossible situation this is crushes down on my shoulders. I try one more time to smooth talk out of this.

“We don’t even know their identities yet.”

“Didn’t you yourself tell me Black Silk is a woman?” Father snarls. “What’s the problem, Gun-woo? Do as you’re ordered. You have five seconds.”

KD seems to realize what I do—there’s no getting out of this easily.

So he takes matters into his own hands and does something I’d never expect.

“Black Silk is no woman,” he says cockily, grinning wide. “I’mBlack Silk. I was here tonight to kill you, Tae-hwan. And you didn’t even know it.”

It occurs to me only as he makes his false claim what the hell he’s doing.

And why.

As it turns out, me and KD have more in common than we realized, viewing this situation in the same way.

Anything to ensure Elise lives another second.

It works so well everything explodes all at once. Father’s face contorts with rage. He wrenches the gun from my hands.

“NO!” I shout and step forward, assuming he’s about to execute Elise right in front of me.

But instead, he points the weapon only at KD, squeezing the trigger and shooting him in the face.

TWENTY-TWO

ELISE