Page 119 of Ruthless Touch

“What other choice did I have? They’d have killed me otherwise. I had to get him before he got me. I pulled the trigger. Left him bleeding on that floor while you cried under the desk. Then I framed Tae-hwan for the whole thing—the betrayal, the murder, everything.”

More tears streak down my cheeks, though I don’t lower the gun. “And me? What was I to you?”

“You were my insurance policy. Myweapon.” He steps closer, emboldened by my paralysis. “I raised you on hatred for Tae-hwan and the Cheongryong. Trained you to be the perfect assassin. Because I knew one day I’d return to South Korea and reclaim what Jamie and Tae-hwan built. The weapons empire, the connections, the power—it should’ve been mine all along.”

“You used me.”

“I made you into something extraordinary,” he counters. “Without me, you’d be nothing, baby girl. Just another orphan lost in the system. I gave you purpose. Direction. A target for all that rage.”

The rooftop tilts under my feet. Everything I am, everything I’ve done, everything I’ve ever known—it was all a lie.

It was all part of his master plan.

His revenge. His greed.

“You destroyed our lives,” I choke out. “Poisoned Tae-hwan. Murdered my father. Raised me to be your weapon.”

“And you still won’t pull that trigger,” he cackles. “Because deep down, you know I’m the only family you’ve got left. You need me, baby girl. You always have.”

The gun wavers in my grip, dipping toward the ground.

…because he’s right.

As much as I hate him, as much as I want him dead… he’s myuncle.

The man who raised me after Dad died. The one who taught me to fight, to survive, to be strong.

He’s the only real family I have left.

My moment of hesitation is all he needs.

Uncle Jerald lunges forward, faster than a man his age should move, slamming into me. His hand catches my wrist, twisting violently ’til he breaks my hold and the gun clatters across the concrete.

“NO!” I shout, but it’s too late. He’s already on me.

We crash to the ground, limbs entangled as we grapple. I throw my knee up hard, catching him in the ribs. He grunts but doesn’t let go, using his weight to pin me down. I try my elbow next, jamming it up into his jaw.

It’s not enough to get him off me. He’s too strong to muscle my way through this.

Uncle Jerald flips me over, smashing my face against the rough concrete. Pain explodes across my cheek as skin breaks and I’m scraped up.

Before I can recover, he hauls me up by the back of my shirt, dragging me toward the rooftop’s ledge.

“Let go!” I thrash in his grip, trying to right myself. Regain my footing and have a fighting chance.

But he’s relentless. He’s not taking it easy on me, pushing me toward the edge.

I’m hanging half off the roof as he hovers above me, his fist tight in my shirt. If he were to let go, give a simple shove, I’d go tumbling off the building.

My heart slams against my ribs. Below me, the tarmac stretches out impossibly far. One slip and I’m gone.

I’d fall and break who knows how many bones. I’d probably not even survive.

“You should’ve finished what I started, baby girl,” he pants feverishly. “But you never had it in you. Now I’ve got to take you out like I did the others. That’s what you get!”

My fingers are slipping. The concrete ledge cuts into my palms as I scrabble, kicking my legs out and struggling against his grip.

But there’s nothing I can do except peer up at the man who’s supposed to be my uncle. The same man who’s now trying to kill me.