Page 120 of Ruthless Touch

Unc seems to relish this opportunity, grinning down evilly at me. He’s so focused on my undoing that he doesn’t see the man barreling toward him.

Gun’s finally made it from the opposite end where he had gone to block Uncle Jerald off. He slams into him from the side with the force of a freight train, tackling him off his feet.

They hit the concrete hard, rolling in a tangle of fists and fury.

I’m quick to push myself up from where I’m dangling over the ledge, gasping for air as my arms ache in protest.

I collapse once on solid ground, watching as Gun pins Uncle Jerald under him.

Gun’s fists come down.

Once. Twice. Too many to count once he passes three. Blood splatters Uncle Jerald’s face as his nose and lips swell and he feebly tries to block Gun’s blows.

But Gun refuses to stop, each punch for his father.

For mine.

Finally, when Unc’s on the verge of blacking out altogether, he drags him up by his shirt and drops him at the edge. The same ledge Unc had almost thrown me over.

“You’re just like your father,” Jerald spits through broken teeth, defiant even now.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Gun says, his face cold and furious. “He might’ve taken mercy on his best friend’s brother. He might’ve let you live. I won’t.”

He lets go, releasing Uncle Jerald and sending him tipping over the rooftop’s ledge.

He doesn’t scream as he falls. His eyes widen in silent terror, his arms windmilling uselessly ’til his body smacks into the tarmac below with a sickeningthud.

I stare at the spot where he disappeared, unable to move. I’m unable to even breathe.

Uncle Jerald’s gone. He’sdead.

It’s finally over.

TWENTY-SIX

GUN

The sirens whine louder,their piercing wails starting off at a distance and then growing louder and closer.

We’ve got to get the hell out of here.

Now.

I grab Elise’s hand and dash for the only door that’s an option. It’ll take us in the opposite direction from where the police and authorities are coming from.

Elise is half out of it from what just happened with Jerald. From watching me drop her uncle over the edge of the building where he fell to his death. Even after twenty years of lies and manipulation, it’s a lot to take in.

My shoulder throbs where the earlier gunshot wound has reopened, blood seeping through the fabric of my shirt.

But there’s no time to worry about pain when airport police are sprinting up the stairwell like water through a broken dam. Their voices bark orders in rapid Hangul, authoritative and urgent as they issue their warning.

Do not run! Surrender now.

“No time,” I pant, pulling Elise with me. We turn down a maintenance hallway that leads deeper into the building’s service areas. “We’ve got to make ourselves disappear.”

Tearing down the back corridors at a desperate speed, our footsteps clatter off the industrial walls. Emergency lights flash bright and bathe everything in a harsh neon-red tint.

Elise shakes beside me, less composed and put-together. She’s following my lead right now, trusting in me to find us a way out.