Page 140 of Ruthless Touch

My breath stalls in my lungs.

It’s simple in design—minimalist stone, clean lines, no ornate decoration. But carved into the surface are two names that make my chest tighten:

Jamie Quinn

Rhee Tae-hwan

Brothers in Arms. Lost Too Soon.

I stand frozen, staring at the stone like it might disappear if I blink.

My dad’s name, carved in stone. Not forgotten or buried in grisly police files but here.

Real.

Acknowledged in the city he’d made a life in.

“They deserved the truth,” Gun says quietly beside me. “Not the lie that destroyed them.”

I move forward on autopilot, fingers reaching out to trace the letters of Dad’s name. The stone is cool and solid against my palm, strangely soothing in a way.

“You did this?” I croak.

“For you. For them.”

I turn for a look at him and find no smugness in his expression.

No expectation of gratitude.

Just steady love and care, like building a monument to honor our dead fathers was the most natural thing in the world.

Suddenly, the only natural response bubbles up inside me. It flutters in my chest and rolls off my tongue.

“I love you,” I whisper.

The first time I’ve said those words since… I can’t even remember. Probably sometime in childhood to Dad.

Gun’s eyes soften, a slight grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Say it again.”

I blink at him. “What?”

“Say it again, Goyangi-ne.”

I’m so lost on his reaction that his grin widens and he pulls me close, pressing a light kiss to my temple.

“Just once more,” he murmurs against my hairline. “So I know I didn’t imagine it.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And yet you love me. Which means you’re stuck with me, feline. ”

I lean into him, forehead resting against his shoulder, eyes moist but not from grief or pain.

More so the certainty that we really have paved our own way.

We really have overcome the darkness plaguing our fathers and found the light.

Night falls before long. Gun and I return to the loft in Pangyo, the city lights twinkling bright even on such a dark autumn night.