That wasn’t true at all. Seok took no responsibility for Baek, and yet if there was blame to be given, he could stretch to say he knew his brother’s purchases of thousands of dollars of champagne and watches was wrong. He could have told his father about it.
“Do you know that Baek’s actions were known to the CFO and COO? And none of them told me? All they did was move money around, shift things to cover for him. They thought that was what I wanted.” Father leaned forward, the red draining from his face, leaving him old and tired looking. “Is that what you thought, too? That I would want to cover for Baek?”
Seok was floored. “No. But I did think taking the money from my trust would make it better.”
“Your trust was substantial, son, but not enough to cover the money your brother lost.” He sighed and leaned forward, rubbing the palms of his hands into his eyes. “I should have looked closer. Paid better attention.”
“You were running a company. It wasn’t your job to know when he bought a watch.”
At that, Father chuckled and then sighed. “Seok. I need your help. We have to remove the tarnish your brother gave our business and our name.”
He opened his mouth to answer, but there was a sharp knock on the door and the manager entered. “We are ready.”
His father stood, face growing even paler. “Good.”
Seok stood with his father, mother, the CFO, COO, and communications manager in a small conference room off the lobby in their building.
They watched remotely as Baek bowed low before a hundred cameras and apologized.
“I can’t hear him,” the CFO stated baldly.
Every so often, a word would be intelligible, but he was right. Baek’s apology was too quiet. Someone lifted a microphone toward his face, but he had his chin tilted toward his chest, muffling his voice.
Seok glanced at his father, who stared, jaw set, at the screen. “I thought he practiced.”
A man joined Baek, gesturing toward a hallway where he would be led to a waiting car. Reporters called out questions, but Baek didn’t answer. Apparently, that was it, and even to Seok, it was no apology.
A woman entered, her face devoid of expression until the door closed behind her. At the click of the lock, she spoke, “He will be charged with embezzlement. I expect his apology will only add months to his sentence. No one believed it.”
“Did you see his watch?” Mother asked.
“No,” Father replied. “I was trying too hard to hear him.” He straightened his shoulders before staring at Seok. “Do better.”
The words he was supposed to say flew out of his mind. His apology had been short and to the point—and was supposed to be delivered after Baek’s. It surprised him then when his father added, “After me.”
The woman nodded and strode toward the door while the manager filled his father in on a few details. Seok could tell he wasn’t listening. Father’s mind was somewhere else, maybe in a place where none of this was happening and he was alone in a room with his thoughts.
Without a word to anyone, Father left, striding back into the lobby with his head held high. Seok stared at the television screen, watching as his father bowed at the waist and then lifted his gaze to the reporters.
“I am very sorry for the behavior of my son. It was my job to keep our customers’ trust, and I have lost that, and I accept full responsibility. While my son has made a very serious and disappointing mistake, I blame myself for it. I should have raised him better.”
Seok’s stomach turned.
“As chairman and president of Jheon Imports, I ask the public’s generous forgiveness.” He bowed again and Seok knew he was going to be sick.
His father taking all the blame, yes, but what would Baek think when he heard Father say he should have been raised better?
Shame filled him. Was that what Father thought of him as well? As he watched his father bow and be escorted out of the lobby, he thought about his actions. He did well in school, but not exceptional. He had friends, but not close ones. Nothing he did spoke to him having an admirable character.
“Seok?”
He startled. His father’s communication manager stared at him. He held his hand toward the door, a gesture indicating that it was Seok’s turn.
With a nod, he squared his shoulders the way he’d seen Father, and stepped into the limelight.
Father hadn’t waited to see how his apology went. After the last words had left his mouth, Seok was led from the building to a waiting car that brought him straight home.
He didn’t want to go home, but what was he supposed to do? His face would be plastered over the news channels as the ungrateful, spoiled brat son of a respectable businessman. He couldn’t very well stop at a bar to get a drink or a restaurant just to hide for a while.
No one greeted him when he got home, either. One of the house staff opened the door for him, but when Seok asked about his father, the woman pointed toward the office.
From one office to another.
He went there, knocked quietly, and waited.
“Come in,” his father called, and he went inside.
There he was. For the first time since Seok arrived home, there was Baek, hair brushed back from a much thinner and paler face. Mother sat in a chair at the corner of the office while Baek was across from their father.
“Your brother was apologizing for his apology.” Father’s voice was sharp enough to cut glass.
“Oh.” Seok couldn’t help the bitter tingle to his reply. They were in this position because of Baek. “I’m surprised you could hear it.” Immediately, he wanted to take back his words. First off, he had never spoken that way to his father. It wasn’t done. And secondly, the look on Baek’s face made him ill. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t anything. Baek could have been ordering a coffee for as much emotion as he wore.
Father chuckled, surprising and distracting him from his brother.
“I will apologize again,” Baek offered. He dropped his gaze from Seok to the floor. “I didn’t realize I couldn’t be heard.”
“There is a line between being apologetic and theatrical. Your performance was dishonest and offensive.”
Baek’s shoulders drooped more. “I am very sorry. I was stupid and didn’t think of the consequences, Father. I will issue an apology. I will pay back the money. I will go to jail. Whatever you think I need to do to make up for my mistake, I will do.”
There was no doubting the ring of truth in his voice. Seok went from being bitter to being sad, especially when his father said, “There’s nothing you can do. All of those things will happen, but I will never be able to trust you with this business.”
As Seok stood there, he saw a tear drop from his brother’s face onto his pants. He sniffed and quickly wiped it away before clearing his throat. “I understand. I will make amends, Father. Please forgive me.”
“I can’t.”
Seok had never heard such harsh words spoken in such a soft tone. His gaze went between Baek and Father, taking in what each of them couldn’t see. Baek couldn’t see the way his father slumped or how Mother bit her lip when her chin trembled. Father couldn’t see the tears that had been absorbed by Baek’s clothes or how he squeezed his eyes shut when Father responded.
“It will take time,” Seok said. Something inside him needed to make this better. They had to see that things were bad now, but they would get better. He believed Baek when he said he’d make amends. Contrition was written all over him. Baek was lower than he’d ever been. “Baek made a mistake.”
“He purposefully spent money that didn’t belong to him. He purposefully smeared our good name. He purposefully made a mockery of the apology that was supposed to keep him out of jail!” Father’s voice rose until Seok winced at the volume.
“I’m sorry, Father,” Baek replied and stood, even though he hadn’t been dismissed. He didn’t look at any of them, he just left.
“Father,” Seok began, but he held up his hand to stop him.
�
��Seok. I don’t want to hear your excuses for your brother. Please. It has been an exhausting day and I still have work to do.”
It was a clear dismissal. So with one last peek at his mother, Seok nodded and went to the door. “Things will get better,” he said over his shoulder. “I believe Baek when he says he’ll make up for it.”
“Then you have more faith in him than we do,” Father replied and then waved him off.
Seok opened the door and closed it quietly behind him, leaning his head against the wood. What a fucking mess. He would give anything to go back in time where he was at school, participating in senior pranks. How naive that guy had been, thinking midterms were his biggest problem.
But he wouldn’t have been surprised. Seok had always known there was an expiration date to his freedom. It had just come sooner than he expected. This was his life now.
Chapter 15
Cai
As far as storytelling went, Lucy Merrill wove a tale that was going to hook anyone who heard it. He’d been part of it, but the way she pulled in all the different threads from Dr. Murray’s past studies to Nora’s interview kept him riveted.
Nora leaned against Ryan’s arm, blinking sleepily as they stayed in the living room waiting for Seok and Matisse to come home. She was emotionally exhausted. He recognized the signs of someone who had relived a traumatic event.
He’d done it enough himself. It was going to be a trying time. Nora’s strength would be tested as all this surged to the surface again. In the months since the shooting, things in Brownington had quieted, but this would just get people all riled up.
It made him wonder if he should have been helping with the security additions Matisse had made. What if some whack-a-doodle—he stopped himself before he could complete the thought. Did he—a mental counselor—just say, whack-a-doodle?
Cai rubbed a hand down his face, fingers rasping the stubble on his chin, and sighed.
Ryan glanced at him and lifted his eyebrows as he drew his fingers up and down Nora’s arm. Cai shook his head in response. He was fine. No need for anyone to worry.
“Let’s be sure to keep the doors locked.”
Nora’s eyes opened and she sat up. “Even when we’re home?”
“Yeah.” When the story about his father and the cult had been in the papers, former members had shown up in Brownington, searching for him. There were people who wanted a glimpse at him—like he was some kind of exotic animal—and then there were the ones who thought his father had created some kind of utopia.
Who knew what people would come out of the woodwork for Nora?
“Just to be safe. We don’t want anyone busting inside, for whatever reason.” Apollo leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. It was the weekend, so he was wearing his glasses, and now he took them off and rubbed his eyes. “Not everyone has some terrible reason to show up,” he went on. “There might be reporters or who knows, other people who were in the study who want to shoot the shit.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Nora leaned a little further into Ryan. He kissed the side of her head. “Nothing we’re not prepared for. Cai’s only reminding us what we should be doing every day anyway. Remember when we woke up to find that drunk kid passed out on the couch a year ago?”
Apollo laughed. “He pissed in Seok’s rubber tree.”
“That was so gross.” Cai could remember the smell of urine and sweat when he walked downstairs. One of them had left the slider unlocked on the back deck and the guy had come in, cracked open a soda from the fridge, and gone to sleep. “He was still drunk when we woke him up.”
Nora chuckled. “What did you do?”
“He lived, what, three houses down the street?” Cai couldn’t remember, but Apollo nodded. “We walked him home.”
The front door opened and Seok and Matisse came inside. Matisse looked better, less wild, while Seok had bags under his eyes.
“Sorry, chére.”
Nora pushed herself off the chair with a groan, standing still while her muscles stretched before she walked to him. He met her, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up. “Don’t apologize for getting mad about injustice.”
Matisse snorted. “You make me sound like a superhero.”
“You are.” She kissed the side of his neck and Matisse’s eyes closed.
“I’m going to make hot chocolate,” Apollo said, and Nora spun and gasped.
“What?”
Apollo shook his head as he stood. “You make it sound like I never make anything good.”
“No.” She strode toward him. “You make good things all the time, but hot chocolate? That counts as junk food.”
Snickering, he took her hands. “Come with me and see how good I make it.” He leaned down, kissing her gently before lifting his eyebrows.
“Marshmallows?” she asked.
“You really need marshmallows in hot chocolate? It’s not sweet enough?” Their voices got quieter as they trailed through the dining room and the kitchen door shut behind them.
“That’s a ridiculous question.”
Cai stared after them, grinning. Things had changed so much, and they would inevitably change more, especially after all this, but it’d be okay. He took a deep breath and let it out, he wasn’t too worried.
Chapter 16
Nora
Warm and full, Nora stretched out in Ryan’s bed. He’d been a quiet and steady presence during all of this craziness, and she just wanted to absorb that.
When she’d first met the guys, one of them had called Ryan, "Clark Kent." He was her undercover Superman. The guy who watched out for her without making a big deal out of it.
He was sleeping, but Nora couldn’t. She was content, listening to him breathe, but her mind was still whirring.
She tucked her hand under her pillow, studying his profile. One day, she wanted to have Ryan’s chill. He took a breath and turned, facing her, and she reached out a hand to push his hair out of his face.
His eyes opened, green eyes black in the darkness. When he saw her watching him, he smiled and shut his eyes again.
“Come here.” His voice was deep and husky with sleep as he gripped her hips and dragged her against him. “Why are you still awake?”
“Just thinking,” she replied.
His warm lips touched her forehead before he tucked her under his chin. She lifted one leg to wrap around his hips and he immediately rolled into her.
“Tempting little vixen.”
She smiled and lifted her chin so she could kiss his throat. “No one says vixen.”
“I do.” His hands traveled down her back to her ass and then jerked her against him. With one smooth roll, he had her above him.
Eyes open now, he stared up at her. She could almost feel his gaze on her skin, lingering on her lips and the low scoop neck of her tank top.
Ryan held on to her as he gently arched his hips into her, a soft roll, like waves coming up on a beach. Nora closed her eyes and let her head fall back.
“Sometimes I miss your long hair,” Ryan whispered. He touched the small of her back and rolled his hips again. “You used to do this, and I would feel it, tickling my legs.”
The curls on her head were three or four inches long now, but more c-shaped than the spirals she used to have.
Her head felt lighter—as silly as that was—without it. “It’ll take a long time to grow out like that again.”
“I’ll be here to see it.” Ryan sat up, gripped the back of her neck, and pulled her down for a kiss. His tongue moved against hers, gentle at first and then more urgently, like he couldn’t hold back.
He nipped at her lips and then down to her jaw, licking and sucking until he reached her breasts. His fingers dug hard into her hip, but she held on just as tight. She grabbed his hands, lifted them over his head, and pressed them into the pillow.
Leaning back, she took in the sight. His biceps were flexed above his head, his gaze hot and lips swollen as he watched her. He only sl
ept in his boxers, so she could make out the way his abs flexed and contracted as he sucked in breath after breath.
She was wet, soaking through her panties, and while she loved having him this way, at her mercy, she needed her hands for what she wanted to do.
But he apparently had plans as well because he flipped them until she was on her side and he was behind her, then yanked her against him. His hand dove under the elastic of her underwear to skim through her folds. One thick finger breached her entrance before he pulled out again, grabbed her leg, and lifted it back over his hips.
He skimmed his hand along her stomach, up beneath her shirt until he could grasp her breast. Nora let out a breath, leaning back into him, letting him take some of her weight while cupping the back of his neck.
It was hard to kiss him this way, but she loved the sense of being covered by him. His body shielded hers, a physical reminder of how he took such good care of her all the time.
He tweaked her nipple, rolling the sensitive point between thumb and forefinger while they kissed. She arched back, overheated and aching.
Leaving her breast, he trained his hand down to her core, grasped her underwear and with a strong yank, ripped it off.
She laughed and pulled her mouth away. “I have a limited amount of clothes,” she reminded him, laugh turning to a moan as he circled her clit.
“I’ll buy you all the underwear you could possibly want. We’ll go to the store and buy those twelve packs.” His words were interspersed with deep gasps as he slid his erection along her folds and back.
Reaching between her legs, she found him and guided him to her core. Thank God for birth control. Getting the pill was the best thing she’d done, allowing her to have spontaneous moments with the guys without worrying about pregnancy.
Ryan hesitated, and she reminded him. “On the pill.”
Finding Unity Page 7