The Boss’s Runaway (Possessive Kingpins)

We left the Song family home in a whirlwind of energy. Jae was bristling with anger and barked out instructions to his men in Korean. He took my hand in his and tugged me along beside him.

As soon as we got to the car, I turned to him. “What’s happened?”

He shook his head, clearly furious, but held his tongue.

“Jae, tell me what’s going on,” I pressed.

“It’s not your problem, sweetheart. I don’t want you to worry about it.” His curt tone cut my worried heart up in my chest.

“Is this going to be our relationship? You shutting me out and hiding things from me?” I took his face in my hands, and he let me, some of his anxious tension bleeding out at the touch. “Please, don’t leave me alone,” I pleaded.

He swallowed hard. “It’s Konstantin. He’s kidnapped Hana.”

My heart thudded to a stop in my chest. Hana? Sweet, sunshiny nineteen-year-old Hana? I felt sick. Guilt rose in me, so thick I could choke on it.

“He won’t hurt her. Doing so would be suicide,” Jae muttered, looking out the window, his face pale. He noticed my silence and turned to me as my first tear fell. “It’s not your fault, Kat,”

“Of course, it is. It can only be my fault,” I murmured, feeling like I was folding in on myself. “I ran away from my obligations, defied Kon, begged you to keep me, kept the truth from you, and then made you marry me—”

“Did you see a gun to my head?” Jae demanded.

“You married to me to keep me safe, out of some sort of sense of honor—”

“I married you because I’ve fallen in love with you. I married you because yours is the only touch I’ll ever want on my skin. Because your smell haunts my dreams, and the sight of your smile makes me think there might be something good in this world after all.”

His words, spoken with flat, unflinching certainty, melt my heart into a puddle in my chest.

He cupped my cheek with one hand and stroked his thumb over my skin. “I married you because meeting you changed my life, and letting you go was never an option. I married you because I can’t imagine another woman being the mother of my children. I want you. You’re mine in every way there is, simple as that. Got it? Nod and show me you’ve got it.”

His command rang out, and all I could do was nod as another stream of tears left my eyes. He pulled me close and kissed my temple.

“You love me?”

“Enough to burn the world down. Enough to start a war,” he said quietly.

“I love you too, you know,” I whispered.

“I know. I feel you here, with me.”

The car sped through the streets as he stroked my hair in silence, and my head stayed pressed against his chest. Here, in his arms, I was safe and loved. I never wanted to leave. But loving Jae meant caring about his family, and the thought of sweet, kind Hana in my brother’s hands tore me apart.

I couldn’t leave her there, no matter what Jae said. I might have taken a new name, but I’d always be an Ivanov deep down, and we took care of our own business.

It was time to visit my brother.

We ended up going to Rocco Luna. When we walked in, I realized with a pang that he’d been throwing an extravagant lunch for us. The thought that we were supposed to be celebrating our wedding now seemed so far from reality. It was jarring to see the balloons and fine food.

“I need to talk to Vincenzo. Can you wait here for me?’ Jae said, holding my hand tightly enough to cut the blood off.

I nodded and let go, but he didn’t. “You need to let go if you want me to stay here,” I reminded him.

He let out a sigh and nodded. “I’ll be back soon. Eat something if you want.”

He turned on his heel, striding through an archway into another part of the club and leaving me alone with the forlorn-looking decorations, a groaning table of food, and a coterie of armed men.

I sank down on a couch and stared at the balloons. Getting away from Jae was going to be tricky. I could tell him if I wanted to speak to Kon, but I was sure he wouldn’t let me.

“Reflecting on the trouble you’ve caused?” A voice asked.

I turned and was surprised to see a familiar-looking man approaching me. I took a second to place him. Seo Jun. Jae’s uncle. The one who had brought the other girls and me here from Shanghai.

“You seem to have quite the talent for causing problems. We missed you on the return journey. Imagine my surprise to find we were one girl down.” Seo Jun looked me up and down, his eyes lingering in a way that made my flesh crawl. “You’re unrecognizable as the little street rat who clawed and kicked her way here.”

“Yeah, well, a shower will do that. When you keep people like animals, they start to look like one,” I snapped at him.

He laughed, uncaring about my accusation. This man oozed slimy intentions. Where Jae and his father had an upright sense of honor and decorum, Seo Jun looked like the type who would sell his daughter to get ahead.

Daughter? Or niece? A creeping suspicion wormed into my head.

“I’m so sorry to hear about Hana,” I told him quietly. “Crazy that Kon and the bratva could get into the Song compound, given how secure it looked.”

“I guess your brother is smarter than he looks,” Seo Jun said, giving nothing away. “I’m sure Jae Han wishes he’d heard his terms now.”

“I’m sure he is. Maybe I can listen to them,” I said, laying the bait.

Seo Jun tensed a little, enough to give away his motivation. He shrugged, a carefully constructed nonchalant gesture. “If you wanted to, I could help you see him. Jae gets too emotional about things like this. It clouds his judgment.”

I stood, and the guards around me tensed. “You could help? I guess you have more power in the family than I expected.”

I bit my lip and looked impressed. Playing a man like Seo Jun was easy. Keeping the contempt from my face was the tricky part.

He smirked, and my work was done.