Lines Crossed - Volume 1 Chapter 36 A Wolf In Lions Clothing

I pulled the collar tight my hand slid down the smooth front of my velvet suit before my fingers clasped around the cuff and their tiny little diamond links. My slightly dull reflection stared back at me calmly from the metal walls inside the elevator as classical music droned on with a light almost in perceivable hum. I played with one cuff gently, not because I was nervous, but because I was about to come face to face with my attacker, the very person who had tried multiple times to kill me in the past few months.

I reminded myself. ‘He tried, but hasn’t succeeded.’

‘Yet.’

Despite my cracked rib and the bruises that ached with every step.

I was alive.

And now I was walking into the lion’s den.

But I wasn’t prey.

Nor would I ever allow myself to be.

The elevator dinged, a soft melodic chime, and the large metal doors slid open for me and into a giant hall larger than two grown men arms span on both sides. The tall ceilings and large width along with a midnight blue tile floor and walls gave it this massive feeling despite whether its actual size was indeed that large. Magnificently it was, but they added to the already vast illusion. The whole place was a castle of stature that screamed its inhabitants wealth and importance. It shoved those facts down your throat and if you didn’t know them by the time you exited the hall to meet the power behind this building than you clearly didn’t belong here.

Tiny, elegant waist high tables held bright white vases filled with blood red lilies. Each table the color of a fresh kill their color so alive it almost felt like the color would bleed onto you if you even thought to reach out and touch it.

I controlled my expression, knowing full well that I was being watched. But the corner of my mouth on the right side still tugged up slightly for a moment before the smirk faded away, melting back into my steely facade.

The hall led to two oversized deep mahogany doors, two men waited for me to arrive, then, pulled them back, and I walked through. My long gait pulling me forward quicker than I would have liked to face my confrontation with a man who thought himself a lion yet was more of a wolf.

A dark and dangerous wolf, who fought with his claws, dirty and ready to tear your throat out.

“Uncle”

He looked up from his work, his gaze peeking over the top of his thick round black glasses. A thin smile creased his face, but didn’t touch his eyes and the warmth that should have been there for his own nephew was missing.

“You Came.” his voice was smooth and filled with the expected warmth one of our stature should have But I knew it was a show.

He stood up and walked around the large wooden foreboding desk and held out a hand towards the large leather chairs and the table meant for hosting guests and clientele in his office. Even though Seungwoo was the vice president of Kim enterprises, the real man, the man who had all the power. He was the president of public affairs, my Uncle Kim Hyunbin, and there wasn’t a soul in the entire building who didn’t know it.

“Kim AnHyuk, it has been a while since I last saw you, you should attempt to come to the company more often.” he said. I sat down first, not waiting for him to take a seat.

His eyes flashed, but he chuckled hollowly before choosing the seat opposite my own.

“I normally don’t have any reason to come, since I know there are so many hands that take such good care of this place for me.” I smiled back charmingly but there was an unspoken tone between us.

“Let me grab you a drink, your favorite whiskey, perhaps.” I nodded docilely, and he poured me a glass. I reached out and took it as he poured himself one too. But I set it down on the table without even offering a respectful cheers. He paused, smiled, and then raised his glass swiftly and gulped his liquor down before straightening his coat.

“Ah, that is so kind of you, so what brings you here, then today AnHyuk?” I swallowed, reminding myself to remain calm although he refused to use my chosen English name. A name I specifically used and was in all the media.

A name associated with power and my station.

Instead, he chose a name he knew that it lanced me with painful memories. A name that got me cast out, a name that got me refused, and a name I owned and should have given me the world but instead had taken everything in the world from me. It was the one thing that gave me a right to all that my Uncle coveted and yet was also the reason everything was being held right out of my grasp by this one man, and his son.

I smirked.

“Ah, see I was driving the other day. There was quite the storm I am sure you heard about it. There were weather warnings all across TV and the media. Even a few news spots about all the dangerous occurrences that had popped up from it. I thought I was being genuinely careful because of it, but I seem to have slid.” I looked down at my shoes pretending to be disinterested and removing the eye contact he was trying to control me with.

‘You don’t hold the power here uncle, not anymore, and I have come too far for you to control anymore.’

“Ah, yes, storms make driving very dangerous, people must be careful, especially when driving uphill.”

I looked up at him and smiled brightly, my brow furrowed, and the anger inside me broiled like a ball of fire that burned like the offered whiskey on the table.

I leaned back and crossed my legs and smoothed my jacket as a soft scoff slipped out from under my breath.

“Yes, uphill driving can be so dangerous in storms, especially if someone is being chased by another car”

I paused.

“And the car rear-ends them off the mountainside to their death.”

He looked at me, worry creasing his face, but I had known him for years I knew the signs, I knew that it wasn’t real.

“Someone did this to you! Are you okay? Have you been to the hospital? I will look into it right away, someone trying to hurt one of our own, a Kim. How dare they? They could have killed you.” He fumed.

“Oh, no worries, it is nothing as serious as that. I got away with a few scraps and bruises, I am practically fine. Thanks to that nurse that lives in that house. I feel so good after her care. I feel like I could take on my job and someone else’s.” I said icily, a happy little grin I truly felt dancing across my face and eyes gleefully.

“That’s great. I am so happy you are doing well. Thanks for coming to let me know how you are doing and also to let me know you are in good health. I had heard through the office chatter that something had happened so I invited you here to see for myself if you were okay. I am happy that you’re fine.”

“Of course, thank you for your invite. It pleased me to receive it. We hardly ever see each other anymore; it almost feels like we are strangers.”

“No, no anytime you are welcome whenever you want, it’s your company too.” His smile was almost rabidly pleasant.

“I will make some time in my ill.u.s.triously busy schedule to stop by more often than.”

He laughed wholeheartedly. “Yes, of course, don’t be a stranger.”

I stood up and buttoned my jacket again, then nodded at him slightly and walked from the room. The doors opened for me before I reached them and I walked out and back down the hall while they closed behind me. The hall to the elevator was the same short foreboding distance, but I felt like so much had changed in that short time.

These halls were as much mine as they were his now. Because I had won that match, it had upset him to see I was fine, and he knew I was preening at being alive, shoving it down his throat I knew it was him, all without saying a word. I reached out to click the main level button on the elevator, but before I could the corner of my peripheral caught movement, as a tall figure walked up to wait for the elevator beside me. I had to hide my smile.

A hand reached out and pressed the button, and I nodded my thanks.

“Did you find what you were looking in there when meeting my dad?”

“More or less.” I said cautiously.

“I heard you had stopped by here.”

“Mhmm.”

“Just checking in with Uncle Hyun Bin to see how things are going.” I elaborated.

“You could have checked in with me.” Seungwoo’s voice took on a bitter bite.

I turned to look at him and had to bite down on the smile that wanted to spill out onto my face.

To me he was still just the kid who threw his jacket over my head in the rain, he was the kid who wiped away my tears, even though he was so much smaller than me, and he was the kid who held me and cared when no one else had.

A boy who promised to protect me always because we were family.

“I am Vice President. I know all the workings of the company better than anyone.” His voice was curt and icy but his eyes looked like that same little boys, just now they were holding infinite amounts of pain. Pain, I wished I could take away from him, instead of cause to fester and grow deeper.

I knew I caused it

And that already hurt enough. It really couldn’t be any other way.

“I didn’t want to bug someone with their hands so full.”

“My hands are never too full to lead the President around on a tour of the company.” he chided smoothly.

The elevator doors binged, and I shoved my hands into my suit pants’ pockets, then walked in, knowing full well it looked like I was ignoring him.

“Hey, Seungwoo,” I looked up at him for the first time, directly staring.

“It’s fantastic to see you again.” I smiled and the elevator doors closed on his disgruntled face.

The moment they closed, I clicked the button for the main and stared straight ahead. If anyone were watching on the cameras, I would give nothing away, not a moment of pain or weakness. Because there were eyes and ears everywhere.

Once on the main floor, I walked straight to the front and out the main doors. The moment I stepped outside Jae opened the backseat door to my car I didn’t even need to look at him for more than a second to know that we got what we came here for.

I climbed in and he closed the door, then ran around to the driver’s side, got in and started the car. He adjusted the mirror, and I caught his eyes in the reflection.

“Once we are home.”

He nodded his agreement, then pulled the car out into the busy street. I fell back into the cold leather with an exhausted groan the efforts of concealing my pain wearing away at my already thinning composure.