Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 49

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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49.
A short while later, they settled into facing chairs in the living room. The logs in the fireplace crackled and blazed. Emma’s bedroom lay tucked away in a corner, and she seemed not to have heard the commotion outside—all remained quiet there.
Hee-joo rose from her seat.
“I’ll prepare some tea.”
“No, please. I couldn’t ask a guest to do such a thing. I should—”
Margaret stumbled as she tried to push herself up from the chair. Hee-joo hurried over and steadied her.
Margaret sank back into the chair, and silence settled once more.
Liam stood quietly and left, returning shortly with a glass of water.
“Thank you.”
Margaret drank from the glass he offered, then drew a long breath. After a moment, she spoke in a measured tone.
“James is my nephew. My sister’s son.”
“I see.”
Margaret’s voice carried a complicated weight, her eyes bitter.
“He couldn’t hold down a job at his age, and it caused my sister no end of worry. He’s my only family, so it weighed on me too. That’s why I spoke with my husband about bringing the two of them here. I thought I might be able to help him find work.”
“I understand.”
Hee-joo grasped the back of her hand gently. Every household had its share of trouble, she knew.
“But he was fired from four different jobs. He’d come in drunk and late, he threw tantrums when they wouldn’t advance him money, he complained that the work was too hard, and finally he began throwing his weight around, mentioning my husband’s name.”
“Yes.”
“By then my husband had run out of patience and turned his back on him. And James began surrounding himself with people of questionable character.”
“People of questionable character?”
At Hee-joo’s question, Margaret’s complexion grew ashen.
“People who’d do anything—women, violence, drugs. They didn’t work, just clustered together to torment anyone they pleased.”
“That must have been a source of great worry.”
“My husband pressured me until I could bear it no longer, so I cut off contact. I still saw my sister occasionally, but not James. A year passed that way.”
“I can well understand that.”
“Then, after my husband died last year, James appeared again.”
“Because he no longer feared your husband?”
Margaret nodded at Hee-joo’s question.
“Half true, half not.”
Liam, who had been listening silently until now, interjected abruptly.
“He covets your late husband’s estate.”
“Exactly. I’m your husband’s sole heir. Now he’s claiming to have turned over a new leaf, that he wants to start a business but lacks capital, and asking me to lend him money. It’s all so predictable.”
“And you refused.”
At Liam’s words, Margaret gave a bitter smile.
“If James had genuinely reformed, I would have lent him the money. But he hasn’t. Where that money would go is perfectly obvious.”
Hee-joo knew that type well. Once you started giving money, they’d come back asking for more.
And it would never stop until Margaret died.
Liam asked in a steady voice.
“So James is trying to kill you?”
“Liam!”
Hee-joo turned to him in alarm. But Liam’s gaze remained fixed on Margaret’s face, not on her.
Margaret hung her head. With trembling hands, she gripped the glass, took a sip of water, and continued speaking.
“It’s not entirely wrong to say that. But I can’t believe he’d go that far, regardless.”
“Peter seems to think differently.”
“Peter’s always been a worrier by nature. With all these strange things happening around me lately, he’s just become overly anxious, that’s all.”
“Strange things?”
Hee-joo found herself asking. Margaret wrapped her arms around herself as if standing in a cold place.
Margaret pressed on, her tone deliberately measured.
“My car’s brakes failed. A flowerpot fell on my head while I was shopping. An unmarked car following me.”
Yet she could not entirely hide the tremor in her voice.
“And once, my medication was switched. I take medicine for an old chronic condition, and it was replaced with something else. Thankfully I noticed before taking it.”
“That doesn’t sound like simple nervousness.”
“No, I suppose not.”
Margaret stared into the fireplace, her expression bitter—like someone finally acknowledging that her nephew meant to murder her.
Hee-joo’s brow furrowed slightly. Something had just brushed past her mind. But she couldn’t grasp what it was.
Her musings were short-lived, however. Liam’s voice scattered her thoughts.
“If you die, does the estate pass to James?”
“I have no children. My sister and James are my closest blood relations.”
A faint smile played at the corner of Margaret’s mouth.
“But there’s something James doesn’t know.”
“What is that?”
“I’ve left a will. Part of my estate goes to the Welfare Foundation, and part to Peter and Emma. Of course, I’ve left something for James, but far less than what he’s expecting.”
“Haven’t you told James about this?”
“I only made the decision a few days ago. No one knows. Not Peter, not Emma. Only my lawyer.”
“I see.”
Hee-joo nodded, and Liam murmured something under his breath.
“Knowing that won’t make him give up, I imagine.”
His low voice cut through both their minds.
“What will you do if he comes back tomorrow?”
At Liam’s question, Margaret shrugged. Ill and frail as she was, she looked terribly fragile.
“I suppose I’ll have to call the police.”
“Would you like our help?”
Hee-joo spoke impulsively. Liam’s gaze on her cheek burned, but she didn’t turn to look at him. She was already aware of her own meddling.
Margaret waved her hand in a flustered gesture.
“No, I couldn’t. I’ve already caused enough trouble. And besides, aren’t you supposed to go to Wasatch State Park tomorrow?”
“A day or two won’t matter. The mountain isn’t going anywhere. Right, Liam?”
Hee-joo turned to look at him. Liam gazed at her silently for a moment, then let out a quiet laugh and shook his head.
Don’t go around offering your hand to just anyone.
He knew that, regardless of his thoughts, things would go as Hee-joo wished.
In that moment, the hierarchy between them was established. She was the one who gave orders; he was the one who followed.
“As you command.”
***
“Do you have somewhere to stay for a few days?”
At Liam’s question, Margaret looked up from her breakfast. Her eyes held confusion.
“Somewhere to stay?”
“Peter mentioned yesterday that James, having been thrown out, will likely return soon—possibly with a gun.”
“I heard that too.”
Margaret lowered her gaze with a bitter expression. She picked at her salad, then murmured in a resigned voice.
“He might even bring along a crowd to match his wounded pride. With a temperament like his, he won’t rest until he’s gotten revenge. After being driven out yesterday like that, he’ll be twice as vengeful.”
Hee-joo, who had been silent, asked carefully.
“When you say a crowd to match his pride, do you mean like a gang or the mafia?”
“Nothing that organized, but what they do amounts to much the same. You can probably guess.”
Then she looked between Liam and Hee-joo with worried eyes.
“I’m concerned I’ll ruin your trip because of me. Why don’t you eat breakfast and leave afterward? There’s nothing good that comes from being entangled with James. I can call the police.”
“But you didn’t call them yesterday. Not even when James threatened Peter.”
At Liam’s words, Margaret lowered her gaze as if struck by his point.
Liam continued in an even tone.
“I understand what you fear. Extortion, assault—crimes like that result in a few days in lockup before release. And then James will seek revenge. Just as you said, being a man of wounded pride, he will.”
Liam paused briefly, then lowered his voice.
“And next time it won’t be an attempt. You have every right to fear he’ll actually succeed in killing you.”
“…….”
“I think it won’t end until one of you is dead. Either you or James.”
“……You’re right.”
Margaret agreed in a voice so faint Hee-joo had to strain to hear it. Hee-joo stroked the back of her hand.
Tears welled in Margaret’s distorted eyes.
“If I’d known it would come to this, I wouldn’t have called my sister. Because of James, my life has become……a living hell. Every night I ask myself whether my husband’s death might not have been James’s doing too.”
“If I may ask, how did your husband die? Were there any suspicious circumstances?”
At Hee-joo’s question, Margaret lifted her bowed head.
“It was a traffic accident. A hit-and-run. The person who hit him and fled was never caught.”
“My condolences, Margaret.”
Hee-joo squeezed her hand. Margaret wiped her tears and forced her lips into a smile.
Liam took a sip of coffee and set the cup down.
“I’d like you to stay somewhere else for a few days.”
“Me?”
“You, Peter, and Emma. I think things will come to a head tonight, but in case it drags on, I’d like somewhere you can stay for two or three days.”
“Is that really necessary—”
“Come to my place.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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