Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 67

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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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67.
“There must be a reason you travel with that woman, yes? You’re shot, yet you stay at her side. Speak honestly. Did Kim leave something behind for his daughter?”
“A reason.”
Liam slowly lowered his gaze. The crackling of his knuckles ceased. He lifted his eyes. His slate-blue irises narrowed to slits.
“A reason, sir?”
“Yes. You wouldn’t keep just anyone by your side. There must be some gain in it—that’s why you traveled to Utah State with her, isn’t it?”
“There is a reason, yes.”
Grandfather swallowed hard, his throat working visibly. A glint of avarice flickered in his eyes.
Liam tugged at one corner of his mouth.
“I need her.”
“Need her? Why? Why do you need her?”
Grandfather pressed for an answer. Liam whispered in a languid voice.
“Without her, there’s no fun in it.”
…….
Grandfather’s expression went slack—a response he’d never anticipated. His narrowed eyes shot a piercing look toward Liam.
“No fun?”
Though his tone seemed to ask what that meant, Liam reached into his pocket instead and withdrew the Leather Gloves.
He pulled them on, one at a time, then clenched and unclenched his fists.
“Here’s the thing.”
…….
“How did you get here, by the way? Private Jet?”
Grandfather’s eyes darkened. Regardless, Liam continued in an indifferent tone.
“We’ll need to launch a Private Jet. I have to get to San Francisco.”
That way, he could make up for the time lost.
But Grandfather offered no answer. After a long moment, he swept his eyes over Liam from head to foot, his expression souring.
“You’re going to San Francisco in that condition? Why?”
“There’s something I need to retrieve. They had the audacity to steal what’s mine—so I need to make sure those stupid mafia fools understand the cost of coveting another man’s property.”
Grandfather clicked his tongue.
“You’re crawling into the Russian Mafia’s den alone?”
“The sooner the better.”
His answer didn’t directly respond to the question—yet it did, all at once.
Grandfather exhaled a sigh of resignation.
“If I help you, what profit is there for me? Surely you’re not asking me to do this for free?”
At those words, Liam’s teeth flashed as he smiled.
“I’ll arrange for you to meet her. Ask Hee-ju directly—did your father leave anything behind? Or nothing?”
“Directly?”
“She has a soft spot for the elderly. Play your cards right, and she might even tell you the truth.”
Only then did Grandfather pull out his Cell Phone. Liam tilted his head back to gaze through the window at the brilliant blue sky, his eyes narrowing to slits.
***
Hee-ju knew at once that the man before her was the boss. The receding hairline, the grey hair, the sharp eyes.
She’d seen that face before—hazy in a photograph Liam had taken.
The bearded man gripping her shoulder hurled her to the floor. Thud. Hee-ju crashed down and massaged her knees as she looked up.
Sergei sat at his desk, looking down at her.
…….
Brief silence hung between them. Hee-ju asked nothing. She made no pleas for mercy.
She had no intention of letting panic show here. She needed to seize the psychological upper hand between them.
Sergei wanted something from her, and she wanted to walk out of this place alive.
It was Sergei whose patience frayed first—a fortunate sign for Hee-ju. It meant he was more desperate than she was.
“Where is it?”
“Where is what?”
Hee-ju wore an expression of genuine bewilderment. Had anyone been watching, they might well have nominated her for Best Actress of the year.
But Sergei didn’t fall for it so easily. His voice dropped to an even colder register as he pressed her.
“Don’t waste my time. The thing your father left behind—where is it?”
“Ha.”
Hee-ju let out a caustic laugh, then fixed him with a glare edged in venom.
“You’re asking me that now?”
How far would her act take her? Could she really abandon that tedious civil service job and leap into the glamorous world of entertainment?
“That man abandoned me the moment I was born. I grew up never knowing my own father’s face. When he wanted forgiveness before dying, I came to watch how painfully he’d suffer. And you’re asking what he left me? Not a single cent, that’s what.”
Hee-ju’s voice climbed in pitch, trembling with emotion. Veins stood out on her forehead. She looked genuinely furious.
“He didn’t leave anything in the first place. But even if he had—do you think I’d have accepted anything from a man I spent my whole life resenting and hating?”
Suddenly she realized her performance was flawless. … though perhaps some genuine feeling had bled through.
She had resented him as much as she’d yearned for him, hated him as deeply as she’d longed to see him. Love and resentment were two sides of the same coin.
Sergei rose slowly to his feet. His brown eyes held Hee-ju’s gaze as he stepped around the desk and approached.
He was similar in height to Liam. But unlike Liam, whose stature seemed to exert no pressure at all, Sergei’s presence bore down with considerable weight.
Would he have noticed by now that I’m gone? That I was taken by the Russian Mafia?
Is he looking for me?
Hee-ju’s head nodded as she thought this through.
Probably.
Almost certainly. And if so, there was only one thing she needed to do.
Survive, no matter what. Escape from this place and get back to Liam.
She couldn’t bear to leave him alone. She wanted to pull him close, to whisper gently against his ear.
That she needed him. That she wanted him.
…….
Sergei stopped a step away from Hee-ju. His aim to intimidate had succeeded—her shoulders instinctively shrank back.
Yet she forced her head up and met his gaze. His cool eyes sent a chill down her spine. Like a serpent coiling around her neck.
Sergei brushed at his sleeve absently and asked without particular emphasis.
“There was a clock in the living room, I heard.”
“The clock your men smashed to pieces? I went to check if there was any money in it, but it was already destroyed by then. If there was anything in there, your men would have found it first, wouldn’t they? What about it—did it have an account number or something?”
In that moment, Sergei’s voice dropped to a dangerous pitch.
“You lie to me, you die. Understand?”
It wasn’t a joke. Not even a simple threat. Those eyes had witnessed countless deaths.
!
Her blood ran cold. Her legs trembled and nearly gave way. Hee-ju had to lock her knees to keep from sinking to the floor.
She barely managed to stay upright. She refused to let fear show. The moment her terror was laid bare, her opponent would go for her most vulnerable point.
Hee-ju clenched her fists tight. A voice sharp as honed steel cut through her gritted teeth.
“I’m not an idiot. I know full well that if I lie, I’ll die without a soul knowing about it.”
Sergei extended his hand to the side. Andrei placed a Cigar between his fingers.
Sergei’s voice grew markedly more at ease.
“Why did you go to Utah State?”
“Because you were chasing me. Shooting at me, no less. My English isn’t great, but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t mean you wanted to be friends.”
Sergei studied Hee-ju in silence. His cool gaze seemed to pierce straight through her skull.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Believe it or don’t—that’s up to you. I’m telling you the truth. If you want, you can search me for anything I might be hiding. I don’t mind.”
Hee-ju spread her arms wide with an air of having nothing to conceal.
Sergei laughed softly. Yet it didn’t sound like laughter at all.
“I’m quite the gentleman, all things considered. I’ll put off the body search for later. Though somehow I doubt you’d be carrying anything anyway.”
He paused there, bringing the Cigar to his nose and inhaling deeply, smoke curling. Satisfaction flickered across his features.
Sergei kept his eyes on the Cigar as he spoke.
“Does that man have it? The one you’ve been traveling with?”
“So you don’t believe that your father left nothing behind?”
“I’m naturally suspicious. If I’d believed everything people told me, I’d never have risen to this position. So—who is that man, really?”
Sergei’s casual demeanor vanished. His gaze turned to ice in an instant.
“I don’t know.”
Hee-ju shrugged lightly.
“We have no connection, as you’ve probably already confirmed. I didn’t come to America with him, and I wasn’t with him in Korea either. I met him for the first time at Father’s House.”
Of the two mafia men she’d encountered there, one was dead and one unconscious. No one would be able to confirm that she and Liam knew each other.
… She hoped so, anyway. If she’d known this would happen, she’d have prayed that the unconscious man never woke up.
“You’re traveling with a man of unknown identity? You think I don’t know you two stayed in the same hotel?”
“Check if you want. We booked separate rooms, and on different dates too. That man keeps chasing after me, but what can I do? I can’t shake him off easily. Who should I blame? I guess I should blame myself for overflowing with charm.”
Sergei’s eyes narrowed to slits. He knew her words were lies, and Hee-ju sensed that he knew she knew he knew.

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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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