Dopamine Addiction - Chapter 78

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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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78.
With one hand still locked around his neck, she gripped the rope with the other.
She hated being a burden. So Hee-ju did what she could.
“How’s this? Does my weight feel lighter now?”
Liam laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Your weight was always light as a feather to me.”
“I’d prefer you say things like that when I’m standing on solid ground, not twenty meters in the air.”
“Your wish is my command, Your Majesty.”
Liam straightened his bent legs and pushed them off the rock face. At the same moment, Hee-ju loosened her grip on the rope.
Their bodies dropped sharply before slamming back against the stone, and Hee-ju clenched the rope tight. Liam pushed off the rock with his feet again. Then she released the rope.
Every time they launched into the void, her hamstrings burned. Her legs went limp, her heart plummeting to her feet.
It felt like riding a roller coaster.
Hee-ju reminded herself why she’d always hated amusement parks, and tightened her legs around Liam’s waist.
“You can let go now. Not that I’d mind hanging like this all night.”
At that, Hee-ju slowly lowered her gaze. Somehow Liam was already standing on the rock.
She released the rope and unwound her arm from around his neck. Then she set one foot down, then the other.
The ground still swam beneath her feet as though she were floating in air. She tilted her head back, looking up.
The cliff loomed impossibly high. She couldn’t believe they’d descended from up there.
Then she saw a shadow moving along the cliff’s edge above. It bent slowly, peering down at them.
Who was that?
Before the question could take root, Liam seized her hand and began to run.
“Let’s go.”
The two of them bounded over jagged rocks toward the Beach, where a black sedan sat waiting in the darkness.
Liam opened the passenger door and helped her in, one hand still positioned to shield her head from the frame.
“Hee-ju!”
Noel called out from behind the wheel. His usually composed face had crumpled, on the verge of tears.
“Noel!”
Hee-ju pulled him into an embrace, running her hands over his back again and again.
“Thank you. You actually drove us here yourself?”
“Of course—”
“I’ll drive. Move to the back.”
“Yes.”
Noel scrambled out of the seat with his emotional dam thoroughly broken, climbing into the back. Liam slid into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and pulled away.
The car accelerated rapidly, tearing down the road. Noel gave a light shrug from behind.
“My driving’s not that different from yours.”
***
“He’s not here. He must’ve known we were coming and moved him elsewhere.”
Anthony stepped out into the rain, frowning. Hunter shook the water from his drenched bangs and ducked under the awning.
“We’re one step behind. They fled toward the coast.”
“What?”
Anthony turned to stare at the back of the Estate in disbelief, then voiced the question that seemed impossible.
“The coast? You mean the cliff?”
“There was a rope tied to one of the trees. In the darkness, I saw two shadows running along the shore. It could’ve been them.”
“Two people? One would be Hee-ju, and the other Liam?”
“Probably.”
Hunter nodded casually. Anthony’s expression grew even more bewildered.
“So Liam came alone? I’ve counted over twenty bodies. We even found Sergei himself. You’re telling me Liam single-handedly decimated the Russian Mafia? And he infiltrated by scaling a cliff?”
“I can’t say if he had outside support, but the infiltration itself appears to have been solo.”
“Huh.”
Anthony stared into the downpour, his face vacant. Then his brow furrowed as he asked the fundamental question.
“What exactly is Clough’s grandson?”
“Hard to say. Unlike the eldest son, there’s almost no public information on the second son.”
Just then, a SWAT team began loading the remaining mafia members into vehicles with handcuffs on. As Andrei emerged from the Estate last, he stopped and glared at the two men.
“What’s your reason for breaking into someone’s home in the middle of the night?”
Anthony raised an eyebrow lightly.
“Your face looks familiar. Have we met before? Say, in Utah State?”
Andrei responded with nothing but a vicious glare. Anthony continued casually.
“The reasons are many. The drugs we found in this Estate alone rival a year’s worth of Drug Enforcement Agency seizures. And we discovered several young women with poor English skills—they didn’t look like they had valid visas. We’ll investigate whether they entered American soil of their own accord or were trafficked. Oh, and all those firearms we found here—are they registered?”
Anthony gave a slight shrug. “Want me to keep going? I’d say we’ve got at least ten pages.”
“You seem to have plenty of time.”
“Get moving.”
A SWAT officer shoved Andrei from behind. He kept his eyes fixed on Anthony all the way into the vehicle.
Anthony glanced at Hunter as if remembering something.
“Sergei’s Wife was here, but she had no idea what happened inside. She passed out during questioning.”
“That can’t be true. Wasn’t the Cell Phone she used to contact Sang-jin hers?”
“Maybe she helped because she knew Hee-ju had been kidnapped. But she claims she knew nothing about what happened tonight. She says she took a sleeping pill and went to bed.”
Hunter gazed into the Estate, lost in thought.
“The Good Samaritan routine? Well, with Sergei dead, that Estate is hers now.”
***
Liam crossed the Hotel Lounge with Hee-ju’s hand in his, a drowned rat, while she was wrapped in a dark Raincoat.
The staff and guests stared openly at their suspicious appearance.
But Liam paid them no mind.
Inside the elevator, his blank eyes tracked the numbers climbing one by one. Hee-ju made no attempt to break the silence.
Tsk. Liam clicked his tongue impatiently, as if reproaching the glacial pace of the elevator.
At last the doors opened. Liam strode down the corridor and pushed open the room door in one motion.
Hee-ju’s eyes widened.
“Wow, what kind of room is this? It’s completely different from where we’ve been staying…”
But her words never finished. Liam had already kissed her.
Hee-ju wrapped her arms around his neck without hesitation, matching his urgency. They devoured each other without restraint.
Tap. Tap. Liam peeled away her Raincoat. Only when cool air rushed in did Hee-ju truly notice.
She pressed herself closer against him. Her clothes began to soak through with moisture, but it didn’t matter.
A faint heat stirred in her belly. Just like before, she wrapped both her legs around his waist.
As if he’d been waiting, Liam caught her buttocks and began walking slowly, still locked in their kiss. The two of them traveled down the suite’s hallway with their mouths still joined.
Liam opened the bedroom door with one hand. Hee-ju didn’t even register the change in location. Her mind was filled with nothing but the heat of his kiss.
Liam sucked on her tongue with force, as though he meant to pull it out by the root. The hand supporting her buttocks slipped inside her shirt.
The touch of his fingers pressing slowly along her spine was sharp and vivid enough to raise goosebumps.
Breath—heavy and ragged—filled the room. Liam bit at her lips as he stripped away her outer garment. His fingers worked her shirt buttons with impatience.
A curse seemed to slip between their locked teeth. Or maybe it was just her imagination.
Her feet felt like they were floating. So Hee-ju held his neck even tighter.
“Ah.”
In a moment, Liam laid her down on the bed. Her shirt hung open to the middle of her chest. He pressed his lips to her jaw.
Hee-ju cradled his face in her hands and drew his gaze to meet hers.
Supporting himself on one hand against the mattress, Liam looked down at her. His slate-gray eyes swirled with a thousand emotions.
Yes—like a cliff. The cliff behind the Estate. Like a precipice where one misstep would send you tumbling into an endless abyss.
And yet, Hee-ju walked slowly forward.
Liam grasped the hand cradling his cheek and, without breaking his gaze, brought her palm to his lips.
……
His brow suddenly furrowed. His eyes, which had never left her, moved slowly away.
“Why.”
A rough voice spilled from between his teeth. Hee-ju waited obediently for him to continue, but he didn’t.
Only then did Hee-ju follow his gaze. His eyes, hardened and fixed, were staring through her fingers.
Her reddened skin was blistered and raw. Only then did a stinging pain bloom.
“Who.”
Liam opened his mouth again. But again, his words never made it to an ending.
“It’s nothing.”
“Who did this to you?”
Liam’s voice dropped to something dangerously low. So Hee-ju deliberately kept her tone light.
“It really is nothing.”

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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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