Page 17 of Prior Claim
“I saw Gang Junseo. Face to face. We spoke,” Sevastyan said.
Rei did not move. The only sign that he’d even heard was the fact that his breath stopped.
Sevastyan straightened slowly. “I was called to Seoul. A deal going wrong.”
Rei’s fingers curled inward but still he didn’t move. The product of decades of training. Sevastyan’s own mother would be satisfied with such a level of self-control.
“Bak Gyeong sold him. Gang killed his buyer.”
Rei’s right hand curled into a fist.
“I arrived right after.”
“Did you kill him?” Rei whispered.
“No. Gang Junseo is in Chicago.”
“You saved him?”
“I gave him a chance. He has friends with deep pockets. They got him out of the country. But the Merchari aren’t finished.”
“This is why we’re going to Chicago.”
“Yes.”
“Geun, Su-jin, Jaewoong, Yohei?” Rei whispered the names of the rest of Gang Junseo’s K-pop group like a half hopeless prayer.
“Safe. And in Chicago as well.”
Rei leaned on the counter and closed his eyes.
Sevastyan moved the single step between them, leaning against the counter beside Rei but not touching him. “Either I take you with me to Chicago, or I take you to Alexi.”
Rei lifted his head, a line between his eyes. Alexi wasn’t to be trusted, but he did value a well-trained slave. Rei was the epitome of one. Alexi would grab the chance to own and train Rei if Sevastyan was ever removed. He wouldn’t let lesser owners have his treasure either.
Sevastyan answered the unspoken question. “There are those who might be questioning my loyalty.”
Rei lowered his eyes, his body subtly shifting toward Sevastyan. “You promised.”
Sevastyan pressed his lips against Rei’s hair, closing his own eyes against the pain of that oath. “I promised.”
Rei nodded. His hand reached out, grabbing Sevastyan’s belt, anchoring himself to Sevastyan.
Sevastyan gathered Rei in against his body. “We’ll fly west in the morning, first to the Yadro, then a stop in Kazen to see Anton, maybe others, drop by Moscow, and then south to Germany to deposit a delivery. From Berlin we’ll go on to New York.”
“How was Jun?” Rei whispered.
“Wild, like a wolf,” Sevastyan whispered. “He took out his buyer with a table and the enforcer with a bottle of soju.”
“Did they . . .”
“I don’t think so. He fought back.”
“He must have been scared.”
“Angry.”
Rei huffed, not quite laughing, but nodding.
