The Dragon (G.O.N.Y. - Double Dragon) (11 page)

Ramsey walked from the dining room without another word, expecting him to follow.

***

“What the hell was that?” Delilah muttered as soon as Jezebel closed the door behind her.

They were now back in Jezebel’s room after what turned out to be an interesting lunch, though not because of the tension between herself and Ramsey. No, whatever was going on between Ramsey and Bastian had taken center stage despite Hannah’s attempt to divert the attention from them.

“I don’t know.” She truly didn’t. A memory surfaced of Ramsey and Bastian in a tense situation in his apartment in New York, but she quickly dismissed it. Despite Bastian’s attempt to drag her into it, this had nothing to do with her.

Moving over to the bed, Jezebel sat down. Within moments, she’d propped the pillows behind her and was lifting first one, then the other foot onto the bed. Shimmying her body, she made herself as comfortable as possible and stared at the flat screen facing her.

“Comfortable?” Her sister asked with a raised brow and a smirk. Jezebel grinned. Delilah grabbed the TV-remote from the foot of the bed, and easily plopped down beside her.

“What are we watching today?”

Jezebel shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” She was having a case of food coma. Lunch had been  delicious, as usual, and she’d had two portions, one for herself and the other for the baby. Instead of wine, her glass had been filled with sweetened ice tea, and dessert had been a generous helping of creamy cheesecake topped with a delicious strawberry sauce. It was a miracle she could move at all.

Delilah had turned the TV on, a movie was playing, and Jezebel was very close to falling asleep when her sister spoke, “Jez…?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think we made the right decision, coming here?”

Turning to face her sister, Jezebel nodded slowly. “Uh huh.”

Delilah frowned and didn’t look convinced. “I mean, he’s the reason we’re in this situation.”

She nodded again. “Didn’t have a choice.”

After a long yawn, Jezebel closed her eyes. Her lids were heavy, her body warm. The room itself was warm…and conducive to sleeping.

“What if we did?”

“Did what?” She pushed further down the bed until she was lying down with a pillow under her face.

“What if we had a choice?”

“What are you talking ‘bout, Lilah?” she murmured sleepily, stroking the side of her belly through her shirt.

“I called him.”

“What?” Jezebel moaned. “…let’s talk later…”

“Jezebel?” Her body was moving as if someone was shaking her. She opened her eyes to find Delilah hovering above her with wide eyes.

“What?” She pushed onto her elbows. “What’s wrong?”

“I called him.” Delilah moved away, but only slightly.

“What are you talking about, Lilah?” Jezebel looked around her room to see if someone else was in there, but it was just the two of them.

“I called Brandon.”

Jezebel closed her eyes, opened them, shook her head, and then asked her sister to repeat herself.

“I called Brandon,” Delilah rushed out. The TV went silent as she continued in a whisper, “Jez, don’t get mad, but look around. We’re in South Korea with Ramsey Stone, the head of a Korean gang! We aren’t allowed to leave the house and no one knows we left the country. He could kill us and no one would even know we were here. I mean, we’re black Americans in South Korea…I don’t even know where we are except somewhere in Gwangju and we got here by small plane after taking a large plane to Seoul—”

“I’m pregnant,” Jezebel hissed, disbelief giving away to anger.

“What?”

Jezebel pushed herself up and glared down at her sister. “I’m pregnant, Lilah, with Ramsey’s child! He’s not going to kill us!”

“And after the baby’s born?” Her sister demanded. “What then, Jezebel? We know things about his gang, his family. We see things while we’re here.”

Jezebel groaned. “Lilah…no. I told you not to tell anyone where we were!” When they’d arrived, Ramsey had told her she had free reign of his home, access to phones and computers, but until he found out exactly who was after her, she’d have to keep a low profile. By that, he meant not telling the world where she was.

“Jezebel, you’re not thinking clearly,” Delilah muttered, firming her voice and staring evenly at her. “You’re hormonal, and you’re probably still in love with him.”

“Are you freakin’ kidding me?” Jezebel screeched, and then lowered her voice when Delilah looked at the door. “I’m thinking very clearly! This is as clear as it gets when it comes to my thinking! We almost died while under the protection of US Marshalls and the FBI!”

“And—”

“And there’s a leak, Lilah!” She ran a hand through her hair. “Someone in one of those agencies

is a leak!”

Her sister frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Why do you think they found us in the Catskills? We moved around to throw people off,

but Kim still found us. Someone sold that information to Ramsey’s enemies! That’s why I didn’t call Brandon or the agency, because they have a leak and I don’t know who it is.”

Confusion alit Delilah’s face. “I didn’t think about it like that.”

“Of course you didn’t!” Jezebel snapped, pushing from the bed and pacing around the bedroom. “What did you tell him?”

Looking apologetic, Delilah chewed on her bottom lip. “That we were with Ramsey.”

“And?” She sensed there was more.

“And we’re at his ancestral home in South Korea.”

“Lilah!” Jezebel would have slapped her forehead if she wouldn’t end up giving herself a bigger headache.

“I thought I was doing you a favor,” she ran a hand over her short curls. “I thought you were buying into Ramsey’s bullshit again.”

“What?” Jezebel shook her head. “I’m not buying into anything. The only reason we’re here is because it’s the safest place for us right now! Despite everything that’s happened, I know he’ll keep us safe, even if it’s just for the baby.”

“And when the baby’s born? What then? He’ll no longer need you or me. And if he does, are we supposed to live the rest of our lives in South Korea?”

“Of course not!” Jezebel frowned. She hadn’t spoken to Ramsey about that as yet, but she assumed they were agreed on this being a temporary safe haven.

“You didn’t tell me about the leak!” Delilah muttered accusatorily. At Jezebel’s glare, she continued, “I only told Brandon—”

“Who will then tell his supervisors, who’ll tell their supervisors...”

Delilah looked away, and down at her hands. “I didn’t know about the leak, Jez...” She shook her head. “Shit.” When her sister looked up, she seemed troubled and on the verge of tears. “I’d never do anything to put you and the baby in danger. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know…”

Jezebel moved back to the bed, sat down, and patted her sister’s arm. “When did you call him?”

“A few hours ago.”

“On the landline?” It wasn’t as if they had cellular phones but maybe her sister had taken someone’s phone…

Delilah nodded. Jezebel resisted the urge to groan again. The US Marshalls and the FBI had no jurisdiction in South Korea, but she wasn’t sure them having knowledge of her location wouldn’t compromise whatever safety precautions Ramsey had already taken.

She’d have to tell him about the phone call. For one, the evidence was going to be in his phone records. Two, she didn’t want to jeopardize her safety or that of her child.

Delilah’s warm hand slid over hers, and Jezebel focused on her sister. She hadn’t known about the leak, and had only been thinking of their safety after all. It had been a bad idea, but it had come from a good place. Ramsey wouldn’t see that. He hadn’t wanted to bring Delilah in the first place and telling him that her sister had called Brandon could only end badly.

Jezebel drew a breath and let it out slowly.

“Lilah…” she began, tightening her grip on her sister’s arm. “I need you to tell me exactly what you told Brandon. Everything.”

***

“The gym?” Paces behind him, Bastian snorted. Ramsey continued on, keeping his pace brisk as he walked past treadmills, ellipticals, and other cardio machines stacked beside each other on the left, and weight machines and free weights on the right. He didn’t slow down until he reached the lone room at the other end of the gym. “Why are we here?”

Entering the room, Ramsey flicked on the lights. Numerous lockers, most empty, stared back at him. Various types of equipment were stacked neatly in different corners. He surveyed them all with a critical eye, before moving to one pile. Grabbing the mesh bag, he pulled it over to a table near his locker, and hoisted it up.

“Am I being punished?” Bastian drawled, boredom clear from his tone. “Is that it? I’ve been bad, and as the head of our wonderful criminally inclined family, you’re required to mete out punishment? Or is it justice in your eyes?”

Ramsey opened his locker. He removed his clothes, folding them neatly and placing them inside. He slipped into a clean t-shirt, gym shorts, and sneakers. The servants maintained the house when it was both occupied and unoccupied. As such, gym-wear was laundered every week regardless of whether it was worn or not. His grandfather had liked rules, repetition, and Ramsey had been under his tutelage for so long that he too had come to appreciate the small things that kept his world organized.

When he stepped to the mesh bag and began removing the equipment, Bastian sighed before he spoke again. “Am I supposed to follow your lead and change my clothes?” When he didn’t receive an answer, his brother snorted. “You told me to follow you and here I am. What do you want?”

“Change.” He spoke in a slow and soft voice.

“Why?” Bastian continued, his voice suggesting he hadn’t a care in the world. “My clothes are comfortable and I have no intention of working out with you.”

“Change.”

“Now, Ramsey,” his brother began, his voice placating as if he was addressing a child. “You may be the head of this family, the fearsome
Dragon
…” He chuckled. “…but I am not one of your men to be ordered around like―”

His sentence ended up a choked cough, followed by a gasp for air as Ramsey spun, caught him by the throat, and slammed him into the locker. His brother’s ease fled as he fought back, clawing at Ramsey’s hand and trying unsuccessfully to push him away, while glaring at him with the hatred he usually kept suppressed.

“What were you saying,
little brother
?”

Ramsey eased his hold a bit.

“Fuck you!”

He tightened his grip again, watching Bastian’s face and neck redden, his eyes water, before he

released him completely. Bastian pushed away from him, bending over to haul in great breaths as he hacked and attempted to regain his composure. Ramsey waited until the coughing subsided before he queried, “Did that upset you?” At his brother’s look of derision, Ramsey smiled. “You’ve been angry for a long time, Bastian, almost all your life.” Bastian straightened, still coughing, and walked to where bottles of water were stacked in boxes beside the table. As he uncorked one and began to drink from it, Ramsey continued. “You’ve always wanted my life, haven’t you?” His brother froze, but didn’t turn around. “That’s why you married Sarah, isn’t it?” Bastian turned slowly, his eyes hard and burning with anger. “Because she was supposed to be mine? Why you moved to New York for business school when you didn’t even like the subject?” When Bastian took a step forward, Ramsey cocked his head to one side and remarked, “Admit it, Bastian, you’ve spent your entire life trying and failing to be me.” He continued moving, until he was barely a foot away from Ramsey. “So you want to be me? You want to be Kang Jae Ramsey Stone, Dragon of the
Ssang Yong Pa
?”

“Why the fuck would I want to be you?” Bastian spat, lip curling down as he closed the already small gap between them. “I’m better than you!”

“Is that it?” Ramsey smiled even as different emotions began to war within him. “You think you can do a better job?”

Bastian’s lips parted, but he pursed them again, and narrowed his eyes. Ramsey lifted a brow and waited. “I don’t think. I know.”

Ramsey stared at Bastian for long minutes, the low purr of the central heating system the only sound between them, before he dipped his head. “Today’s your chance to prove it.”

With that, he moved back to the bag and removed the boxing helmet and gloves. Within seconds, he was heading for the door.

“W-what?”

He paused at the door but didn’t spare his brother a backward glance. “I’ll be in the ring for 10 minutes. If you don’t show up, I never want hear you bitching about anything again.”

“And if I show up? If I win?”

“If you win, you can have it all.”

“Everything?” Bastian sounded skeptical.

Ramsey decided to clarify. “The title, the prestige, the inheritance, everything.”

“Over a boxing match?” Bastian didn’t seem convinced.

“Boxing is the sport of kings and champions, Bastian.” From a young age, he and Bastian had been in both rings and
dojangs
. Although his expertise was taekwondo, their grandfather’s favorite sport was western boxing, so they’d been trained in both. Kang Jae Seong liked to boast that there was no gimmick in boxing, no middle ground. You either won or you lost. Ties were a loser’s way of feeling better about himself.  “Are you ready to prove you’re either?”