The Barbarous Us-KTH FF (Book I)

THIRTY THREE

"It's not too late," I said, smiling as I moved beside him. "He won't stop. So all we have to do is kill him and then make sure to fill out the next ballot."

The officer beside the fool stepped forward. "Is that a threat, Mrs. Kim?"

I smiled. "With my hand on the fucking bible, you very stupid man."

Superintendent Chen looked at me, shocked. "Maybe you didn't hear me—"

"No, we heard you clearly," Taehyung snapped, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "But it's time for you to hear me. You think you can run this city? My fucking city? I fucking own it. I fucking bought it! I fucking fought over it! No crackhead bitch over on the corner of Jump Street, and damn well no 5-0 with his Smokey the Bear looking sidekick, will ever tell me differently. I own Seoul! Which means I fucking own you!"

Chen stepped forward. "You may think you walk on water, but you are just a man, Kim Taehyung, nothing more, and I'm not afraid of you. I will use every measure of the law and every man I have to put you down like the fucking dog you are!"

I had to hand it to him, the man had balls. He was a fucking idiot, but he had balls.

"You think you will," I replied, as Taehyung breathed through his nostrils and stood up. "You think you have every cop, but you don't. You never will. What happens if someone were to pop off their families? They aren't all like you Superintendent Chen. You lost your wife, your child, and your fucking house." He looked at me surprised, as if I wouldn't do a background check on the new head of the police department. "You lost it all, and now you think you have nothing to lose. Well, believe me, you do. You are not the first man who thought he could control this city through law and order. You are replaceable."

Taehyung moved from around the desk to meet his gaze. "You think you can change the world? You think you can change my fucking city? Here is a reality check for you. One cop down a day, one family member a day how do you think your men will like that? This town will bleed. I will make it rain blood and tears. It will taint your hands so badly you will never be able to wash it off. Those men will hate you. I wouldn't be surprised if they put a bullet in your skull themselves."

Taehyung took another step right in front of the fucker's face.

"I will unleash hell on these streets like you have never seen, and when a mother comes to you with a picture of her dead son, when your people are so afraid that they sleep in bullet-proof vests and they turn to you, tell them it's because you thought you could step up to me. Tell them it was because you were an idiot and stepped into the wrong house one Saturday," Taehyung said, and I couldn't deny how sexy I found him at that very second.

Walking over to the door, I held it open. "You've been uninvited, which means get the fuck out of my house before I use my second amendment rights and blow you the fuck away."

They left quickly after that, and when they did, I let the door slam behind them before I walked over to Taehyung and kissed him deeply. He lifted me up and carried me to the desk laying me out on it. He spread my legs with his knee as his hands traveled up my stomach and then to my breasts while he kissed the side of my face.

But before he could rip my shirt off, I grabbed a gold-plated letter opener and held it to his neck. He froze, staring at me in shock and confusion.

"Remember how close you came today to having me in this office," I said, pressing the opener just a little bit harder into his neck. "Then remember you do not own Seoul. We own Seoul, which you forgot in the heat of your roaring. We! Next time you forget, I will cut you from the tip of your pretty chin to your heart. Now off."

He glared into my eyes, grabbing my wrists and squeezing until the letter opener fell from my grasp. His hands went to my neck, and I saw the very monster I lusted over staring at me back in the eyes. Even then, I still found it sexy.

"I've told you once—but I will tell you again seeing as how you are my wife, whom I trust and care for in too many twisted ways to describe—do not ever hold a weapon to me."

He kissed my lips hard again before letting go of me and stepping back. I began fixing my dress, as he went straight for the brandy.

"We are going to have to kill the Jihun mission," I replied, walking up to him to fix his tie.

He looked angry, frustrated, and bloodthirsty. "And why the fuck is that? That bitch and his sidekick have nothing to do with Italy."

"Taehyung ," I hissed pulling on his tie. "We are about to go to war. We will not be stuck in the middle of Jihun and the Seoul PD. Especially when our men are acting like children and fucking up every time we look away. They hate each other."

"Hate is a strong word."

"Since I've gotten here, has there been one night where either of our men haven't insulted or tried to kill each other?"

His pink lips parted for a quick second before closing again.

"Exactly."

"We Kims have been fighting you Mins for generations. Of course they are not going to stop just because you're sprawled out in my bed."

The grin on his face, like an obese cat after a meal, made my blood run hot. When was he going to get it?

"You are a fucking . . . it is this thing you Kims do that pisses us off. You don't think before you speak. You're brass, rude idiots, selfish and fucking, breed to eat, sleep, kill and hump like dogs"

"Have you seen the Sleeping Dictionary?"

"The what?"

"In the movie this Englishman goes to a foreign country in the nineteen thirties to help colonialize the area. But he doesn't know the language so they give him this beautiful village girl whom he sleeps with and shares words until he knows the language."

I . . . I couldn't even. He had to be a masochist or just enjoyed fucking with me. I didn't have the energy for this.

"You all make me sick"

The corners of his jaw turned up as his shoulders relaxed leaning on the front of his desk.

"So, dear wife, what shall we do about our men?"

"Tonight we go to dinner and tomorrow we prepare for camp," I said with a smile of my own.

He stared at me as though I had lost my fucking mind. "Camp?"

"When I took over as Boss my men didn't trust me. They didn't think I could lead them and when I brought in new people, they didn't trust them either. I bought a stretch of forest near Busan and made it into sort of a camp. It's their moment to let their guard down, because the place is like a fucking fort. The hackers all spend time playing with the newest toys I provide them. All I ask is that they don't get on any FBI lists. The very fact that I have to tell them that is beyond me. The woods are filled with targets to challenge snipers. The gym is for the hand-to-hand knife nuts, and there are seven chefs there around the fucking clock to feed them. They kill things together, they eat together, and they sleep in the same houses. By the end of the week, they are brothers." It was genius on my part, and I could see it in his eyes as well.