Page 29 of Save Me

“Dae,” his voice comes across more forcibly than before. “My name is Dae.” His tone is stern.

“I know your name.”

“Then I suggest you use it. We’re beyond last names.”

“Are we?”

“Yes, Kennedy,” he emphasizes.

The words stick in my throat.

“I have something you want, and you have something I need.”

His words shock me back into reality. “I don’t have anything.”

“You don’t know it yet, but you do.” His words are cryptic, and my curiosity gets the best of me.

Though my rational mind is screaming at me to hang up and never speak to this man again, I remain planted where I am. The phone glued to my ear.

I want to hear what he says next. Hell, I may even need to hear it.

“I’ll give you what you want,” he says, and I get the impression that he’s not only talking about my investigation. “We’ll meet this weekend. The Black Opal. Saturday night.”

“No,” I blurt out after a short pause. Since the beginning of this conversation, this man has put me off kilter. I need to regain some sort of power balance. “If you want to meet this weekend, I’ll choose the place.”

He doesn’t say anything for a while. So long that I start to believe he’s going to renege on the idea. Eventually, though, he replies, “Fair enough. Where?”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Then you should take my number.”

I swallow, knowing I just set myself up. “I’ll get it from your driver.”

“I’ll see you soon, Kennedy.”

A shiver runs down my spine, and I have to hang up the phone. I turn to hand the phone back to the driver. His hand is already extended, and he has a black and gold business card in it.

“Mr. Kim’s personal contact information.”

“Of course,” I mumble, realizing that Dae Kim still has the upper hand.

CHAPTER 10

Dae

“Are you listening to me?” Taehyun asks through the phone.

“Barely.” I stare up at the sign of the place where Kennedy texted me to meet her. A slow grin splits my lips.

“Am I inconveniencing you? It’s not like I stayed up half the fucking night to have this call or anything,” he gripes.

I ignore his bitching. “You sleep about as much as I do. If not less,” I remind him.

The double-digit time difference between Williamsport and South Korea isn’t as much of a factor as Taehyun complains about since he hates sleeping.

“Still, there’s a ton of work I need to complete over the next few days. I could put my time to better use if you’re going to ignore me.”

“I’m not ignoring you. The Wilson papers are signed, we’re breaking ground on that project in fifteen days, and you’re working on getting approval for the purchase of the Brooks property. Did I get everything?”