Lee Mason walked through the luxurious foyer of the penthouse.
Well, if he could be honest, it was more gaudy than luxurious. A clusterfuck of shiny things and expensive items thrown together without any care about their cohesiveness because the interior designer was either selling their soul for money or too afraid to say anything. Probably both.
With every step he took, it was clear that the space was made to be praised by a bunch of mindless entourages rather than to be enjoyed. Mason sighed in pity every time he walked past a painting in the foyer and an artistic vase in the living room. Whoever made them probably rolled in their grave knowing their creation was put inside such an obnoxious display to be revered by people who only praised how expensive they were.
Unfortunately, it was his mother who lived there, so he couldn't be honest.
"You're here," his mother, the first wive--ex-wife--of HS Group's chairman, was already waiting for him at the lounge table.
"Good afternoon, Mother," Mason smiled. "I'm sorry about canceling on dinner tonight."
"It's fine," his mother sighed. "It's your busy fiancee who asked to meet; of course, you have to grant her request."
"Thank you for your understanding, Mother."
Mason smiled on the outside, but he had to hold back so much cursing inside. Fuck--if this woman was really understanding, she shouldn't be asking him to come for tea to replace the canceled dinner. Did she think he wasn't busy? Fuck. If she wasn't the one birthing him...
Mason knew that his mother was only fine with the cancellation because she worked hard to set up the engagement. Since she saw it as her achievement, she didn't want anything to jeopardize it, even if it was purely interest-driven and devoid of love.
It wasn't like her marriage was made of love, anyway.
Haa...let's just endure it for half an hour--Mason sighed inwardly and indulged his mother's blabber while gradually emptying his cup so he could get out as soon as he was done.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't doing it fast enough.
"I heard she's coming back," his mother's voice turned low and cold.
Mason's eyes twitched for a second, but he was already used to hiding his reaction from his mother, responding with a dry, uninterested tone instead. "Yes, Mother. Someone must be fetching her from the airport already."
"Tsk--it'll be better if she's not coming back," his mother grumbled, crossing her arms in annoyance. Her sharp eyes squinted as she warned him. "Be wary of her."
"Do we need to?" Mason tilted his head.
A wrong move.
"Do we need to?" his mother's eyes shook as her whole face twitched in rage. "Do we need to?!"
Mason leaned back and shifted his legs, just in time as the table shook until the cups toppled over. The unfinished tea dribbled down the marble table, pooling on the floor where his feet were a second ago.
"Did you forget how the executives said they'd rather support her if she wasn't a girl?!" an ashtray flew and crashed against a cabinet--thankfully, not in his direction. The anger still did, however. "Did you already forget how they said she was better than you?! It was so humiliating! Humiliating!"
"I didn't, Mother," Mason replied calmly, unfazed even while his mother hit her chest in frustration. He was already so used to it that seeing that only sparked annoyance instead of sympathy. "But as you said, she's a girl. Father won't change the tradition just because of that."
It wasn't like he was incapable. Seul-ah was just academically better than him and was very good at following what people told her to do. Among other third-generation conglomerates, Mason wasn't very brilliant--like Mirae's Henry Kang, for example--but he wasn't bad either. If there was a rank, he would still be in the top ten.
Besides, he didn't really have any competition inside the house. His younger brother--brothers--were just a bunch of idiots who only knew how to have fun. They didn't even have any ambitions to lead the company. Perhaps that was why the executives used to place their hope in Lee Seul-ah, even if she would never be named heir. But really...the heir had always been him, and would always be him.
Why couldn't she just believe in him? Why did she always feel like the position could be snatched from him?
Well...he knew why.
"Then what about your sister?!" she continued her rampage and the toppled cups found themselves in pieces on the floor. "What if they put her in a better position than Amber?! Huh?!"
"I thought I told you already that she's not like her past self. Just looking at her grades..." Mason carefully avoided the broken cups and vase--not the expensive one, thank god--as he shifted to his mother's couch. "Everyone knew she's no longer the brilliant child she used to be, Mother."
"She might--"
Mason held his mother's tensed hands. They were smooth and fair, never seen a day of hardwork. "You don't have to worry," he smiled sweetly, like he used to do when he was a child. "If it makes you feel better, I'll make sure she'll stay as trash."
Just like how he did when she was abroad, making sure she was distracted by the new environment and experiences she couldn't have in the past. Indulging her with allowance money and planting his own people as her assistants to make sure she was as far away as she could from the perfect daughter she used to be.
If he couldn't use her, it would be better to break her piece by piece. That way, it would be easier for him to get her once she was back.
"I'll throw parties her way; I'll make sure she won't take any good position," he patted his mother's cosmetically enhanced smooth hands. "So you don't have to worry. She won't be a thorn to us, so just leave her to me and don't do anything, alright?"
He couldn't risk his mother doing stupid things at this point. It was so hard to turn the executive's opinion and gained their support, so he'd be damned if his mother acted up and tainted his image.
"All you have to do is relax and have fun as always, Mother," Mason finished his words with a soft, filial-looking smile.
"Oh, my son..." his mother stroked his cheeks, finally calming down. "You're mine and mine only."
Mason maintained his smile, even while his eyes shone coldly. It didn't seem like his mother realized, however, and he managed to excuse himself by saying he wanted to groom himself before meeting his fiancee.
"Clean up the penthouse," he ordered one of his men waiting outside the door, no longer bothered to cover the annoyance across his face.
"Understood."
"Haa...what a tiring woman," he clicked his tongue and wiped his hands with a handkerchief as he rode the elevator down to the basement's parking lot. When he entered the car, he immediately asked one of his secretaries who had been waiting for him there. "How about Seul-ah?"
The secretary replied awkwardly. "There's a bit of a setback, Sir."
Mason narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"So..."
The secretary relayed what he heard from Harry Kim--the one Mason sent to pose as Lee Seul-ah's assistant--about the interaction between the driver and the second daughter at the airport. Of course, the driver never mentioned that he was almost an hour late, but it was easy to deduce that from the timeline.
"She's gone?" Mason scowl. "And you only tell me this now?!"
The car shook slightly as Mason kicked the secretary's seat. Thankfully, the secretary's leg was spared this time, probably because he was only relaying the information from someone else's blunder.
Still, an employee must act like an employee. "F-forgive me, Sir..."
"Haa...fuck--" Wonseok took a deep breath to calm himself. He remembered that he wouldn't be able to see her that night anyway, thanks to the sudden dinner. "You didn't put a tracker on her?"
"It's the house's car, Sir. We didn't think she'd leave like that either."
Mason clicked his tongue. "Did people see?"
"Yes, but we've already put a measure on it."
"That driver..."
The secretary smiled wryly. "He's someone the third madam brought."
"That fucking wench!" Wonseok hissed, swiping his hair back in frustration. "Cut his wage or something."
"Y-yes, Sir..."
Mason snapped his fingers, signaling for the driver to start moving. As the car drove out of the luxurious apartment complex, Wonseok thought about Lee Seul-ah. He hadn't been able to see her much while she was abroad; as always, he had to pretend that he hated her as much as the other children did. Even while he was in the state, he could only see her in the guise of checking her out to report her condition to their father.
How annoying. If only he could tie her down in the country five years ago...
That stupid third wife wench! If she wasn't so eager to kick Seul-ah out of the house--what an audacious whore.
Mason rubbed his lips as he thought about that girl. "Where do you think she's going?"
"Uhh...I'm not sure, Sir. It had been five years, so she probably wanted to take a look around?"
"After such a long flight?"
"A plane can be stifling," the secretary said, and then added to make sure he wasn't getting scolded again. "Should we check that bar she frequented in the past, Sir?"
"Hmm...try the place where she kept her mother's ashes too," Mason ordered while tapping the armrest. "Have you prepared her room?"
"Yes, but..."
"But what?"
The secretary replied before his brain could tell him to stop. "Pardon me, Sir, but...you seem to be taking care of her too well."
The tapping stopped and a cold gaze shifted toward the secretary, who immediately regretted he ever had a mouth.
The secretary immediately bowed his head deeply until it was between his knees. "I've overstepped...Sir..."
"Did I hire you to question my decision?"
The secretary could feel the cold sweat running down his back at the low, unfeeling voice. "No, Sir..."
"Be grateful that we've passed the bridge already."
The secretary closed his eyes tightly, knowing full well that his boss could really throw him off the bridge if he wanted to. Maybe not the boss himself, but the bodyguards riding at the front could. So he, the youngest among the secretaries, kept his head down between his knees for a long time while Lee Wonseok still wondered where his 'sister' could be.
But even his wildest imagination would never foresee the girl running for her life while a truck was chasing her down the street on the side of a mountain.