Someone knocked on the open office door. Burke was there with Petra and Juan behind him.
“Can we come in?”
Raul rose to his feet but remained by Ji-Su’s side.
“Yes.”
Burke came in and looked at Ji-Su sitting curled in on himself on the couch.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Ji-Su.”
Petra and Juan offered sympathetic nods behind him.
Ji-Su gave them all a small, shaky smile. “Thank you.”
“We all know who did this.”
“Cedric,” everyone said in near unison.
Raul nodded in agreement. “Yes. But I want proof to be sure.”
“I can have my teammate Iesha trace the origins of the account that posted the photos,” Ji-Su offered. She’s in tech and can track pretty much any IP address.”
“I appreciate the offer. But I have a team who can do the same. I’ll get them on it. Burke, I want you to take Ji-Su home.”
“Of course.”
Ji-Su immediately jumped up from his chair to protest. “But I want to stay!”
Raul cupped his face with both hands and met his gaze before he spoke.
“I know you do. But this is one of those times that it’s best to let me protect you. This could take a while and I may have to leave to find Cedric. I don’t know where he is or what his next plans are. I want you home where I know you’ll be safe. Go and let me handle this. Okay?”
Ji-Su looked at his lover. He didn’t like the cold, hard expression on Raul’s face. Or the angry glint in his eyes. In fact, they scared him a little.
“Are you sure? I could help maybe.”
Raul shook his head. “The best way for you to help is getting yourself behind those gates at the ranch so I don’t have to worry about you. Understand?”
After a long moment, Ji-Su gave a single miserable nod. He didn’t want to be at home doing nothing while Raul dealt with the man harassing him, but he didn’t want Raul distracted because he was worrying about him either. “I understand,” he said softly.
Raul kissed him once then gave him a little push toward Burke.
“Take him straight home,” he ordered. “And take two follow cars of guards with you. Text me as soon as he’s safely on the property.”
Burke nodded. “You got it. Come on, Ji-Su. Let’s go.”
Ji-Su allowed Burke to escort him from the office. He left the casino surrounded by six guards. Two got in the front seat of one car while Ji-Su rode in the backseat. Two more guards were in a car behind them and the last two pulled out in a car in front of them. Ji-Su looked back at the casino as they drove away.
“He’ll be okay, right?” he asked his driver.
“Of course he will, Mr. Ji-Su. You can trust him to take care of the situation.”
He did trust Raul. But that didn’t stop him from worrying the entire ride home.
IN ALL THE YEARS OFhis extremely long life, Raul had never been this furious. He was ready to go tearing off after Cedric and end that piece of shit for good. But a move that final required definitive proof. So, he waited.
While a member of the Syndicate’s tech support traced the origin of the upload, three of their hackers were working as well. He had them pull every single one of those fake pornographic images of Ji-Su off the web. He didn’t care if they had to delete people’s accounts or infect their devices with viruses. He wantedthe pictures gone for good. He’d let them know a sizeable bonus was theirs once they completed the job.