The penthouse conference room on the thirty-second floor of Hotel Sirintra had been swept for bugs three times in an hour. The entire floor cleared. No staff. No recordings. Just silence, steel, and the unspoken understanding that the most dangerous men in the north were about to sit down face to face.
The kind of meeting that only happened once every few years. If ever.
Mr. Charlie arrived first, sharp suit, slick cane, no smile. Jack followed two steps behind, cold as smoke, flanked by Rin, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else but never left Jack's side. The three of them moved like one body, one rhythm, their silence louder than footsteps.
Ten minutes later, Vavaporn entered without a word. He didn't knock. Didn't wait to be announced. His presence filled the room like thunder without lightning. Jay walked in behind him, posture military-sharp, bandaged shoulder hidden under a custom blazer. Jeff came in last, closing the door and locking it with a smooth click.
And just like that, the room was full.
Six men.
Four guns hidden.
Three secrets bleeding through their clothes.
Two fathers playing gods.
And one moment hanging in the air like a noose.
No greetings. No handshakes. Just measured steps as everyone took their place around the massive black glass table.
Jay didn't look at Jack. Jack didn't look at Jay.
But both of them felt it, the weight of the night they had spent burning in silence.
Vavaporn folded his hands neatly, nodding once. "Let's talk."
The conversation started clean. Clinical. Professional.
The Koreans lied, Mr. Charlie said. They fed both families the same promise. Split shipment. No competition. A silent pass.
Instead, they set up an ambush, Vavaporn replied, his voice like chilled whisky, aged, smooth, and deadly. Thought they could light a match and walk away before the house exploded.
Jeff stayed silent, his eyes flicking from Charlie to Jack, from Jack to Jay, reading everything no one said out loud.
"They didn't expect resistance," Mr. Charlie continued. "Didn't expect our heirs to hold the line."
For a moment, Jay's breath caught. That word. Our heirs.
He could feel the tension ripple beneath the table like an electric current.
Cooperation wasn't the Koreans' intention, Vavaporn said. "But it was the result. A very… unexpected one.
Jack's eyes flicked to the side, just once but it was enough for Rin to notice.
Enough for Jay to feel it without even looking.
Do we retaliate separately? Mr. Charlie asked.
No, Vavaporn said. Together. Swiftly. Publicly. They need to learn that betrayal has a price.
He paused, then added with quiet menace, And the kings don't kneel for scraps.
Mr. Charlie allowed the barest curve of a smirk. "Agreed".
All six remained seated. Still. Sharp.
The table was littered with printed documents, maps of shipment routes, names of Korean smugglers, code words in Hangul. But nobody touched them. No one trusted anything in writing.
Jack sat stiff, hands folded neatly. Jay mirrored him across the table. Neither blinked. Neither dared to let their gaze slip.
But the memory was there.
The kiss.
The wound.
The way Jay had bled for him.
The way Jack had bandaged that blood like it was sacred.
Rin noticed Jack's clenched jaw. Jeff noticed Jay's foot tapping once, then stopping. These were men who never fidgeted. Not in war. Not in peace.
Something was off.
But no one said a word.
After an hour of strategy, silence returned. The two kings leaned back in their chairs, each watching the other like lions who had just shared a meal but still didn't trust each other not to bite.
"This alliance," Mr. Charlie said slowly, "ends the moment the Koreans are silenced."
Of course, Vavaporn said. Until then, we move like one hand.
And afterward? Mr. Charlie's voice sharpened.
We go back to what we were, Vavaporn answered, eyes glinting. "Enemies. But clean ones."
The sons remained statues. Shadows of their fathers. Ghosts of their real selves. Because who they were in this room wasn't who they had been in that villa.
In this room, Jay was Vavaporn's heir.
In this room, Jack was Charlie's successor.
In this room, there was no bleeding. No kissing. No truth.
Only legacy. Only silence.
The meeting ended with a nod
Everyone stood. Chairs scraped the floor like blades unsheathed.
Vavaporn didn't shake hands. Neither did Charlie. But their eyes met one last time, sharp, suspicious, quiet.
Jay followed his father. Jack mirrored him.
But as the two sons passed each other, shoulder to shoulder in the narrow hall, walking in step with their monsters, something happened.
Their hands brushed.
A single, electric touch.
So brief it could've been imagined.
So intense it felt like fire.
Neither flinched. Neither reacted. But it shattered them both.
Because despite everything, despite the silence, despite the fathers who would gladly kill them for a kiss..
They still reached for each other.
Even when they shouldn't.
Even when it was suicide.
Even when the war was still waiting outside the door.
Back in the elevator, Jay said nothing. His jaw clenched tight, his hand twitching once before it stilled.
Behind him, Jeff stared at the back of his head like he could see straight into the part of him Jay was trying to bury.
"You touched him," Jeff said softly, not a question.
Jay didn't answer.
Outside by the car, Jack stood beneath the blazing Chiang Mai sun, blinking against the heat like it could burn away the memory of Jay's fingers brushing his.
Rin lit a cigarette, exhaling slowly.
"You really want him," Rin said flatly.
Jack turned. "I never said that."
"You didn't have to."
Jack said nothing.
But he didn't deny it either.