The End of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 4) by Con Template Read Free Book Online Page A

had happened to her to make her so frail and miserable! You, her, and everyone else seems intent on keeping everything from me and Chae Young. You never tell me about the bruises on her body, you never tell me why her eyes are swollen from tears, and you never tell me why it looked like her soul had been broken.” Sparkles of liquid marred her eyes while reserved pain filled Tae Hyun’s. “But despite not knowing what happened, I know she’s been going through hell. What happened, oppa? What the hell happened that made you force her to leave the country? What did she do to have you treat her so horribly?”
    “I’m not discussing this with you,” Tae Hyun replied decisively, set on not divulging that the woman his little sister loved so much was the one who killed their mother. “Not now and not ever. How I break up with my girlfriend is none of your concern.”
    “And you kicked Kang Min and Jae Won out too?” she asked, her voice breaking apart. If it was possible, there was more agony in her eyes. “How could you?”
    “It’s been done.” Although he stated this with finality, there was a trace of regret in his eyes when he was not only reminded of his ex-girlfriend, but also the two gang members whom he had formed close bonds with as well. “The three of them are probably long gone by now. We will never see them again. What happens now doesn’t change anything—”
    “Sir?” a voice suddenly interrupted from the side, drawing the siblings out of their private conversation.
    Tae Hyun turned and caught sight of an elderly man dressed in a black suit. He was one of Ju Won’s workers. It was evident in the man’s anxious demeanor that he had been searching all around the ball for Tae Hyun.
    “Sir,” he repeated respectfully, bowing to Tae Hyun. “The toast is about to begin.”
    “I’ll be there soon. Thank you,” Tae Hyun dismissed with a warm smile.
    As the man gave a parting bow and left them, Tae Hyun spared one last glance in his sister’s direction.
    “You have no one now,” Hae Jin whispered tightly, aware that she had lost the moment she needed with her brother to convince him that not only was he wrong, but that he also had to reconcile the situation and bring everyone back together. It was apparent in her hopeless expression that she knew their moment had passed and that he was desperately latching on to something else to fill the new void in his life.
    “I have my throne,” he told her, his face clearing out any evidence of weakness or distraction. With his hands in his pockets and the illumination of the chandelier running over the perfect features of his face, the King of Serpents was as striking as ever. “And soon, I’ll have the world.”
    Walking away from her, Tae Hyun glided over the grand staircase that led to the upstairs quarter of the ballroom. When the soles of his leather shoes made contact with the red carpet, he greeted a couple of mentors and approached the rows of balconies that overlooked the entire first floor of the rotunda ball. He stepped onto the center balcony and made himself comfortable there.
    His eyes wandered to the ground floor where the happy chattering of the Underworld populace and the clinking of champagne glasses rose up to where he stood. Ju Won stood in a circle, conversing with Jung Min, Dong Min, and various 1 st layer crime lords. Ju Won was all smiles as his laughter intermixed with the music moving over the room. Tae Hyun involuntarily shifted his attention to the northern corner of the surrounding balconies. He sighted Lee Ji Hoon, dressed in an expensive tuxedo, standing on a private balcony of his own. His face was veiled with supremacy as he took a furtive step forward and held his champagne glass high in the air. It only took a second for Ji Hoon to stand there before a wave of silence claimed the lips of those in the ballroom.
    Despite the aversion he harbored for Ji Hoon, Tae Hyun, like the rest of the Underworld surrounding him, was