The guest bathroom tiles were freezing against Kang-woo's back, but it didn't help. The heat still crawled under his skin like ants on fire. Every breath pulled in the ghost of Ji-woon's scent that had seeped under the door, thick and dark and way too good. His thighs trembled. Slick kept threatening to ruin the expensive pants Yoon-ah had picked out.
He stayed locked in there until the worst of the wave passed, then slipped out a side door into the garden like a thief. Fresh air. That was what he needed. No Alphas. No mansion. Just green shit and silence.
The garden was huge—perfect hedges, marble fountains, flowers that probably cost more than his old car. Moonlight turned everything silver. Kang-woo leaned against a stone pillar, breathing hard through his mouth, trying to ignore the ache low in his gut.
Soft footsteps on the gravel.
He didn't even have time to run.
Min-jae stepped out from behind a row of trimmed bushes, hands in his pockets, that charming film-director smile plastered on his face like he was posing for a poster.
"Seung-ho," he said, voice low and warm. "Hiding from the big bad CEO? Cute."
Kang-woo straightened. "Not hiding. Just getting air."
Min-jae moved closer. Too close. The Alpha scent—lighter than Ji-woon's but still sharp—hit him like a slap. The heat flared again, making his knees stupidly weak.
"You don't remember me, right?" Min-jae's smile turned predatory. "That's what the doctors said. Amnesia. Poor thing. All those nights we spent together… wiped clean. I guess that means we get to start over."
His hand reached out and cupped Kang-woo's cheek, thumb stroking the same spot Ji-woon had touched earlier. "I can remind you how good it felt. How you used to moan my name when my brother wasn't around."
Kang-woo's stomach flipped—half disgust, half the fucking heat making him hate himself. He smacked the hand away.
"Back off."
Min-jae laughed softly. "Still playing hard to get? Even with no memory? That's new." He crowded in, backing Kang-woo against the pillar. One hand slid down to grip his waist. "Come on, honey. The garden's private. No one will see. Let me take care of that heat before it gets worse. You always begged so prettily before."
The words lit a fuse.
Old street instincts kicked in before Kang-woo could think. He grabbed Min-jae's wrist, twisted hard the way he used to break fingers on debtors, and drove his elbow straight into the bastard's ribs. The soft Omega body didn't have the same power, but the move was pure Mad Dog—dirty, fast, mean.
Min-jae staggered back with a surprised grunt.
Kang-woo didn't stop. He followed with a knee aimed low—street fighting didn't play fair—and shoved the Alpha hard enough that Min-jae tripped over a low hedge and landed on his ass in the dirt.
"Touch me again and I'll tell your brother everything," Kang-woo snarled, voice shaking but steady. "The affair. Every single time you fucked me behind his back. The antidepressants because I couldn't stand living in this golden cage with you two. I'll burn it all down. I don't give a fuck about amnesia."
Min-jae sat there in the grass, stunned for half a second. Then he threw his head back and laughed—loud, genuine, like Kang-woo had just told the funniest joke in Seoul.
"You used to beg for it," he said, still chuckling as he wiped dirt off his sleeve. "On your knees in my car, in hotel rooms, even in the screening room while I was supposed to be editing. Begging, Seung-ho. And now you're playing tough guy? Adorable."
Kang-woo's fists clenched. The heat was roaring back, making his vision hazy, but he'd die before letting this prick see it.
Footsteps on the gravel path. Slow. Heavy. Familiar.
Both of them turned.
Ji-woon stood at the edge of the garden, suit jacket gone, shirt sleeves rolled up, eyes colder than the river that had drowned him. He took in the scene—Min-jae on the ground, Kang-woo backed against the pillar, the air thick with clashing Alpha scents and the sweet edge of an Omega in heat.
No one spoke.
Ji-woon's gaze flicked from one to the other, slow and unreadable.
Then he said, voice flat as a blade, "Explain."