The Kingpin's Possession

81: Eavesdropping

Kla:It took a bit more convincing before Kit was finally reassured enough to leave, but he eventually did, closing Kla’s office door behind him with a light hand. Kla waited until his footsteps outside faded out of earshot before making his own move.

Only when Kla was fully certain that Kit had gone away, he walked over to the other end of his office, staring intently at the door waiting for him. It was nondescript—you wouldn’t notice it if you didn’t specifically look for it or already knew it was there. Even though it wasn’t technically ‘hidden’, it was still considered a secret.

Moreover, it was actually connected to a different room, and when he pulled it open, Kit emerged from there, stepping silently into Kla’s office and shutting the secret door behind him on a soft sigh.

“Well,” Kla shrugged. “I guess you were right about Kit all this time. Turns out, he really was hiding something much more serious than just about his friend having feelings for him.”

Kim had let Kla in on his hunches earlier before dinner, when Kla asked offhandedly why Kit wasn’t joining them. Kim had pulled him away from the table, away from Kaya’s keen hearing, to tell him in secret. That was also when Kim told him his plan to figure out what was going on with Kit.

Even though it was kind of disrespecting Kit’s privacy, Kla did not feel the slightest guilt about it—now that he got to the bottom of the matter, to him, it was a justified move. Without such a tactic, Kim would have never known the truth about Kit’s situation, which would no doubt lead to devastating consequences.

Kim nodded. “You know, I had a hunch that it was worse than he let on when I saw him hugging his sister and crying,” he admitted. “As close as they are, I know Kit wouldn’t do that unless there was something he was worried about that involved his sister. Guess I was right. If Kit hadn’t been so tight-lipped about this whole thing, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this. I just had to know.”

Kla raised an eyebrow. “And what made you so confident that Kit would come to me instead?” he asked. “Of all the people, I believe I was the last one he’d actually trust.”

It was no secret that Kit and Kla weren’t exactly close. They had gotten off on the wrong foot when Kla had suspected the siblings to be here for laundering money from his younger brother, but that hadn't been the case and in the end, Kla had eventually just removed himself from interfering in Kim’s life.

“It’s easy.” Kim looked bored in explaining, but his voice was still tight and full of worry; it was clear that Kit’s situation was bothering him more than he showed. “I had a feeling that the thing with his friend, Ben, was real, so that’s one trusted individual out of the way. As for his other friends, he wouldn’t want to involve any of them further, considering their lives are already at risk. P’First’s privacy, as he told you, was now compromised. And obviously he felt like he couldn’t open up to me. Moreover, since his sister was involved, then you became his best bet and last resort.”

Then his eyes widened for a bit, as though a thought had suddenly occurred to him. He nodded his head. “Okay, now that I think about what he said, I guess he’s actually far smarter than I had previously given him credit for.”

Kla tilted his head. “What are you thinking?”

“Since his father threatened to kill his friends and put Kanya’s life at risk,” Kim explained, “he probably was thinking that the best person to approach was someone who was not involved in this mafia shit, while still knowledgeable about the situation. Of course, that person is you, so he came to you, seeking refuge.”

Kla nodded, agreeing with Kim. The kid was indeed smart, but he had landed himself in some big shit now that his traitor of a father was down to threatening him to get to Kim and First.

“This is all getting out of hand,” Kla told him sternly. “If Ayan’s words are to be trusted, then that means that he has help, and those hands seem to be particularly stealthy and resourceful. It’s probably someone who has connections to his house, which means we have a spy in our midst.”

Kla was already practically convinced of this, but Kim shook his head.

“No,” he told Kla, in a tone that was equally stern as his brother’s, “the spy isn’t in my house, but with P’First. That’s where Ayan had been before he took the money and ran, so there is some possibility that this someone is a person who thought of Ayan as a friend, or they’re someone who had helped him from the start.”

Kla raised a hand, stopping him before he continued his train of thought. “You’d have to be extra cautious about this,” he warned his brother. “Instead of figuring out who the mole is and throwing them out of the picture, we should instead use whoever that person is to turn the tables against Ayan.”

That got Kim’s attention. “I’m listening,” he said to prompt Kla to speak.

“You should use this situation to your advantage. You could feed false information to Kit,” Kla suggested further. “Do it so that the next time his father comes to pay him a visit, he could be caught, finally. But not alone, of course. You also have to uncover his accomplice. If caught alone, we may never figure out if this mole is really after you and First or just someone who’s in for the profit.”

Kim nodded slowly at the thought, agreeing with the gist of what his brother told him. “That’s honestly not a bad idea,” he responded. “I’ll try to come up with something to tell him soon. I’ll have to think this through properly.”

“That’s true,” Kla agreed. “One wrong move, and Ayan will know that you know about his situation with Kit as well, and that might have some serious repercussions. You have to plan it out well—it has to be inconspicuous enough that Ayan wouldn’t catch wind of what was happening, but also relevant enough for Ayan to take the bait.”

Too deep in his thoughts, Kim didn’t realize that he was mumbling his agreements out loud.

Taking advantage of this, Kla applied his own advice to himself and stopped Kim in his tracks as the mafia leader absently made his way out of the office. “Since we are already on the topic…” His voice carried throughout the chamber. “I will take Kanya and go on a Europe trip within the next 2 days. That will give us some time alone.”

“Europe?” Kim raised his eyebrows. “All of a sudden?”

Kim frowned, and Kla explained as concisely as possible, “Then that would mean that she will be out of harm’s way—and that’s one less target for Ayan to put in harm’s way,” he nodded his head slowly. “Moreover, it will give us some time alone and free from the stresses that come along with… well, this job and family.”

“Alright.” Kim nodded, smiling at his brother for his sneaky tactics. “Have fun in Europe. I’ll make sure Kit only gets to know on the day of departure.”

“Sounds perfect.”

As Kim left his brother’s mansion, he knew he had done the right thing by confiding in Kla. After all, he had been the real heir to the syndicate before their father’s gruesome death scarred him for life.