Page 65 of Idol Lives
“Your parents’ house, sir.”
Seong Hyeon and Jason left right away, stopping only to leave Carlos and the driver behind to replace Naomi’swatchers at her door with strict instructions to forbid entry to anyone except verified hospital staff. They used the parking ramp exit, avoiding the paparazzi entirely, and were soon speeding up Beverly toward Santa Monica Blvd.
“What was she doing at my parents’ house?” Jason wondered aloud as they turned onto Rodeo and drove towards Sunset.
“Only Ms. Bell can answer that, sir.” Seong Hyeon grimly admitted. “Her team couldn’t go inside with her.”
Jason snorted. “How did she even get inside?”
“I assume Ms. Bell could talk her way into just about anywhere,” Seong Hyeon replied, his tone carefully neutral. “She’s resourceful.”
Jason nodded. That was definitely true. Naomi could charm her way past any security detail, a skill she’d honed over years of dealing with difficult clients and demanding personalities. Plus, he knew Naomi had a key to his house, which she’d used once to corner him while tanning on his sundeck. Hell, she probably had a key to the mansion, too.
The traffic thinned as they wound their way up Sunset to Stone Canyon. Jason’s mind raced as he pieced together the fragments of information he had about David. Cutthroat and ambitious, according to Seong Woo, but that wasn’t surprising for a corporate lawyer. Then there was the missing addenda, the barely hidden tension in their meetings, and David’s subtle smirk after Jason received the bad news about Tae Hyun. But the latest piece was the most troubling. David had been running his company before Naomi took over. And, with Naomi temporarily out of the picture, he was running it again. The only good thing to come from all that shit was that Jason had finally started thinking of Brightstar as his company–for better or worse.
They eventually pulled up to the gate at his parent’s house. Well, his house. It was all his, he reminded himself. After questioning the guards at the gate, who confirmed that Naomi had been there the night before, Seong Hyeon took them up the main drive and parked near the front door. The gate security had alerted the house security that he was coming, so a uniformed guard was waiting for Jason to reach the front door. It was a far cry from the elaborate production he always endured whenever he visited his parents, but Jason preferred the stripped-down, no-nonsense version anyway.
Jason quickly cornered the security guard, a young, slender Latino man with a wispy mustache above his full lips who was practically swallowed by his uniform. He glanced at the guard’s name tag. “Oscar. Naomi Bell was here recently?”
“Yes, Mr. Park.”
The sweat blooming on Oscar’s brow didn’t give Jason much confidence. “Where did she go?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Park.” Oscar frowned. “She had a key and entered the building without an escort.”
“What about the cameras?” Seong Hyeon forcefully cut in, startling Oscar.
Oscar paled. “The interior cameras are inactive.”
Jason huffed, wondering who else might’ve talked their way into his house. He leaned in close enough to feel Oscar’s rapid breath on his face. “Fine. From this point on, no one comes into this house without me. Understood?”
“Sir, uh,” Oscar frowned, clearly not expecting an aggressive grilling from his boss. “What about Mr. Soh?”
“What?” Jason angrily huffed. “Was he here, too?”
Oscar glumly nodded. “Yes, sir. Just this morning.”
“Not even Soh,” Jason growled. “No one. Not a fuckingsoul.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jason left Oscar to consider if he really wanted a job at the Park mansion while he led Seong Hyeon through the foyer, his footsteps echoing in the cavernous silence. David must have followed Naomi’s trail, retracing her steps. Of course, the lawyer wouldn’t have known where to look. But Jason had an idea where Naomi might’ve gone. She’d been looking into contract issues, after all. If she couldn’t find the copies of what she needed in the Brightstar archives, maybe his father had copies at home? After all, he was detailed to a fault. Hopefully, David hadn’t already disposed of whatever Naomi had discovered.
“Your father’s office, sir?” Seong Hyeon guessed as they approached the door.
“I can’t think of any other reason for her to be here,” Jason replied.
Jason tried the knob, half expecting it to be locked. But the door swung open, the hinges protesting with a faint creak that echoed through the silent house. He flipped the light switch, illuminating a space that looked exactly as he’d left it on the day of the funeral reception. And he had no idea where to start looking. He glanced at Seong Hyeon.
“Any ideas?”
Seong Hyeon nodded toward the imposing bank of wooden cabinets lining the back of the office. “Perhaps your father’s files?”
Jason groaned as he surveyed the room, his frustration mounting. “I don’t even know what we’re looking for.”
Seong Hyeon fell silent for a moment, frowning. “Perhaps we’re approaching this from the wrong angle, sir. We bothassumed this was where she would visit. And she made no attempt to hide her visit to this house, not even from Mr. Soh. Only what she did while she was here.”
Jason nodded, realization dawning. “Of course! She had to have known he’d follow her trail.” He snorted, shaking his head. “She wasn’t looking for something. She wants me to find something.”
