Mark returned to Hawthorne a day after Kyuhyun became the head of his family, no worse for wear, and without drama. It was nice, in Mark’s opinion, to know that he could still do things and go places without getting into trouble, or having trouble upon him.

Going back to Hawthorne felt like going home in a sense, and it was a pleasing feeling to know that Hawthorne was so familiar to him now.

But most importantly, it meant that Mark could get back to his studies, and even better than that, back to Jackson.

“This bed is heaven,” Jackson declared, stretched across Mark’s bed almost obscenely.

Mark rolled to his side next to him, pressed a kiss to the corner of Jackson’s mouth, and said, “Don’t make me jealous of my own bed.” Then he rolled back, picked his book up and continued trying to cram in the last few chapters he needed for his literature class.

“Well, technically speaking, your bed is giving me way more love than you are at the moment.”

Mark was seconds away from responding when he felt Jackson’s hand at the small of his back. It was still for a moment, probably due to Jackson judging his response, then his fingers inched under Mark’s shirt and touched his bare skin.

“You could change that.”

Jackson chuckled, then heaved himself up and onto Mark. His knees settled on either side of Mark’s waist and he leaned down to mumble in Mark’s ear, “Are you sure your cousin isn’t going to burst in here and defend your ity?”

“He’d probably busy with Amber doing what you’re thinking of doing with me,” Mark hummed back, trying not to feel too thrilled as Jackson’s fingers worked deftly up the skin of his back, sliding down to his sides, and touching everywhere. “And if you ever want to touch me again, don’t tease me about my ity.” It was nothing to be ashamed of, god knew he’d had the talk with both his parents about his future life, but neither did he really want his boyfriend making jokes about it. At least when Mark wasn’t sure about Jackson’s own life. Being a wasn’t a big deal to Mark, considering he wasn’t even sixteen yet, but was it a big deal to Jackson? Mark didn’t know.

“Okay,” Jackson said, sounding sincere. “Whatever you want, babe.”

The book was important, Mark knew that at the back of his mind, but as he turned more strategically under Jackson, and leaned up to kiss him fully, it became almost inconsequential. He pushed his own fingers up under Jackson’s shirt, felt Jackson’s leg nudge between his and he simply let himself feel.

His parents had always said his hormones were going to do everything in their power to get the best of him, and that he needed to be mature in his decisions regarding the urges that would be overwhelming.

Mark thought they could have at least told him that when he has someone he cared about, like Jackson, and the urges were more than just overwhelming, that he wouldn’t give a damn about controlling them.

“Tell me,” Jackson’s voice rumbled pleasantly as the pads of his fingers smoothed out the skin on Mark’s hips, “if I do something you don’t like.” Then his lips were at Mark’s throat, and tongue and teeth and Mark mostly stopped thinking.

The problem was, Mark liked it all.

Half an hour later, feeling properly boneless and barely able to deal with the smug look Jackson was sending his way, Mark said, “I really have to finish reading these chapters.”

“Or,” Jackson said, wiggling his eyebrows. “I could give you another hickey.”

Was that what the ache at his neck was?

“Jackson!”

Jackson shrugged. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it when I was giving it to you.”

Mark rolled from the bed immediately and headed for the nearest mirror. And like he’d been dreading, there was a bright red mark set low on the left side of his neck, one that promised to be purple by the next morning. “Great,” he huffed out.

“It’s only a hickey,” Jackson said, coming up behind Mark and wrapping him up in strong arms.

Mark watched the picture they made in the mirror. They didn’t look like they went together as well as they did. They were like the moon and the sun, day and night. Jackson was all hype and excitement and Mark was far more settled and even tempered. In any other instance, Mark couldn’t see two people like them working. But oddly enough, they really did. They had plenty to talk about, a good deal of shared interests, and there was a strange, oddly alluring spark between them that only two people who were so opposite could actually share.

Jackson was exciting. When Mark finally determined what it was about him that he liked best, it was that. There was nothing safe or predictable about Jackson. He was exciting.

“And,” Jackson continued, bringing a finger up to brush over the mark. “I like the way it looks. It’ll tell everyone you’re mine.”

Mark gave Jackson a less than playful shove and said, “Maybe you could think about revisiting 2015 before you make a comment like that again?” It took a lot of Mark’s will power not to each up and touch the spot that he was too aware of now. “Plus, I’m more worried about the fact that in forty-eight hours I’m going to have a hundred pureblood vampires staring at me, and a lot of them are going to be my parent’s friends and business partners.”

He headed to the bed and picked up his book. He had a feeling, whether he and Jackson ended up making out again, his book was sort of a lost cause. He was too distracted by everything else to even begin to concentrate on the content.

“For that thing you have to do?” Jackson asked, throwing himself shamelessly back on Mark’s bed. “Your introduction?”

Mark frowned at him. “You didn’t have one, right?” Jackson was almost a full year older than him. Chances were, if he were going to have one, it would have already happened.

Jackson shook his head. “It’s not unheard of, but most vampires with mixed blood don’t. It’s a relic of the past to us. I went to JB’s, though. That was crazy, and more than enough to make me never want one.”

“Trust me,” Mark said, tossing his book to the nearby bedside table and climbing back on the bed with Jackson, “it’s the last thing I want to be doing right now.” He settled in easily to the bigger boy’s side and tried to get comfortable. Jackson had at least another hour before Mark had to let him go back to his room.

“Aren’t you like the head of your family now?” Jackson inquired.

“Technically I will be after this,” Mark said, his hand curling around Jackson’s bicep. “But I guess right now I am, too. It’ll just be completely official once I’ve had my introduction. Why?”

Jackson gave a dry laugh. “Because if you’re the head of your family, and you’re going to have all the power and control regardless of this introduction, why don’t you just do what you want?”

“Because,” Mark started, but wasn’t sure what kind of answer to give. The truth was that he was a little afraid of hurting his uncle if he bailed on the event. His uncle had spent the past week putting all of his time and energy into organizing it and he was more than a little excited. He was certainly more excited than Mark. But probably the real answer was more to the note that he wasn’t as strong and rebellious as Jackson was. Mark had always had a difficult time going against what people he cared about wanted. He was a people pleaser to a fault.

Jackson’s hands smoothed over the back of Mark’s hair. “I know. You don’t have to say anything. I know you wouldn’t just call it off. But you shouldn’t have to do something that’ll make you uncomfortable, just to make someone else happy. That’s the definition of bull.”

“It’s one night,” Mark reasoned. “And unlike you, I don’t mind putting other people first. You could take a page from my book.”

Jackson mocked, “Take a page from my book. Do you even listen to yourself?”

“Jackson,” Mark said, a smile fighting its way to his face. He pinched Jackson heavily. “Altruism isn’t such a horrible concept.”

“Ah!” Jackson dislodged Mark easily, flinching away with his hands over his face. “Swear to me that’s not one of our vocabulary words for the week! That’s grounds for breaking up if you’re trying to sneak them in!”

These were the moments with Jackson that Mark liked the best. When it was just the two of them, easily joking with each other, so comfortable with the touches they gave each other.

“It is,” Mark said, truthfully just to hear Jackson wail on a little bit more.

When things had calmed down a little bit more, Jackson asked him, “You’ll only be gone for a few nights, right?”

“Thursday through Saturday,” Mark said, his words feeling more like a promise. “The introduction is Friday, and I’ll come back on Saturday--maybe Sunday at the latest.” He was still feeling guilty that he was leaving his boyfriend behind to go dance with the boy he was supposed to marry, at an event that essentially proclaimed him old enough for that to happen.

Giving a strong nod, Jackson said, “Good. Because Midterms are just after that, and then we get a two week break, and I was thinking maybe you’d want to come with me to Santa Monica.”

“What’s there?”

Jackson gave him a devilish smile. “My parent’s beach house, the one that they’ve stayed in once since buying fifteen years ago. I was kind of hoping you’d want to come and stay with me. I could show you the Santa Monica pier and we could rise the Ferris wheel and go to the beach and I know this guy who runs these dirt bike races that we have to get in on before it’s completely freezing outside.”

The way Jackson had phrased the request gave Mark pause. “You want me to come stay with you. Not you and your parents?”

Jackson said slowly, “I said it that way for a reason.”

“Do you …” Mark steadied himself. “Do you end up going to Santa Monica by yourself a lot over breaks?”

Jackson ticked off, “During school breaks, summer vacation, Christmas vacation, you name it. My parents … they’re just not around a lot. You don’t have to worry about running into them in Santa Monica if you come with me.”

Christmas. Mark wanted to shake someone. Jackson’s parents didn’t even spend Christmas with him. Jackson was alone all the time, at least any time he wasn’t at school, and that had to be so utterly lonely. What kind of parents could do that to their only child? What kind of parents felt no remorse abandoning their child?

“You don’t have to,” Jackson said hastily, interpreting Mark’s silence for disagreement. “Or you could bring that cousin of yours, and his hot girlfriend. My cousin Kris is totally into girls like her. It’d be awesome to watch him fall over himself trying to impress her and simultaneously avoid Henry going crazy on him.”

Seriously, Mark said, “I would love to come with you.” He hadn’t even started to think about what he’d do for holidays and breaks. He supposed he’d end up going with Henry and his uncle, but that would get burdensome.

“I knew you would,” Jackson said smoothly, but his previous facial expression said anything but that. “Now all you have to do is survive that introduction of yours.”

Jackson’s words, unbeknownst to him, were poorly chosen. And Mark froze up right away.

He found himself asking Jackson, “Can I ask you something serious?”

“Wait.” Jackson held up a hand, massaged his jaw, then replied, “Okay, my serious face is ready. Hit me with it.”

“For real,” Mark said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

At the center of the bed Jackson sat up and crossed his legs under him. “Alright. For real.”

“What if,” Mark said, not sounding confident in the least bit, “someone you knew who had no reason to lie to you, and by who all accounts would be very loyal to your family because of an arranged marriage, told you something really bad and unbelievable?”

“What kind of bad?” Jackson asked.

Mark tried, “The kind of bad that could get someone you loved very much implicated in … an act of family betrayal, I guess you could call it. What if this person you trusted accused someone you love of hurting other people you loved? And betraying your family? Of being a traitor and all these horrible things that would forever change you.”

“This,” Jackson said slowly, “isn’t hypothetical?”

His throat tightening up, Mark requested, “Please, just tell me what you’d do.”

“I would … I don’t know.” Jackson looked a little lost. “But this person telling me this, he or she doesn’t have any reason to lie?”

Mark shook his head. “Nothing would be gained. And he would … he or she would have ended up being family eventually. And being loyal to you no matter what.”

“But this accusation would destroy someone I love? And maybe even me a little?”

Mark nodded this time. “Absolutely.”

Jackson leaned an elbow on one knee and braced his chin under his palm. He was silent for several minutes, some of which Mark wasn’t sure he breathed completely through. Then Jackson said, “I’d probably ignore the person doing the accusing. I’d deny it. I’d stick up for the person I loved. I’d do whatever it took to protect the person I loved and stop anyone from spreading lies.”

Mark sagged a little. “You would?”

Jackson held up a sharp finger. “At first.”

“Because,” Mark added, understanding all too quickly, “it’s the natural first response, when someone you love is being threatened. Then? After?”

A dark glint settled into Jackson’s eyes. “Then I would go hunting for the truth myself. I’d do anything to uncover it, even if it meant I had to be the one to end up hurting the person I loved. Because if there was even a chance that the love I had for this person, was based off of, or contaminated by a lie, I’d have to know. I would even hurt myself to find out.”

Mark lunged forward, catching an unsuspecting Jackson around the middle. He tackled the both of them back onto the bed and hugged him tightly.

“What’s wrong?” Jackson asked, a hand running up and down Mark’s back. “Who’s accusing someone you love? What’s the situation? You can tell me.”

He really couldn’t. But despite that, Jackson had given Mark something incredible. He’d give him courage, and the ability to consider for just once second that Kyuhyun might be telling the truth about his uncle.

If he wasn’t, if Kyuhyun was wrong and his uncle got hurt because of the accusations, Mark would destroy him. He’d make it his personal mission in life to bring Kyuhyun down.

But if he was right …

Jackson was absolutely correct. Not knowing wasn’t an option. The truth had to be exposed, whatever it was. Even if it meant his uncle was a murderer and responsible for killing his family. Even if it decimated the love and memories they had, and killed Mark’s relationship with Henry.

Mark was resolved to fight for the truth now. Especially before the vote.

“Thank you,” Mark told Jackson, kissing him deeply.

Jackson’s hands drifted dangerously close down Mark’s backside and Mark didn’t manage to catch his breath enough to speak again until Jackson’s phone was beeping at him as a reminder for curfew.

“That’s you,” Mark said, playfully nudging him. “Half an hour until curfew. And you know I’ve got plenty of eyes watching me right now, with my introduction so close. Plenty of people saw you come in my room. They’re going to know if you don’t go out on time.”

“Fine,” Jackson grunted out, shuffling across the room to where his school bag was resting near Mark’s laptop and books. “But we need to schedule some serious cuddle and makeout time. The kind without restrictions, or your creepy cousin lurking around keeping tabs on how much time I spend with you behind closed doors.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Firstly, don’t call Henry creepy, and be thankful he’s mostly settled into the idea that we’re more than very chaste friends. And secondly, there is nothing romantic about scheduling a makeout session. We are not doing that.”

“Then we need to--” Jackson broke off as he lifted his bag, bumping Mark’s laptop roughly and sending most of the things on Mark’s desk sprawling to the floor. “!” Jackson dropped down right away, reaching for the overturned books and papers.

“You are so clumsy,” Mark remarked, but it was light in tone. “It’s just some books. Don’t worry about it.”

“Sorry,” Jackson said again, giving Mark an apologetic look. “I think your laptop’s okay, though. It better be. That thing is worth more than everything I own put together.”

Mark gave the laptop a quick look over and reported, “It’s perfectly fine.” Even if it wasn’t, it was only a material possession. Things were mattering less and less to Mark, as opposed to people. “Leave the rest of it. I’m serious. After I walk you to the door I have to come back and at least outline the next paper I’m going to write before bed.”

“Alright,” Jackson said slowly, hefting his backpack up on one shoulder. But then he bent one last time and held up a flash drive the size of his thumb, remarking, “Almost missed this.”

Mark openly frowned at the device. It wasn’t the blue flash drive that he had most of his school work backed up on, and it wasn’t the decorative Iron Man USB that Henry had lent him with a ton of movies on.

“Is this mine?” Mark asked, taking the flash drive from Jackson. “It was on the desk with everything else?”

Jackson nodded. “You don’t recognize it?”

Truthfully, Mark didn’t. But so much had happened over the past few weeks, he’d lost track of many things. It was entirely possible he’d picked up extra storage space for his laptop, and didn’t recall it in the least bit.

“Plug it in and check,” Jackson said with a shrug, gesturing to Mark’s laptop. He reached to move a couple of things out of the way. “Because now I’m curious.”

Mark popped the cap off the flash drive and slotted it into his computer. “It’s probably just a bunch of school work. Or music. Henry gave me some movies to watch in my free time, but I remember Amber saying something about gifting me music that she likes to listen to while studying.”

Mark leaned closer to the laptop as a series of documents popped up on the screen, numbers blurring together in endless streams.

“That’s not music,” Jackson remarked.

He was right, but what was it?

Several names of the business his parents had had stakes in, or owned completely, appeared on the screen, and Mark exclaimed, “Oh, I know what this is now!” His eyes flickered over to Jackson. “After we were attacked, when you were still in the hospital, the council sent their official junior scribe to see me--to get my statement.” Lu Han. They’d sent Zhou Mi’s family member, and that encounter had ended poorly. “That’s when I got this. I’d forgotten about it until now.”

Mark felt even worse now when he thought about. Because Lu Han had been a real jerk about what he’d said to Mark, the words hadn’t exactly been unfounded. Especially now that Mark was starting to have conflicting feelings about Zhou Mi.

“That still doesn’t explain what all this is,” Jackson pointed out. “But holy , those are a lot of numbers.”

Mark moved the cursor along the laptop’s touch pad, dragging away several business documents to bring up a financial report.

“It’s the previous year’s account ledger for my parent’s investments,” Mark said, and he was confident that was what he was looking at.

“That’s a lot of money moving around,” Jackson whistled out.

“Yeah,” Mark agreed, scrolling down the spreadsheet. He wasn’t sure about the details of the information, but there were hundreds and hundreds of transactions documented. “I guess I never realized it, or paid much attention to it, but my parents worked full time. My dad managed the finances, my mom managed all the properties they owned, and they still made time to be active on the council. It’s amazing now that I think about it.”

“Is that …” Jackson broke off, a finger shooting out to the screen. “Is that how much your family is worth?” There was awe and surprise on his face.

Mark followed his finger. “Ah … no. I don’t think that’s my family’s worth.”

“Because that would be insane if you were worth that much.”

Suddenly Mark was very uncomfortable with the conversation at hand. “Jackson, I’m pretty sure that’s just the net worth and tallied profit for the previous year. There are records going back twenty years, and each one is broken into a twelve month period.”

Jackson took a step back and sat heavy on the edge of Mark’s bed. “I knew you were worth money, but that is … Mark.”

Mark slid into the seat in front of his laptop and looked closer at the numbers. “My parents were incredibly business savvy. They worked all the time, and they invested wisely. They knew that real money was in owning property and businesses tied to that, so it’s what they did. I don’t know anything about this. I’d ruin all my parent’s hard work straight into the ground if I tried.”

“I know most pureblood vampire families are wealthy,” Jackson said, lying back on the bed with a deep sigh, “but you’re breaking the mold here, Mark.”

It was kind of scary to see the numbers, especially when he started going back years and years. It wasn’t a recent development. All the money that his parents had--all the money that Mark now had, was build continuously.

What the hell was he supposed to do with all that money? How was he going to handle it? What about the businesses that his parents had been responsible for? Mark didn’t know how to manage large sums of money, or liquidate certain assets for reconsolidation, and he was completely ignorant about the stock market and investment banking.

“I’ve got to get a financial advisor,” Mark eased out. Because all the money, the endless stream of numbers that represented all the wealth his family had all over the globe, would be his responsibility once he was introduced. “I have to get someone who knows how to handle all this, and won’t screw me over.”

Mark didn’t care so much about the money. Not really. He had all that he wanted already. But he also wasn’t willing to let all his parent’s hard work be squandered.

Jackson sat up suddenly. “I just had a thought.”

“About what?” Mark asked, turning away from the computer.

Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Jackson said in a whimsical voice, “I just realized that considering how much you’re worth, and how you could probably buy a large island if you wanted, you’re kind of my sugar daddy.”

Mark gave him a flat look. “I need you to not think right now.”

Mark and Jackson had been out on a few, tentative dates since their first failed one. And each time Jackson had paid for everything. Mark had let him, because it was something that mattered to Jackson and not to Mark. But Jackson had known the whole time that Mark had some money, even if he hadn’t know exactly how much. And he still hadn’t let Mark pay for anything.

Launching himself up and off the bed, Jackson pattered over to Mark’s side, kissed the top of his head and said, “I want you to know that I am fully prepared to trade ual favors for spending money. Baby wants a pink corvette, daddy.”

“Go,” Mark commanded, pushing at Jackson. He got up himself and walked Jackson over to the front door to his rooms. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

Jackson snuck a second kiss, this one to Mark’s lips, and flashed him a thumbs up. “See you later. Now, let me go navigate your scary watchdogs who will probably growl at me and be super mean.”

Jackson disappeared through the door and Mark leaned on it for a half second, watching him head off past nameless guards who were stationed in the hallway outside.

There was no growling, but there were dirty looks. Mark would have to do something about that.

After Jackson left Mark headed back to his laptop, heavily intrigued by the documents that had been stored on the flash drive.

A half hour later he was starting to feel tired, and sunrise was only an hour or so away. But he was wading his way through the backlog of information he should have already spent plenty of time reviewing, and he couldn’t find a good place to stop.

He was almost ten years into the history of his parent’s public finances when he caught the first thing that looked like an irregularity.

For the most part all of his parent’s business transactions were in the six figure range. Occasionally there was a purchase or a sell for several million dollars more, but it was apparent to Mark that his parent had made money by the sheer size and number of their investments, and not in any one or two large business endeavors.

There were also logs of loans and repayments between the council families. Several times a year it seemed Mark’s parents had given a considerable sum of money to one of the other families, and then seen it repaid in interest. There were certainly some families that received these transactions more often than others, but almost all of them were accounted for except for the thirteenth.

Mark had to double check twice before he was confident in seeing that there wasn’t a single transaction between the fourth and thirteenth families. Zhou Mi’s family. At least until nearly a decade ago. And even then, it seemed to be a one time deal.

The shock came at the number attached to the transaction information from almost ten years previous.

The number didn’t make any sense.

And Mark had to know what it meant.

He slept fitfully after that, money and numbers on his mind, and rose early, just after the sun went down, hoping to catch Henry before he went off to the first meal of the day. Henry had a habit of slipping out to see Amber before Mark was even ready to leave his dorm room, but Mark needed answers, and he was determined.

Flash drive in hand, Mark stepped out of his dorm room with a yawn, giving a polite nod to the vampires on watch. His eyes strayed to Kyuhyun’s door just down the hall. Kyuhyun hadn’t come back to school with Mark and the rest of them. Mark wasn’t even sure if Kyuhyun would ever come back. He’d only been bidding his time anyway, until he became the head of his family, and Henry said that he was taking filler classes more than anything else, having already established enough credits for his degree.

It would probably work out that Kyuhyun would be like Siwon, not returning to school in any major capacity, if at all. And that saddened Mark. Kyuhyun, no matter how tense their relationship at the moment, had always been a friend and ally. Losing him, or at least a close proximity to him, was a heavy blow.

“Going out for the first meal?” the vampire nearest Mark asked, a head taller, maybe twice as wide, and a serious expression on his face. It was taking some getting used to, having visible shadows. In the past the men his uncle had assigned to him had stayed out of view. Now they were everywhere.

Min had told Mark that they were making some of the other students nervous. Mark couldn’t blame them.

“Just going to see my cousin,” Mark replied back. “You don’t need to follow. And yes, I’ll be back soon.”

They’d follow him anyway, at least six of them never more than a dozen feet away, but Mark decided they all needed time to learn boundaries. A work in progress was a work in progress.

Mark took the stairs down to Henry’s floor, and made his way through the quiet halls quickly. He passed one other vampire, a boy he didn’t know by name, and gave Zhou Mi’s door a hard look, before arriving in front of Henry’s room and knocking sharply.

“I’m always happy to see you,” Henry said after answering the door and inviting him inside. “But cousin, you being awake and dressed at this time of night is probably one of the signs of the coming apocalypse. Are you bringing word of said end of times?”

Mark gave Henry a dark look. “You should be aware, I’m still half asleep. And right now, my brain can’t process your sarcastic wit. You should stop while you’re ahead.”

Henry laughed and asked, “What brings you down to my lowly room?”

From his pocket, Mark pulled out the flash drive and held it up. “I want you to take a look at something. I need to ask you a few questions.”

It only took a minute or two for the flash drive to be connected to Henry’s nearby laptop, and the same spreadsheets and legal documents to come up.

Henry was quiet for a while as he looked everything over, and then said decisively, “These are your parents records--the ones that the council has access to. Mark, it’s nice to see you taking an interest in your future endeavors. But I’m not sure what you want me to look at.”

Future endeavors. Mark really hoped his future wouldn’t entail having to speak to a board of directors, or manage a portfolio, or anything equally as dry.

“I was browsing the financial records,” Mark said, leaning over Henry’s shoulder. His cousin was seated at his desk and made it easy for Mark to squeeze in with him. “I mean, I barely know what half these things are, but I was looking at the steady ebb and flow. It’s all pretty steady, even going back years.”

Henry nodded. “My father worked pretty closely with your mother on the financial end--even your dad. It’s likely the only subject those two every got along over.”

Mark continued, “See, half a million here, two million there, and so on and so forth. Every transaction is between roughly half a million and three or four. Hardly ever less than that, and rarely more. Even the money shifting between families is steady--there’s a pattern of sorts really.”

“So what’s got you all twisted up? I can see it on your face.”

“Here.” Mark moved the spreadsheet information back significantly. “This is the record for nine, almost ten years ago. Again, it’s normal for a little. But this. Look at this. There’s this one transaction. It has to be a misprint, right? It can’t be real.”

Henry slumped a little. “I-I don’t know, Mark. I never helped my father with this sort of thing. Secretly, I think he thought it was too stupid to help out. I’ve never shown an aptitude for numbers.”

“Then I’ll take your honest opinion,” Mark said, feeling stress mount. “I want to know what you could possibly make of my parents transferring one hundred million dollars to the thirteenth family. Obviously there’s no context to the information presented here, and there’s no record of the sum ever being paid back. So I’m at a loss. Why would my parents give the thirteenth family such a huge amount of money--one hundred million dollars--out of the kindness of their hearts?”

Henry pushed away suddenly from the computer, turning way from Mark. “I really don’t know, Mark. But hey, if it’s something that really interests you, you might want to ask my father the next time you see him. He’ll know for sure.”

There was an odd thinness to Henry’s voice. Mark didn’t like it one bit.

“Henry?”

“You want to walk to the cafeteria with me? We haven’t eaten together in a while.”

Mark straightened up. “Henry.”

“What would it even matter?” Henry asked, puttering around the room. “Your parents always knew what they were doing with their money. Trust in that.”

“One hundred million dollars,” Mark ground out. “That is an asinine amount of money. I want to know why it went to the thirteenth family and why.”

“Then ask my father,” Henry said, finally rounding back on Mark. “Don’t ask me.”

The realization slammed into Mark. “You know.”

“I don’t,” Henry denied right away.

They held an intense staring match for quite a few seconds before Mark reminded, “You withheld important information from me before. You didn’t tell me something that ended up hurting me. I forgave you, but it’s a sting I’m going to carry with me for a very long time. Do you want a repeat of that?”

Henry’s lips pulled tightly together and he looked to absolutely be holding his ground. But then he said quickly, “I’m not supposed to say anything. You’re still technically not an adult.”

“I knew you knew,” Mark stated. Henry always knew more than he let on. “Tell me.”

“I swore I wouldn’t,” Henry said quietly.

“I don’t care what you promised your father.”

“Not my father,” Henry said shaking his head slowly. “I promised Zhou Mi. He has rarely asked anything of me. So I want you to know that if I say anything to you, I’m betraying him in a way.”

“I don’t want to hurt Zhou Mi,” Mark said back right away.

Henry continued for him, “But you suspect it has to do with you. The money.”

Mark had. Almost from the start. He’d just be scared to acknowledge the fear.

“It does,” Henry admitted. “Come on, Mark. You know what the date of this transfer matches up to.”

Mark’s mouth, feeling dry and course, barely managed to get out, “The transaction is about a week from when Zhou Mi and I were formally matched by our respective families. I’ve looked up the date of that. And it corresponds almost perfectly.” Mark palmed his hand over his eyes and said regretfully. “The one hundred million dollars is my parent’s selling price.”

Henry edged his way back to Mark and interjected, “Actually, that’s the bride price that Zhou Mi came with.”

Mark’s gaze jerked to him. “Bride price?”

Waving his hand dismissively, Henry clarified, “It’s just called that, regardless of the gender of the person at hand. And to be specific, it’s the price your parents paid to Zhou Mi’s family so that they could secure the match. It’s what the thirteenth family decided Zhou Mi was worth.”

It was a lot of money, but any kind of money, in Mark’s opinion, was unfair to equate to a life.

“So,” Mark said slowly, “the fourth family gave the thirteenth family a hundred million dollars in return for their son for me. That’s what this is?”

Henry tried to give him a comforting look. “It’s not unheard of, Mark. The council highly discourages dowries and anything of the sort, but usually something passes between families when children are matched. You parents surely got something out of Grace’s match with Kyuhyun. It’s just the way things are done.”

Saddened at the entire thing, Mark asked, “What about the fourth family? If the thirteen got such a huge amount of money, what did the fourth get?” In technical terms, at least in the general scheme of things, Mark was surely valued higher than Zhuo Mi. He would have been even without rising to the position of heir, and then head of his family. Mark added, “Furthermore, what kind of a ridiculous price is a hundred million dollars? Who could need or want that much money.”

Henry gave a sour expression. “It’s not something that’s really talked about, even though everyone knows, but the head of the thirteenth family … he’s got a problem of sorts.”

“A problem?”

“A money problem,” Henry said flatly. “He blows through it like he’s got an endless amount, or as if it were something he’s currently replenishing. He’s not. Mark, don’t get caught gossiping about this with someone who’ll rat you out, but when I say he’s got a money problem, I mean he’s got a gambling problem. He’s run the thirteenth family into the ground. They’re near broke completely. All of them. It’s why they treat their kids like they do. They treat their children like cash cows.”

Kyuhyun had said that of all the families, the thirteenth was the worst in valuing their members--that Zhou Mi was essentially chattel. This had to be what he’d meant.

“Is that why the thirteenth wanted so much money?”

“Maybe they thought Zhou Mi was worth it, or whatever else they got out of it.”

That, Mark couldn’t deny.

“Anyway,” Henry added. “That money is all gone now. You wouldn’t think you’d be able to spend a hundred million dollars in nine years, but it was gone within two. That’s the sad part, I guess. Zhou Mi got sold like livestock to our family, and his family didn’t even really benefit from it for long.”

Mark’s eyes fell and he tried to imagine what it was like. He’d been so valued and so loved by his family. But it seemed Zhou Mi hadn’t.

What was it like to have one’s entire worth placed on an arranged marriage?

And what did that make Mark for reneging on it?

“I’m not sure what our family got out of your match,” Henry cut in, interrupting Mark’s thoughts. “But it had to be something good. It had to be something equivalent to a hundred million dollars.”

Mark reached over and pulled the flash drive from the computer, closing down all the documents and spreadsheets. “Don’t worry. I won’t ask him about this. I won’t pry.”

“Thanks,” Henry huffed out. “I think this whole matter hurts Zhou Mi’s feelings. He has got them, you know.”

“I know,” Mark said grumpily. He knew all too well now.

“So are you satisfied?” Henry asked. “Do you have your answers?”

“Some.”

“Then do you want breakfast?”

Mark put the flash drive in his pocket. “I don’t have much of an appetite right now, honestly.” He would rather climb back in to bed and lay around, missing the first meal completely. Meal time meant getting to sit with Jackson and his friends, but foregoing it meant extra nap time. For Mark, who was constantly stressed and worried now, sleep was invaluable.

“Henry,” Mark said as he headed towards the front door. “I’ve got to start learning about how my parents managed all this money, and how they made it for that matter. Do you think uncle will teach me? I know he’s very busy, but we’re running out of time.”

Henry looked optimistic. “He likes you better than he likes me. If you ask, there’s a good chance. Hell, he likes his illegitimate children more than he likes me.”

“Henry!” Mark felt himself go light headed. “We don’t speak …we can’t …”

Henry looked absolutely livid as he spat back, “Yes, I’m very much aware of that Mark, thank you.”

Every family had a dark secret. That was something Mark heard countless times. Every family had at least one. And his own had more than one. Two, actually.

Henry’s very illegitimate half brother and sister were quite the contentious topic among family members, and also the most protected secret Mark could think of. Mark had never seen them, knew only that they lived in Canada, and past knowing their names, had no information on them.

But the feelings associated with the dark secret were only bad ones. And their existence, more importantly their ages, would wreck the fourth family given the opportunity. Even Mark knew, without being told, that the fact that they existed, had to be suppressed like the dirtiest of secrets. There was no other option.

“I should go,” Mark said, ducking his head down low. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Ask my father,” Henry called after him. “He will help you with this, Mark. He doesn’t do the best job in the world showing that he cares, but he does love you.”

“Henry,” Mark replied back to him firmly. “He loves you too.”

Henry made a soft, nondescript sound.

Mark reached for the door handle and admitted honestly, “I don’t like the idea of having all this money as my responsibility. I don’t even like money all that much to begin with. It’s nice enough, I suppose, but I don’t really care about it. But knowing exactly how much money this family deals in, is kind of suffocating. Maybe it’ll suffocate me to death.”

Henry offered, “I’d like you to keep breathing, if at all possible, cousin. I do love you. But hey, if it did happen, at least you know the money would be in good hands with this family. We can handle our finances.”

That struck Mark, and made him ask. “If I die, who does all this money go to? Who gets control of it all?”

There was a contemplative look on Henry’s face before he said simply, “It’s my father. Now that I think about it, it’s him.”