Author’s Note: I don’t own anything.

When your lover is a powerful man, you're always a target.

Dara sighed wearily as the reflective copper doors of the elevator slid closed in front of her with a faint thunk. Consciously relaxing her shoulders, she balanced the stack of files in her arms against her hip, and carefully curled her hand around the side to shift them securely to one arm. Once she was certain they weren't about to go scattering to the floor if she put her other hand to better use, she felt safe enough to bring it up to rub her aching temples.

On top of the already ridiculous hours she was putting in for quarter-end, today they'd figured out that a few of the brilliant minds in the research division had been consistently filing incorrect budget reports for almost eight months. Starting off her day with that meeting had been bad enough, but her already strained temper had very nearly bubbled over more than once at the endless excuses and accusations flying between the department heads. Holding it in when her biggest desire was to smack all their heads together and call it a day had left her completely drained and less than pleasant.

In the end, it had been easier to throw them all out and reassign cleaning up that mess to the already overworked finance division. Which, unfortunately, involved having to remind the all-too-smug chief financial officer that giving the researchers the responsibility of tracking their own records hadn't been her decision in the first place. But when that hadn't worked, reminding Seungri that he would be the one who took the news of that incompetence to his pregnant wife, and watching the blood drain from his face in realization had done a fair job of making up for the added headache.

Whatever good the small victory had done vanished the second she stepped back into her office and just barely missed taking a folder to the face from a ranting Bom.

Patience gone, she'd been forced to bodily push the slight girl and carry her out of her office before she'd been able to get anything else done.

What made matters worse, the sandals she snuck in to change out with her heels had "mysteriously" vanished from her bottom drawer. And while she was sure that someone had won money off seeing her successfully carry Bom without breaking her neck or the damn heels, it hadn't made her feet any happier.

A flicker of light snapped Dara's attention back to the present just in time for the elevator to make an ominous whirring sound and grind to a halt.

"You have to be kidding me," Dara muttered in disgust, automatically trying random buttons for a response. Glaring at the lights when they continued to dim to nearly nothing, she gave up on the buttons and crouched down as best she could manage in a pencil-skirt. Breathing deeply through her nose, she set the files safely on the floor, pointedly resisting the urge to smack the whole thing against the wall in a mild fit. It might make her feel better for a moment, but she knew well enough that having to sort everything in those stacks all over again would be more irritation than it was worth.

To make up for it, she settled for spitting out a few curses generally reserved for situations far, far removed from the office.

When she had finished, Dara took a deep breath to compose herself, and reached for the hatch to the security phone when a shock of cold metal against the side of her neck froze her in place.

"Let's not try that, hm?"

Dara slowly let her hand lower to rest on her thigh, gritting her teeth as she looked skyward in a silent prayer for patience. Only to blink and quirk her head in incredulity when she caught sight of a perfectly square patch of darker gloom in the corner of the ceiling. "You came in through the top of the elevator?"

A quiet chuckle sounded behind her just before a strong hand fisted in the ponytail and pulled her head back. "You're a smart girl. You can hardly expect an assassin to walk in the front door, can you?"

Dara cast a dry look over her shoulder, the corner of her lip twitching upward. "An assassin?"

The metal pressed more firmly against her neck. "You hand over your company secrets and I won't have to deliver you to your husband in pieces."

"Fiancé."

The hand in her hair tugged as the distinct sound of a throat clearing reached her senses.

"Husband," Dara corrected obediently.

"That's better."

Sighing, Dara shifted her weight and frowned in annoyance at the twinge that s across the arch of her foot. "I don't suppose a mighty, elevator-scaling assassin would happen to know where my sandals walked themselves off to, would he?"

There was a faint huff behind her. "Shouldn't you be more interested in negotiating with me for your safe release? I'm a very dangerous man."

"Camera."

"Electrical tape."

Blinking, Dara twisted a disbelieving look behind her. "Electrical tape?"

"I'm a very thorough assassin."

Dara blinked again before lifting one hand to cover her eyes. "I can't even look at you right now."

A leanly muscled arm wrapped around her waist as the assassin knelt behind her, dragging her off-balance until she lost her balance and fell against him. "That isn't very nice, sweetheart, I put a lot of thought into this."

"An assassin?" Dara got her feet underneath her to lean back into his chest more comfortably. When her "attacker" pressed an affectionate kiss behind her ear, she tilted her head into his touch. "Jiyong, you idiot, what were you thinking climbing around on top of an elevator? And how did you talk TOP into letting you do that?"

Jiyong shrugged, smiling against her neck. "I gave him the evening off."

"He really should know better by now," Dara observed absently.

"He's bitter because he had his money on Bom," Jiyong defended. Gently setting his sword aside, he brought his hands down to her waist and lifted her into a better position on his lap. "I changed after he left."

"Because seeing you in your special pants and boots would have tipped him off." Dara made a tsking sound and traced a finger along the familiar butter-soft leather hugging the lean definition of his thigh.

"I thought the mask might be overkill," Jiyong admitted.

She arched an eyebrow at the disappointment coloring his tone. "Saving that for home?"

"I was planning to kidnap you back up to the president's office and leave a warning to ensure his cooperation." He tapped her hip with the hilt of the sword and nipped her shoulder.

"Let me guess."

"I hear your president is a very visual man."

Dara shook her head, reaching up to slide her fingers through Jiyong's hair, and not entirely surprised to feel it tied much higher than usual. "He's a dangerous one too, you know. I have that on good authority."

"That's why it's very important I send the message loud and clear." Jiyong gave her a squeeze before sliding his hand caressingly down her thigh. "My people said to be specific."

"Your people?" Dara just barely managed to hold in a la