The press conference was supposed to be a victory lap.
Instead it felt like walking into a firing squad.
Kang-woo stood on the stage beside Ji-woon in front of fifty flashing cameras, suit still carrying the faint smell of gunpowder and river air from the car attack. The claiming bite under his collar burned every time he breathed. Ji-woon's hand rested low on his back—public, possessive, no longer pretending. The merger was saved. The Japanese investors had signed. Headlines were already flipping from "Kwon Crisis" to "Omega Hero Saves Deal."
Min-jae was nowhere to be seen.
Until the side door at the back of the room burst open.
He stormed in flanked by two of his own loyal security guys, eyes wild, shirt half-unbuttoned like he'd been running since he cleared out his office. A thick envelope slapped onto the podium before anyone could stop him.
"Enough of the fairy tale," Min-jae snarled into the nearest microphone. "My brother's precious Omega isn't who you think he is. Han Seung-ho died in that river. This thing wearing his face is a street thug named Choi Kang-woo. A Beta debt collector. A nobody who used to break knees for loan sharks."
The room exploded.
Cameras flashed like gunfire. Reporters shouted questions. Ji-woon's hand tightened on Kang-woo's waist hard enough to bruise.
Kang-woo felt the floor tilt. He knows. The rat finally bit.
Min-jae kept going, voice cracking with triumph. "I have proof. Hospital records. DNA. The real Seung-ho jumped because he couldn't stand being married to a cold bastard like you, hyung. This imposter has been playing house while selling us out to the same low-life crew that tried to kill me yesterday."
Security moved in, but Min-jae pulled a gun from his jacket—small, black, the kind you could hide in a film director's prop bag. He pointed it straight at Kang-woo.
"Admit it," he hissed. "Or I paint the stage with your pretty new brains."
Time slowed.
Kang-woo's street instincts took the wheel. He shoved Ji-woon hard—sending the Alpha stumbling behind the podium—then lunged forward in the same motion. The soft Omega body didn't have the muscle, but it had speed and zero shame. He grabbed Min-jae's wrist with both hands, twisted the same way he used to disarm knife-wielding debtors, and drove his knee up between the bastard's legs for the second time in a week.
The gun went off. The shot punched into the ceiling.
Min-jae screamed and folded.
Kang-woo ripped the gun away, slammed an elbow into his temple, and pinned him face-down on the stage with a knee in his spine. The whole thing took less than four seconds. Cameras caught every brutal, elegant second.
"Stay down, you piece of shit," Kang-woo growled, voice still soft and pretty but the words pure gutter. "I've broken bigger rats than you for pocket change."
Security finally swarmed. Ji-woon was already there, hauling Kang-woo up and shoving him behind his own body like a shield made of pure Alpha rage. His eyes were black fire.
Min-jae laughed through bloody teeth as they cuffed him. "You think this saves you? Moon Ho-cheol knows everything now. Your old boss is coming for his dog. And when he tells the world who you really are—"
Ji-woon's fist cracked across his jaw. Hard. The sound echoed like a gunshot.
"Get him out of my building," he ordered, voice ice. "And leak every file we have on him. Now."
The stage cleared in seconds. Reporters were screaming questions. Ji-woon ignored them all, turning and pulling Kang-woo off the stage and into the private green room like the building was on fire.
The door slammed. Locked.
Ji-woon shoved him against the wall, hands framing his face, breathing hard. "You protected me. Again. In front of the whole country."
Kang-woo's chest heaved. The bite on his neck throbbed in time with his pulse. "Told you. Didn't do it for the company."
Ji-woon's mouth crashed down on his—raw, desperate, no more cold control. Teeth and tongue and the full weight of an Alpha who had just watched his entire world try to kill them both. When he pulled back, his eyes were wild.
"I don't care who you were," he said, voice rough. "Choi Kang-woo. Han Seung-ho. Whoever the fuck you are now. You're mine. And I'm keeping you."
Kang-woo's knees almost gave out. The terror and the want slammed together so hard he couldn't speak.
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
Unknown number.
He answered with shaking fingers.
Moon Ho-cheol's voice came through, calm and amused and deadly. "Mad Dog. Nice show on TV. Ten million by midnight. Or I tell the world exactly who their new national hero really is. And this time I won't send a bike. I'll send the whole crew."
The line went dead.
Kang-woo stared at the phone, then up at Ji-woon.
The golden cage had just been blown wide open.
And the wolves from his old life were already inside.