Chapter 45
Dae
I will rip your heart out of your chest.
It’s been three weeks since she made good on her promise.
Twenty-one days since she walked out of my house without a backward glance. Taking my entire heart with her.
“You’re looking thin,” Taehyun says from the screen on my office wall. Concern laces his tone, but I can’t muster enough energy to care.
“We’ve got good news on the Park front,” Jersey says as she enters my office.
“I’ve been waiting to tell him until you arrived,” Taehyun tells his sister.
I feel both of their gazes land on me. Slowly, I lift my head. “What is it?” My voice is brittle and low. It’s sounded that way for the past three weeks.
“As of yesterday, nine a.m. Seoul time, Park declared bankruptcy,” Taehyun answers.
I hear the smile in his voice but my eyes drop back to the floor.
“The son of a bitch is ruined along with the company his father-in-law stole from our father,” Jersey adds.
“And the Global Group is poised to swoop in and buy the company at a super discounted price,” Taehyun replies.
“The fall of Blackmon and his company also exposed Park’s weak financial spots and his bribery. The prosecutor is already investigating. People are coming out against past bribery and other backhanded tactics of Soon Kim.”
I nod, understanding all they’re saying. We’ve accomplished what we set out to do. My father’s legacy will be ruined along with Daniel Park, the son of a bitch.
“But that fucker is still nowhere to be found,” I gripe, not looking at Taehyun or Jersey. Both Blackmon and Park have been missing for weeks.
I haven’t given up looking for Blackmon because of what he tried to do to Kennedy.
Kennedy.
Pain lances across my heart.
Despite accomplishing what we set out to do years ago, there isn’t an ounce of joy.
“I’ll be in Williamsport in a couple of weeks so that we can celebrate. Then you’ll have to come to Seoul for some in-person meetings,” Taehyun tells me.
“Jersey can do it.” I turn my back on them. I head to my desk and fall into the leather chair, rubbing my forehead. I’ve had a persistent headache for three weeks.
It’s more like a total body ache. The most severe pain exists in my chest. The empty spot where my heart used to reside.
“Jersey?” Taehyun asks.
“I can’t—” She stops when I hold up my hand.
“We’ll sort out the details of your trip later.” They try to talk me out of it, but I essentially tell them to fuck off. I’m not getting on a plane to go any fucking where.
Not as long as she’s here.
I’ve given her space and plan to give her as much space and time as it takes to forgive me.
I barely notice when Jersey exits the room.
“Dae, we still have a problem,” Taehyun says as soon as the door closes behind her. “The money laundering that my father used to start the business.” His voice is lowered, presumably so Jersey doesn’t overhear.
She doesn’t know the information we’ve found out in recent weeks.
Blackmon held this over my uncle’s head for years. This club—my uncle’s entire business—started using money that Blackmon laundered and earned from illegal means.
“It might not come out, and Blackmon is still missing, but this may still come back to bite us,” Taehyun says, explaining something I’ve already concluded.
“So what?” At this point, I don’t care. The Global Group can drop us if the truth gets exposed. I could lose the club, but none of it would matter because the one thing that matters is gone.
Is it selfish, considering Jersey and Taehyun’s names are also on the line? Yes.
Do I have the energy to care about that right now?
Not even a little bit.
“I have to go,” I tell my cousin before disconnecting the call.
I plant my elbows on my desk and rub at my forehead. Nothing relieves the pounding in my head, though. Or the ache in my chest.
The phone on my desk rings.
“What?” I snap at my assistant.
“There’s someone here to see you. She says it’s urgent,” she quickly answers.
For a split second, hope wells in my chest.
She.
But the hope quickly burns out. I know it’s not Kennedy. Everyone on my staff has standing orders to let her in, no questions asked.
I tell my assistant to send whoever it is away when I hear a voice.
“Tell him it’s about our father, please,” I hear a woman’s voice say.
I pause, knowing that voice.
Our father.
“Send her in.”
A beat later, my door opens, but I don’t rise from my seat. Not only do I not have the energy, but she doesn’t fucking deserve it.
For the first time since that night at the charity ball, I’m face-to-face with MiSoo Kim, my half-sister. The princess of the Kim family.
“What do you want?” I snarl.
She visibly flinches.
She’s dressed in navy blue slacks and a cream silk blouse, her head bowed.
“I-I didn’t come to cause trouble,” she says.
This is the first time she and I have ever exchanged words. She takes a tentative step forward, slowly lifting her head. She looks at me, but her eyes don’t meet mine.
“I never knew about you,” she says, her tone so low, I barely hear it. With a head shake, she goes on, “My father … our father—”
“Your father. You had it right the first time,” I say through gritted teeth.
She nods. “He never told me about you.”
I scoff. “Of course he didn’t. But your fucker of a husband knew.” I have no reason to believe that if Park knew, she didn’t either. MiSoo might not have done anything to me directly, but she probably had her husband do it for her.
“No … I-I mean, yes,” she stutters. “Daniel knew about you. But I just found out.” She takes another insistent step toward my desk. “Nothing he did to you was because I asked him. You have to believe me.”
“Why?” I demand to know.
She gives me a small shrug. “I’m not like that. I …” She turns her head to the side. “You were the lucky one.” She turns back to face me. Her eyes are glossy.
That doesn’t stop the anger that fills my chest.
“What did you just say?” I ask through clenched teeth.
Her eyes go wide, and she quickly shakes her head. “No. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that for my father, I wasn’t a person to him. I was his possession.
“Just one more thing to make him look good. My mother, as well. I don’t know how he treated your mother, but if it’s anything like the way he treated mine …” Her voice fades.
I rise to my feet and stare at her. For years, I’ve hated her almost as much as our father and her piece of shit husband. Yet, in front of me stands a woman who, though well put together on the outside, in her eyes, shows brokenness.
“I didn’t get off lucky,” I tell her, my jaw rigid and tight.
She shakes her head. “No, you didn’t,” she replies with a sad smile. “And you didn’t deserve anything Daniel put you through all those years. I swear I didn’t know about what he did to you.”
“When did you find out?” I ask, needing to know for some reason.
“After the charity event.” She visibly swallows.
“Once the Global Group dropped Blackmon’s company, he became …” She pauses and shrugs. “Unstable, even more than usual.” She shakes her head. “He wasn’t a good man to live with before, but after that …”
She stops talking. Her sunken shoulders and demure position appear as if she’s trying to make herself as small as possible, almost invisible. As if to avoid someone’s wrath.
I know that posturing because it’s the same approach I took those years in school to avoid the bullies. It never worked.
It hits me then. She’s not an ally of Daniel Park’s. She’s one of his victims.
My anger and bitterness toward this woman begin to dissolve.
“I couldn’t stay with him any longer,” she finally says. “I’m pregnant, and I can’t let my child see …” She swallows.
“Two weeks ago, I served Daniel divorce papers through my attorney. I came here to tell you that if you need me to help or sign anything over to you regarding Father’s business, I’ll do it.”
She lifts her chin, looking directly at me for the first time.
“I don’t want anything to do with that company or Daniel ever again.”
Her tone rings true.
“I don’t want anything from that company. I never did,” I say, sliding my hand into my pocket.
The smile she gives me is tight. “I figured you would say that.” She looks around my office. “Considering everything you’ve been able to accomplish, I assumed the only thing you wanted was to get revenge.
“I just … I just wanted to tell you everything in person. If there’s anything you need from me, please reach out.”
I don’t say anything. My head is too clouded with dread to reply to her right now. MiSoo tells me something about the hotel where she’s staying for the next couple of weeks before she places the card with her contact information on my desk and then leaves.
I run my hand through my hair. My half-sister coming here to reveal what she did took guts on her part. I can’t find it in me to hate her like I once did.
While that should relieve me, the only thing I feel is dread because I’m still filled with the deadly fear that I’ve lost Kennedy forever.
It’s as if MiSoo’s words relieved a part of my heart filled with hate, only to refill with that terror I still hold.
A minute after my MiSoo leaves my office, the urge to talk with Kennedy overwhelms me. I need to hear her voice with a desperation I’ve felt since the moment she walked out of my life.
I don’t think as I press the button to dial her number. It’s not the fact that it immediately goes to voicemail that alarms me. The sense of dread wells up in the pit of my stomach.
Something’s not right.