5
Securitization
Shin served as the CEO of their insurance agency; however, Danbi owned and controlled Sweet Rain Realty, her real estate company. In her wallet, Danbi had two business cards, one as the president of Shin she thought also of how Sobin could never wear a baby-pink silk brassiere and thong, and the thought alone of defeating an older woman cruelly animated her.
If there was a rubric for what constituted a desirable woman, Danbi was determined to outperform George’s wife in every category.
Sometimes it occurred to Danbi that if only Sobin had been a little nicer, she wouldn’t have targeted George out of vengeance.
Envy and rage toward a haughty, well-off wife had inspired Danbi to seduce him and ruin his marriage.
Like most men, George wanted to rescue women, and it was easy for Danbi to appear helpless on demand.
Taehun Shin could not help her with real estate.
He was busy growing the insurance business and did not seem to mind Danbi’s foray into real estate.
“The business is doing fine,” she’d tell him. “I’m not losing money.”
Occasionally she dipped into the customers’ premiums, meant to be sent to the insurance carrier, since there was often a month or two of leeway. Always, Danbi returned the money and paid the premiums on behalf of the customers, so there was no real harm.
Shin didn’t understand why her company was only in Danbi’s name.
“If Sweet Rain Realty was owned jointly, and if something happened to you, your wife and sons can try to claim their share,” she reasoned.
“Everything I have is yours. You know that. And I want to make this company successful so I have something to leave Anna.”
On Saturday, after the sitter took Anna to her hagwons, Danbi met George at the Hilton. Before lunch, they bathed and made love. He kissed her when he was done. George left her on the bed, put on a robe, and opened the room service menu.
“You should consider selling the Garden Grove houses,” he told her. “I think it’s a good time.”
“That’s crazy. I should wait a few months. I already have two offers on Magnolia Street, and if I push out the kitchen on the bigger one, I can get so much more. Don’t you want a very rich girlfriend?”
“I don’t think I was ever after your money,” he said, putting aside the menu. He towered over her and grabbed her ass, and Danbi squirmed flirtatiously.
“You’re terrible.”
“I was after your heart. I am in love with you, Danbi Jung. Let’s run away.”
She kissed him to make him shut up. More and more often, he talked about love.
Danbi found it amusing that men thought women wanted love, when they were far more interested in the practical realities of life.
This arrangement was ideal for her. She enjoyed having two men.
Each served a different need. If she had more time, she would have taken another lover if he was useful enough to her.
“I was on a call with some analysts, and they’re talking bubble. My company just sold several holdings in Irvine at a good price.”
“You should have sold one to me.”
She opened his robe and drew his hips closer.
He laughed.
“I like your ambition, pretty lady,” he said. “I can sell a few of your properties for you. There are some buyers that I know who would—”
She reached for him, and George closed his eyes and held his breath.
He wondered if the sex would be this powerful if they lived together. In college, with his first girlfriend, he was able to have sex more than once a day. His personal record was three times in twenty-four hours.
If he saw Danbi every day, would she be able to make him feel like a college sophomore? If his wife left him or passed away, he’d force her to leave Shin. He would even raise Anna, who was only in the second grade. A kid that young could handle a stepparent, he figured. She seemed like a good kid.
As Danbi continued to dote on him and impress him with her business acumen, George grew more critical of his wife. At home, small things about her grated on him, things he’d never noticed before.
Regularly his wife boasted about herself, taking credit for what she did at the kids’ schools, their church, and charity events.
When her friends called on the phone, she soothed them, but when she got off, she ridiculed their little problems. The cackle of her laughter and the loudness of her voice annoyed him.
They were only two years apart in age, and she didn’t take care of her figure.
Whenever she saw someone in a restaurant or even on television who’d had work done, she’d judge them severely, reciting the list of their procedures.
“Eyes, nose, chin, lips, and boobs. That’s so not her chin. Disgusting. Doesn’t she know that she could die from unnecessary surgery?”
However, when their daughters wanted to get double eyelid surgery, she had allowed it, saying it was different because that procedure was safe.
Bigger eyes were prettier, she thought. George wouldn’t have minded if Sobin wanted to get any procedures.
The world was judgmental, and he didn’t know why people couldn’t avail themselves of improvements.
Once, in bed, Danbi had sat up and picked up the hotel pen on the nightstand and tried to tuck it underneath her right breast, and the pen had rolled off her rib cage.
“Why did you do that?” he asked.
“When the boob holds the pen, I’m getting my breasts lifted.”
“What?”
“You need a plan to preserve your assets.”
She was only thirty-seven but looked far younger.
When they went on trips as a couple, he could see how men wanted her.
Even after having a child, she could still wear a string bikini.
His wife had raised four kids well, but she had not done other things.
Danbi owned an insurance agency and had learned how to flip houses. He could not help comparing them.
There were times when George could not remember why he had married Sobin.
On holidays when the kids were home, George told himself that having an intact family was important.
However, as the kids grew more independent, he wondered what it would be like to live in an empty house with his wife.
Danbi made him feel young, sexual, and powerful.
She adored him and needed his counsel. When he didn’t see her, he looked forward to her texts and had to be careful because he couldn’t get caught carrying both phones.
Danbi massaged him, and he grew more excited. Very gently, Danbi pulled back, still keeping her hands on his erection. She was teasing him, making him wait.
“The two houses in Garden Grove are worth over a million. I’m going to flip them this year.” She sat up uncovered, looking proud.
“Yes, but you owe almost $600,000 on them,” he said, trying to mount her, but she held him off, smiling. “You should sell the one on Magnolia Street that’s pretty much done.”
“I don’t want to. Make me.”
George laughed, more aroused by her petulance.
“Rates may kick up soon, and I don’t know if you’ll be able to keep up the payments. I already loaned you fifty, and I can’t spot you much longer without being noticed—”
“I know I’m running out of cash, but we can get more. Can’t we? I can pay it back as soon as I sell the two, but it makes more sense to wait a few more months. I feel it. I just know the market will get even hotter.”
“I don’t have access to that kind of cash. Your payments are almost $10,000 a month now, not including the cost of the improvements.”
She embraced him and moaned quietly in his ear.
“Everything is getting expensive,” he persisted. “I read another report on securitization, and things could always take a turn. That’s why I unloaded some of our buildings.”
“I don’t want to sell now,” she said. “Why should I leave several hundred thousand dollars on the table? I’m just starting.”
She was running her fingers down his chest, nipping at his earlobe. He moaned and tried to make his point. “If rates go up, your payments will go up. You don’t have any cash coming in. You are speculating right now, and you don’t want to lose the properties in case—”
“You wouldn’t let me lose.”
George stood up and closed his robe. He tried to look stern.
“We’ve been through this, Danbi. I loaned you all my personal cash, and last time, we borrowed from the building fund to help with the rehab costs. You need a buffer. Mitigate your risks.”
“We paid the church back.”
“Well, no. I paid the church back, then—”
“It’s been paid back. I do the same thing with the premiums. It’s not a big deal.”
“Bear Creek,” he said. Her eyes flashed with interest.
“Will you get it?”
“If the Bear Creek deal works out, I might be able to save you one for an inside price. That one, you don’t even have to do anything except find the buyer. You need to keep some cash reserves instead of constantly buying. What will you do if we get found out? Will you take care of me?”
“I will take care of you right now,” she said, raising her eyebrows.
On paper, his company was richer than ever, but even he felt overleveraged.
His father-in-law wanted to be prudent and had insisted on selling some of their holdings.
George had always kept a modest personal slush fund, but he had burned through it paying for hotels, and recently, when Danbi wanted to buy her most expensive house to flip, he had loaned her the last of it.
When she wanted the second property, he had borrowed from the church building fund without anyone finding out.
He was now using his salary to pay for these rooms and trips, which wasn’t difficult, but her cash requests were getting harder to hide.
Now and then, he thought of buying a love nest for them, but knowing Danbi’s requirements, he’d have to raise a lot more money.
He sat down on the sofa and looked sober.
“Come back to me,” she said. “Or do I have to come get you?”
“What are your payments now? I was just guessing before.”
“Almost $15,000 a month with the HOA fees and taxes, not including my contractors. I owe the contractors some more.” She didn’t want to admit that the contractors needed an additional $40,000 for the foundation because they had hit utility lines and enormous rocks while excavating.
Already she had pulled the maximum cash advances on all of her credit cards.
“The last time you told me to sell, I held, and I was right. Wasn’t I? ”
Two months prior, George had advised her to sell the properties in Santa Ana when she had a cash shortfall, but she had held on another month and made an additional $200,000.
But immediately, Danbi had set her sights on even more expensive properties to flip, leaving her with no spare cash.
She kept running out of money, even though her properties grew more valuable.
“The market can’t always keep going up.”
“I have to trust my gut. It will go up. The bigger kitchen is going to get me another $200,000. I just know it.”
George smiled but didn’t say anything.
“How can I let them go?” she asked. The house on Magnolia Street was far nicer than the ones she had flipped before. She also had her eye on a fixer-upper in Anaheim with great bones.
“Can you borrow some more premium money from your agency?” he asked.
Danbi nodded. Routinely she borrowed $5,000 or $10,000 from the business account, which held customers’ insurance premium payments. Shin didn’t like her doing this.
“You can sell the Garden Grove houses and buy others later when there’s a dip. You should have more of a cash cushion. Also, you’re taking all your profits and getting more expensive places—”
“The bankers don’t mind. The lenders are fighting to lend me more money—”
“You can give yourself some breathing room.”
“That last lead you brought me I missed out on because there was that bidding war.”
“It’s not a big deal, baby. You just haven’t lost enough leads, so you think that was the last one. There will be more. I promise.”
“Give me more. More,” she said, climbing out of bed to get him.
George wasn’t wrong. The rates went up, and her interest and principal payments increased. Danbi withdrew $60,000 from the premium account of the insurance agency to make up the difference and to pay the contractors. Shin noticed it and got upset.
“You can’t do that. We hold those premiums in custody for the clients who give us cash and checks. That’s not our money. You need to put that money back.”
“Don’t you have more money?” she asked.
“No. You know exactly how much we have. Our personal joint account has been almost zero since you started getting the properties, and whatever we have goes to our overhead. We are stretched. I was thinking of firing our landscaper to save cash. We need to reduce our expenses. Anna’s school tuition is coming up, and she goes to three hagwons at $2,000 a month. I almost bounced a check last week.”
Danbi did her best to look contrite and tried to make herself cry.
“I’m doing all this for Anna,” she said. “Why are you getting mad at me? If you were divorced, I wouldn’t be so worried all the time about having to take care of my daughter.”
Shin went to the den, and she followed him to make him feel better. When he was done and in the shower, Danbi sent a message to George on their BlackBerry.
“After church?”
In an instant, as if he’d been waiting for her message, he replied, “Yes.”
After the eleven o’clock service, when others were having lunch, they would be able to see each other in the office where the Finance Committee usually met, which had a lock on the door.