“Yes, yes. I know what you overheard from her conversation with her father and how she refused to help Yami Corporation’s CFO. Besides, you don’t need to convince me of her innocence.”
“But I do, Hal-muh-nee. I want you and Uncle James, and the rest of the family, to accept her. She is truly an amazing person, but so lonely. Her family...they aren’t like us. They don’t love her and appreciate her like family should. She’s been neglected, controlled and used by them. I want her to become a part of our family and be loved as I have been. I want you to accept her as your own.”
“Colin, do you want to marry this girl? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Yes. I want to marry her and make her happy. I want to beg for her forgiveness and make up for any hurt my lies will cause her when I tell her the truth.”
“Then is it fear? Is it only fear that is holding you back from telling her the truth?”
“You’re right. I’m so afraid of losing her, Grandmother. I can’t bear to even think about living my life without her in it. If I tell her, she might leave me. Maybe I want to delay the inevitable.”
“But you said you love her. Every day you continue to keep this secret, the more you are hurting her. Is that what you want? Is that the right way to love her?”
“I’ve been lying to myself that I’ll be able to let her go when the time comes. That neither of us is emotionally involved, and we’ll be able to walk away from each other without heartache. I’ve been so wrong.” He wiped both his hands down his face, hating himself a little. “If I love her, I have to give her the choice to leave or stay based on the whole truth. If she wants to leave me after I’ve told her everything, she has the right to make that choice. If by some miracle, she is willing to give me another chance, then that is her choice, as well. Telling her the truth and respecting her decision is the best way I can truly love her at this point.”
He pushed away the nagging thought that even if Jihae gave him another chance, her father wouldn’t back down easily. If Colin ever reached that point, he would fight the world for her as long as she stood beside him.
“Colin, I know you. You are a good man. You made a difficult choice based on the difficult situation you were placed in. I know that my desire to have you join Hansol has been a great source of stress and guilt for you. In that, I feel partially responsible for your decision to spy on Rotelle Corporation. I understand you did that to pay me back a debt you don’t owe me. You have done the best you can for our family.”
“None of this is your fault. It’s all mine. I had a choice and I made the wrong one. But now I understand what I have to do,” he said with determination. “Hal-muh-nee, will you do something for me?”
“Anything, my dear child.”
“If Jihae is willing to have me, will you promise to make her a part of our family?”
“If she will have us, then she will be family.” She reached out to squeeze Colin’s hand. “She will be my granddaughter.”
Twelve
Jihae ended the call on her cell with shaky hands and placed it on her desk with a clack. She knew her father was a ruthless businessman, but she never thought it possible that he would be willing to break the law to get what he wanted.
Her friends from Korea had gotten back to her with disturbing news. They’d dug up some stale rumors among the highest executives that Rotelle Corporation might have planted a spy in Hansol Corporation the previous year. It didn’t tell her how Yami Corp. was involved in the espionage, but her gut feeling said this was the secret her father had been keeping from her.
But why? Why would her father do this? He had more money than ten generations of his descendants could live off. Anything else he earned was superfluous other than for feeding his pride. Jihae froze. His pride.
She had a nagging feeling about the timing of the spy being planted. The rumors had sprung up almost a year and a half ago. Close to the time that Garrett Song had broken his engagement to Jihae.
Oh, my God.
All that time, her father had blamed her for the broken engagement. That it had happened because word of her unruliness got out. He had blamed what she’d done as a college kid to guilt her for her broken engagement. And like a prat, a part of her had believed him. She’d believed that it was her fault. And she’d beat herself up for losing the chance to gain her freedom from her family. Soon, she’d regained her senses and was relieved the arranged marriage hadn’t happened, but she still had carried her guilt inside her, trying to appease her father.
But behind all that censure, he had committed corporate espionage to get revenge for his humiliation. He couldn’t stand that a mere nouveau riche family had dared to refuse his daughter’s hand. So he’d taken out his frustrations on his jilted daughter and had gone after Hansol where it would hurt the most.
He hadn’t been able to keep his crimes a complete secret, based on the rumors floating around among the inner circle. Her father, with his brilliant, conniving mind, must’ve known that his crimes could be revealed. And that was where Jihae came in.
He’d timed her business trip to the United States so she would be present for the commencement of his espionage plans. And his recent attempts to get her involved in dealings with Yami Corp. all seemed too perfect to be coincidences. Her involvement now would make her the perfect fall guy. That was why he’d been so adamant that she meet Sylvia Taylor and make the introductions she demanded. It might’ve even been her father who’d offered Jihae’s services to Sylvia Taylor to fabricate a direct connection between her and Yami Corporation.
All the evidence would point toward her—the woman scorned who’d sought revenge against her ex-fiancé and his family. She was the one in the United States. And if she’d blindly done what her father had demanded, she would be the one who went out of her way to help Yami Corporation. It would look like Jihae was trying to appease Sylvia Taylor because she had something on her. Then her father could claim to have no knowledge of the crime, and accuse Jihae of doing everything behind his back. There was no better scapegoat than his own daughter.
Devastation seared her heart black, and she shivered uncontrollably. She hugged herself tightly and clenched her jaws to keep them from chattering. She’d thought he loved her in his own way. She was his daughter, after all. But wasn’t this proof of what she’d been denying all her life? Her father didn’t love her. At least not enough to take the fall for his own crimes.
Her heart was breaking and her world was falling apart, and she could only think... Colin.
She needed him. Her shaking would only stop when his arms were wrapped around her. Silent tears were falling down her cheeks, soaking the front of her shirt. With jerky movements, she reached for her cell phone.
Colin. I need you. Please, she typed after several attempts.