The Price of Love

Chapter 41: Trapped

Jin

I had just sent everyone home and was tidying up our files when the door to my office opened.

Micha walked in and closed it behind her. This could not be good.

"What is it?" I asked, clearly letting my tone indicate my annoyance.

She walked toward me without saying a word until she was standing right before me.

I bristled, thinking that she was going to try something, but I didn't want her to think that her mere presence made me uneasy. I stood my ground, staring down at her with a frown.

"I'm here to help you," she said in a low voice, which I found not in the least bit alluring. "You'll thank me for it, especially since you've been working so hard."

"I'm sorry, but if I wanted to get laid, I have several women I can call that would be more appealing to me even if they were gap-toothed and unwashed," I said with a sneer. "So, if that's why you came by, you can turn around and leave. I'm not interested."

"How vulgar of you, Seokjin!" she snapped.

"Why are you here at this time of night?" I asked, not bothering to change my tone of voice.

She finally took a few steps back. "It's about the company. You've been working yourself to pieces, but there's something you don't know. Something important."

I sighed impatiently and leaned back against my desk. "What is so important?"

She sat down in one of the large leather chairs and took a deep breath. "KWI is in much worse financial distress than you thought, and I don't think there's anything you can do."

"What?"

"The company does not have the assets that you think it does," she said. "There's no money."

I glared at her. "You're mistaken. KWI's cash flow is just fine for now."

"No," she insisted. "KWI barely has enough to stay open for another year."

"No way!" I countered. I scrambled back behind my desk and began tapping on my keyboard. "I just saw the financials this morning, and the company's capital was fine."

She shook her head. "The financial reports don't show the story. Listen. Sunghoon doesn't think I know, but he and his chief accountant keep another ledger. It doesn't show up on the main account. If you don't believe me, go to your father's office. The bottom drawer of his desk has a hidden panel. He keeps the real ledger there. Only his chief accountant knows about it."

I looked at her in disbelief. "You're wrong. How... how would I not know this? I've looked at everything! Is the accountant embezzling? I should let my father know."

"He knows," she said. "He's the one who authorized it. KWI needs capital desperately. That's why your father arranged your marriage to Fiona." She paused. "That's why he was so eager to move up the wedding date after Fiona told him she was pregnant. Gettis has promised to invest heavily through various means that won't set off warning bells. If you don't marry Fiona, KWI-- and your father-- will be over."

"You're lying. Why should I trust you? How would you know this?" I asked sharply.

"I know we've had our differences," she began. "I've seen how hard you've thrown yourself into this job, and I think it isn't right that you don't know everything. You don't trust me. I understand, but whatever happened in the past, well, we should just leave it there."

I scoffed. "Okay. You regret the past. Believe me, I do, too. But, again, how do you know about the company's financial situation?"

She exhaled. "Let's just say that the chief accountant admires me quite a bit."

I grimaced. "You slept with him."

"Before you judge me--"

"That doesn't matter right now," I interrupted and sprang to my feet. "If you're telling the truth, then I'll find the ledger in his desk. If you're lying to me, Micha, you will explain to me the reason why or else." I arched an eyebrow at her. She knew I'd never revealed to my father the shameful proposition she had made to me back when I was still in high school. If my father found out she had been lusting after her stepson, who knew what he would do.

She stood up. "Fine. Let's go look."

Two hours later, I sat at my father's desk with the ledger open before me. Micha had left quite a while ago--I couldn't recall when. The only thing that I could focus on were the figures marked into the ledger. I dropped my head into my hands in the familiar gesture of one who has lost hope and finds himself against the wall.

My father knew about this! Why hadn't he told me the truth?  A few recent financial difficulties, he had said.  But it seemed KWI had not been solvent for a long time now. At this rate, it would not last a year, like Micha thought. It was more like months. Months! How could I broker any deals if my company was insolvent?

I growled as I thought about my father's deal with Coastal and Fred Gettis. He was trying to save KWI at all costs. He had probably hoped that my plans to get out of the Coastal deal would be helpful, but now I doubted anything I did would make a difference.

Bankruptcy! Financial ruin!  KWI sold for scraps!  If I didn't marry Fiona, I was consigning KWI to the trash heap. I would very possibly send my father to his grave. If I hadn't felt trapped before, I certainly was trapped now. It was over. My life was over.

For the second time in as many weeks, I broke down and wept.