The Villain's Wife

97

Silence welcomed Jennie the moment she entered the apartment. She could see Taehyung sitting on the couch, his expression dark and defensive as he stared at the TV in front of him. "Do you ever wonder why Bec never complained, even when she was being treated unfairly by everyone?" he asked after Jennie took a seat on his right.

"I did," she answered honestly. "I thought it was because she just wanted to spend more time with me."

"Someone threatened her," Taehyung said as he slowly took his sweatshirt off, revealing a white V- neck tee shirt underneath. After he carefully placed the sweatshirt on the table, he looked at Jennie intently before he continued, "Our father was threatened too."

"At first, I thought he was a coward. How could he just watch me getting flogged by someone without stopping them? A child, being punished severely in front of his father and the father does nothing. What kind of father would have the stomach to watch a helpless child being whipped?" Taehyung shifted his gaze away from Jennie. "The only person who loved me back then was my stepmother. She supported me more than my father ever did."

"What a bitch!" he muttered under his breath before he continued. "A few months ago I discovered that he had been threatened. One refusal of their request and they will hurt you. Becca was threatened the same way. One refusal of their request and they will hurt me."

Jennie's breath hitched before she pursed her lips in an attempt to calm her nerves. She could not react and be emotional right now. She needed to be logical about everything. "Why should I believe you?" she asked.

Without saying anything, Taehyung lifted his shirt as he showed his scarred back to Jennie. Then he quickly put his shirt back down. "A pretty face who refuses to go shirtless on camera is useless in my industry. This is the reason why I only made a few films." He let out a small laugh. "Not that I cared. I never had it removed. I saw it as a reminder of how cruel people can be."

Jennie's eyes were still wide as she stared at Taehyung. "Why did they hurt you?"

"Well... I originally came here to find out why, and guess what? After investigating you, I found the answer to my questions," he said. "Bec tried to contact her mother- your- our grandmother, Lilian Facci."

It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on Jennie. She swallowed nervously and waited for her brother to continue speaking.

"Guess what else I found out," he continued. "Chuan, our father, the Eldest Young Master of the Kim Family, is the brains behind the Kim Group in Daegu."

"What do you mean?" she furrowed her brows.

"His brother was forcing him to manage the company. Hao was taking all the credit while our father was ridiculed for being useless." Taehyung gritted his teeth before letting out a mirthless laugh. "Our father, the person who I loathed for being such a spineless man, is the person behind the Kim Group's success, not his dumb brother as everyone believes. I don't know how Hao got our father to do his bidding, but my guess is that he is working with Yifei. I suspect the pair were involved in threatening our father and mother together."

"How do you know that they were threatened?"

"I am sure that you are aware of this: There are two Generals in the Kim Family. First is the current patriarch while the second is his brother, Wuyang. After meeting you, I searched all of Seoul government's agencies to check you out. I found out that a lot of properties in Daegu had been transferred to your name a few months ago. Then I used my skills to hack into a few systems and discovered that the witness of the will was Wuyang. He was the same person who told me about it."

"And you believed him just because he said so?" Jennie asked. Her guess is Wuyang told her brother this tale after discovering the existence of the will. She was certain that he'd been informed of Jennie's appearance, but it suited his purposes to let Taehyung find out everything for himself so he set the stage so Taehyung could go in search of Jennie.