Off Limits Attraction (The Heirs of Hansol #3) - Jayci Lee Page 0,52

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.

What’s wrong? What is it? Are you okay?

Just come. Please.

Are you at the office?

No, I worked from home today.

I’ll be there in twenty minutes.

The mere fact that he was on his way eased some of her shivering, but she couldn’t make her limbs work. So she sat very still at her desk, not bothering to stem the flow of tears. She didn’t have the will to make them stop. She couldn’t don her stiff upper lip, like Princess Jihae should.

In what seemed like both a second and a year, keys jingled and her door opened. Even though they were always together when they visited each other’s places, they had exchanged their keys just in case. It was a good thing since her legs wouldn’t hold her long enough to have stood up and