Page 53 of Temporary Wife Temptation

He jerked up his head and met his sister’s eyes. “What did she say?”

“All she said was sorry.” She leaned toward him, bracing her hands on his desk. “Where is my sister?”

Sorry. Sorry for what? Unbalanced laughter built in his chest.

“Hal-muh-nee is worried sick. It isn’t like Natalie to ignore her calls.” When Garrett didn’t respond, Adelaide shook him by the shoulders. “What’s wrong, oppa?”

Mike gently withdrew her hands from him, and leveled him with disappointed eyes. “I told you not to do anything rash, Song.”

“Screw you, Reynolds.” His voice was a low croak. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate or drank anything other than Scotch.

“Shut up and listen. We found the mole. Peter Klapper seduced a naive new hire in the media department—”

“I know it’s not Natalie,” Garrett interrupted.

“What? You thought Natalie was the spy? Are you freaking crazy? Please tell me you didn’t accuse her of being the spy.” His little sister sounded furious and scared at once. Her voice trembled when she said, “She was worried about you, Garrett. She didn’t know anything until I told her. Oh, God. You broke her heart, didn’t you?”

“Hush. It’s going to be all right.” Mike wrapped his arm around Adelaide’s shoulders and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

“Hal-muh-nee needs to know what happened, but I can’t tell her on my own. You’ll come with me, right, Michael?”

“Of course,” he said in a soothing voice. Then his face turned stoic as he addressed Garrett. “Go find Natalie and fix the mess you’ve made. I’ll deal with the mole and track down the puppet master.”

“Look for connections to Rotelle Corporation and Jihae Park.” Garrett had suspected Rotelle’s involvement for a while.

“Your almost-fiancée Jihae Park?” Adelaide wrinkled her nose. “It was just an informal agreement between the elders. Why would they go through so much trouble to give you grief?”

“Her jae-bul family probably hasn’t lost a single thing in their life,” Garrett said with a humorless laugh. “They felt slighted so they sent her to the States to give me hell.”

“If that’s true, she played you exceptionally well,” Mike said, frustration clipping his words. “You fell right into her trap all because Natalie dated Klapper when she was a college kid.”

Garrett gripped his hair in his fists. “Get out.”

“You deserve to be happy, Garrett. Both of you do,” he said, concern infusing his voice. “Don’t throw this away.”

“Out!”

“Come on.” Mike steered Adelaide toward the door.

“But we can’t leave him like this.” His sister sounded like she wanted to pummel some sense into Garrett.

“Give him time.”

“Time for what?”

“Time to get it through his thick head that he’s in love with Natalie.”

“He doesn’t know he’s in love with her? How could...?” The door shut quietly behind them, muting Adelaide’s next words.

Garrett tried to inhale. Maybe he needed to exhale. He couldn’t do either because he already knew. He was in love with Natalie and he’d done everything in his power to push her away to protect his sad, scarred heart.

Did I ever believe she betrayed me? No. Natalie was incapable of the duplicity he’d accused her of. It came down to fear. He was afraid she wouldn’t stay with him because he couldn’t love her. He couldn’t admit he loved her because he feared love more than anything. But he couldn’t lose her like this.

Now was time to face his fears. All of them.

Garrett had searched everywhere for her, pulling all the strings he had, but she’d disconnected her cell phone, wasn’t using any of her credit cards, and there were no flight records. When he hit dead end after dead end, Garrett had hired a private investigator. The idea of a stranger tailing his wife and daughter, observing them unseen and unheard, was distasteful, but they’d been gone for two months and he’d run out of options.

Garrett ran his hand down his face and slammed his laptop closed. The board of directors was convening in a few hours to vote on his appointment as CEO. If he hadn’t been a shoo-in as the company’s heir apparent, then closing the biggest deal in Hansol’s history should secure him the position.

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