Chapter hundred and forty one

JENNA

I rubbed my temple in circles, trying to ease the sprouting headache there, but it persisted.

Sighing, I rummaged through my purse and found my pills. I plopped four tablets in my mouth, not bothering with water. It wasn't my first time anyway.

My doctor would surely lose his mind if he saw me right now. He would probably lecture me about how I was abusing the medicine by not following the prescription but I couldn't care less.

After the week I've had, I needed more than these tablets to keep me from spiraling. I needed something stronger. But I couldn't get anything from Father's company. Not right now.

Maybe I would disobey him and go get some powder after all. But I wasn't looking forward to another lashing today.

The doorbell rang, thd sound making my head throb further. I chose to ignore it. Hopefully, whoever was at the door decides I'm not home and leaves. But it continued ringing.

There were only two people who had the audacity to continued ringing my bell that way. My father and my agent. I wasn't looking forward to seeing either of them today.

Groaning, I pushed off the couch and strode barefooted to the door. After walking around in four inches tall heels all day, I didn't want to bother with another footwear. You'd think years of walking around in heels would make me immune to the pain. No such luck.

I opened the door and stepped aside for him to enter. A sense of stillness washed over me as he stepped into my space. The apartment suddenly became smaller and more suffocating.

Ron Jang has always managed to suck the air out of any place he enters and not in a good way. Despite growing up under him, I couldn't completely overcome the fear that grip me at his presence.

Ever since that one day when I was ten and watched him killed a man with our kitchen knife in the middle of the living room. I didn't know what the man did to offend him, but he'd slit his throat and made me watch as the poor man choked on his own blood.

My mother wasn't around at the time. She was never at home. A part of me knew it was probably because she was running from him. She knew took well what kind of man her husband was, considering the number of bruises she had to cover with makeup.

“Why did you take so long to open up?” He asked in that very calm and collected voice of his. But I knew the number of deaths he had ordered with that voice.

“I.. I was coming but I…” I struggled to string words together.

Maybe taking four tablets wasn't a good idea after all. If I knew he was coming, I wouldn't have taken so much. I needed to be my very best self before I could talk to him.

“Jenna.” He called, a silent warning in his tone.

“I'm sorry, Father. It won't happen again.” I said.

I lowered my gaze, the sign of submission I knew he reveled in. My palms became sweaty and I subtly wiped them on my pant trousers. I was careful not to let him see it.

Ron Jang might love when people submit to him, but he hated fear from the people he considered allies. For him, it was a sign of weakness. And there was no place for weakness with him.

I wonder how he would react if he realized he was showing the exact thing he preached against.

In my twenty nine years of existence, I've never seen my father so paranoid of anything as he had become over Oliver Kang. He had been obsessing over the details of his plans in order to make sure nothing goes wrong.

I didn't know why he was this paranoid but I would be lying if I said the change didn't excite me a little. It was nice to see him on the receiving end of panic for once.

Ron advanced further into the apartment and sat on the couch. I stood beside him, my head hung low and my hands clasped behind my back.

I waited for him to speak even though the silence was crushing me. The drugs in my system were starting to kick in, making the corner of my eyes water. He wouldn't exactly appreciate me falling unconscious while he hadn't said what he came here for.

But he seem to be in deep thoughts, as if he didn't realize where he was.

“Father, is everything okay?” I asked, but my question was silently implied.

Why had he come?

“You will be getting engaged to Oliver tomorrow.” He said plainly as if he hadn't just discussed a major part of my life.

Anger flared in me, dulling the effect of the drug slightly. I pressed my lips together to stop myself from spewing words that would most likely land me in trouble.

I tried to make my voice as soft as I could without sounding meek,

“But Father, that wasn't in the plan. I thought we already got what we wanted from Oliver.”

Not that I knew what the plan was. He doesn't trust me enough to tell me his plans. My only role in it was to get married to Oliver and make him go bankrupt.

I didn't have a problem with it then. As a kid, I had liked Oliver Kang. I'd thought he was my good luck charm. All the bad things in my family started after his family moved to New York.

But then I heard about Dallas. And I would be lying if I said the idea of having a sibling didn't excite me a little bit.

Sure, I would have liked it more if it wasn't someone who hated my guts. Not that her hatred wasn't justified. I'd tried to drive a wedge between her and her boyfriend, but I was only carrying out my mission.

I'd spent days stalking her and trying to find out about her life from a distance. Her friends. Her love for fencing. Why she got kicked out of the field and our father's role in it.

I was going to approach her once the mission with Oliver was over. Not to talk as siblings, but maybe to just talk. I didn't know she was going to get caught in this crossfire.

It all just pointed out how freaked out my father was about this mission. He rarely involved outsiders in his business. But he had kidnapped Dallas and Oliver's assistant.

Whatever he wanted from Oliver must be really important.

He raised head and looked up to me. His eyes darkened slightly.

“What gave you the right to question my decision?” He thundered.

There it was. The inflammable ego. I tried not to roll my eyes. I might be a little bit high but that didn't mean I wanted to die just yet. I knew too well that he could shoot me right now and be done with me.

It wouldn't be the first time he'd shot me. One time, he'd shot my legs because I attempted to run away from home. Then he'd paid the doctors a hefty fee to make sure my legs return back to normal. I had to limp around for months after that incident.

I had no desire to go through any of his punishments again. I had a shoot coming up in a week and the last thing I needed was a bruised body. My agent would throw a huge fuss.

“I'm sorry, Father. It's just that Oliver had called off the engagement. I don't understand why he would want it again.”

I knew exactly why. My father had probably blackmailed him with Dallas. I've seen the love in Oliver's eyes for my sister and I knew he would do just anything for her. And I knew she would do the same.

It was part of why I was relieved he called off the engagement. My tiny crush on him was incomparable to the love they had for each other.

The crush died the minute I found out about Dallas. Which was not long after my first meeting at his house. It started as a curiosity about the lowly cleaner that had dared talk back at me, then it upgraded to a creepy stalking situation.

I had to still keep up my appearance of being lovesick with Oliver. But I enjoyed the small conversations we shared even if they were full of mean words. She hated me but I was intrigued by her.

It was part of why Father had asked me to abduct her. He knew about my developing interest in her and wanted to crush it. Just like he had every other aspect of my life.

Before I could blink, his hand shot up and gripped my neck tight, crushing my windpipe.

I choked as I tried to get some air down but I didn't fight him. My punishment would be much worse if I had.

“When I ask you to do something, you fucking do it. No questions asked. Do you fucking understand?” He seethed.

I nodded frantically, desperate for him to release his grip which he did.

“You will go to Oliver's house tomorrow and then you will have your engagement ceremony.” He said.

I nodded again. I was too busy trying to catch my breath to reply him with words.

He took one last look at me before storming out of the apartment. I heaved a sigh of relief at his departure.

After a few minutes, I finally got a grip of myself and stopped coughing. I muled over his words.

I was going to go to Oliver all right, but I wasn't getting engaged. I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. I laughed as I went through the crazy plan my mind conjured up.

It would probably end up killing me. But I didn't care if it was the last thing I did. I wouldn't let him win this time.