As Woo bin stared at her, he became aware of a slight tension building in his muscles, tiny hairs rising on the back of his neck. He remained relaxed in his chair, though the tips of his fingers made slight depressions in the soft-napped velvet upholstery. He found it odd that he had never noticed her, when there was a great deal worth noticing.  The slender wings of her brows and the heavy fringe of her lashes, while her skin, fair and a bit blushed on the nose and cheeks. Woo bin was amused by the pinkish color on her face, so perfect as a doll.  She had a fashionably full lips that were colored a natural rose, and large, round eyes…pretty but emotionless eyes, like those of a wax doll.

“I r-received word that my friend Miss Cha is now Mrs. Kim,”

Shin Hye remarked in a careful manner.

“She and Kim Tan went on to L-Las Vegas after he…dispatched you.”

“‘Beat me to a pulp’ would be a more accurate choice of words,”

Woo bin said pleasantly, knowing that she couldn’t help but notice the shadowy bruises on his jaw from Kim Tan's righteous pummeling.

“He didn’t seem to take it well, my borrowing of his fiance.”

“You k-kidnapped her,”

Shin Hye countered calmly.

“‘Borrowing’ implies that you intended to give her back.”

Woo bin felt his lips curve with his first real smile in a long time. She wasn’t a simpleton, apparently.

“Kidnapped, then, if you’re going to be precise. Is that why you’ve come to visit, Miss Park? To deliver a report on the happy couple? I’m weary of the subject. You had better say something interesting soon, or I’m afraid you’ll have to leave.”

“You w-wanted Miss Cha because she is an heiress,” Shin Hye said. “And you need to marry someone with money.”

“True,” Woo bin acknowledged easily. “My father, the chairman of one of the biggest companies in Asia, has failed in his one responsibility in life: to keep the family fortune intact so that he can pass it on to me. My responsibility, on the other hand, is to pass my time in profligate idleness and wait for him to die. I’ve been doing my job splendidly. The chairman, however, has not. He’s made a botch of managing the family finances, and at present he is unforgivably poor, and even worse, healthy.”

“My father is rich,” Shin hye said without emotion. “And dying.”

“Congratulations.” Woo bin studied her intently. He did not doubt that Park Hyun bin had a considerable fortune from the gambling club. 

And here was Park's daughter, his only child. If she was about to make the offer that Woo bin suspected she might, he could not afford to refuse it.

“I don’t want your c-congratulations,” Shin hye said in response to his earlier remark.

“What do you want, sweetheart?” Woo bin asked softly. “Get to the point, if you please. This is becoming tedious.”

“I want to be with my father for the last few days of his l-life. My mother’s family won’t allow me to see him. I’ve tried to run away to his club, but they always catch me, and then I’m punished. I w-will not go back to them this time. They have plans that I intend to avoid—at the cost of my own life, if necessary.”

“And those plans are?” Woo bin prodded idly.

“They are trying to force me to marry one of my far cousins. Mr. Shin Dong hee. He cares n-nothing for me, nor I for him…but he is a willing pawn in the family’s scheme.”

“Which is to gain control of your father’s fortune when he dies?”

“Yes. At first I considered the idea, because I thought that Mr. Shin and I could have our own house…and I thought…life might be bearable if I could live away from the rest of them. But Mr. Shin told me that he has no intention of moving anywhere. He wants to stay under the family’s roof…and I don’t think I can survive there much longer.” Faced with his seemingly incurious silence, she added quietly, “I believe they mean to k-kill me after they’ve gotten my father’s money.”

Woo bin's gaze did not move from her face, though he kept his