Page 71 of Ellie 3

“Good on her for wanting to and using what she was taught to her advantage,” Ha-yun praised, waiting for me to look at her. “And good on you for allowing it. You’re a stronger woman than I am because I hurt for you. I’m sure Amanda Hope was an angel as you’ve said, but your grit inspires a lot of us, Dr. Reed. Never forget that.”

All of her family slowly looked at her like they’d never seen her before, and I felt bad when her aura started to squirm under the scrutiny.

“Thank you, truly,” I accepted, wanting to move things along for her. “I heard you’ve taken on your own challenge mentoring the daughter of Atlanta’s pack.”

She let out a huff. “Her father is truly…” She shook her head. “I thought I’d seen the worst level of sexism given how old our pack is and Mum’s in Korea. But his mindset is—I don’t think progress will ever be made until a female wolf truly puts him in his place and he sees it. I hate to stoop to making things physical—”

“But it is the way of wolves,” Seo-yeon sighed. “Butwe are more than our wolves. It’s complicated because yes, they’re half of us and we need certain allowances, weak people put the blame on their wolves for everything. It makes it difficult to ever really flush out the truth.”

“Or if it’s some combo of the truth and exaggeration for their purposes,” Ha-joon agreed.

“You mean there are difficult shifters? I’mshocked,” I teased. “Absolutely astounded. I would have been more surprised if you told me the sky was green.”

“Funny,” Ha-joon grumbled as his family politely chuckled. “Funny, funny woman.”

I might have said more back, but my phone chirped. It was on silent, so that only happened if the program for ASH overrode the phone’s settings. I apologized and quickly checked it, frowning at what I was reading.

“Is it a crisis?” Ha-joon asked, checking his phone. “I’m not getting anything—”

“No, the hospital is fine,” I promised.

“Then who is using the hospital system to contact you?” he asked, an edge to his tone.

“Gerald,” I answered but hurried on when I felt how pissed he got fast. “He needed to make sure I saw this and knew myphone would be turned off. It’s—” It was quicker to hand over my phone so he could read it even if it was private information.

“Shit,” he hissed when he did. “Are they having a fucking laugh? This—”

“Hugo,” his father cut in. “We’re at an event. Her event.”

“Right, sorry,” he accepted and handed my phone back, adjusting his neck. “I need a minute.” He threw down his napkin as he stood and quickly left the room.

I blinked at his empty chair and then after him. “You would think he got the bad news?” I glanced at his mother as if asking what I was missing.

Surprisingly, it was his father who explained. “He’s an Alpha wolf. It’s ingrained in us to fix problems and protect people, Ellie. If he can’t or something was taken out of his hands—it’s what we struggle with most. And as Ha-joon sees you as his future mate, if you’ve been wronged…”

“Are you okay?” Soo-ah worried.

I sighed, mentally promising myself to spank Ha-joon later for making the issue bigger so his family had to be told. “Kenneth Reed learned more about my financial situation than he should have been able to. It was clear he got the information unethically. The former head of the hospital’s legal department I fired and my financial advisor were the main suspects.”

“They found the answer?” Ha-yun surmised, nodding to my phone.

“Weeks ago while interrogating Kenneth,” I answered. “My financial advisor, and apparently he was stealing from me. I learned that weeks ago too. The hospital’s attorney did me a favor and worked with the forensic accountants to figure out from where and how much.” I sighed heavily. “They have the final number, but there’s a problem.”

“A dirty man has more dirt that he is involved in,” Soo-ah surmised.

I tapped my nose and pointed at her. “Apparently, he’s willing to make a deal and is insisting everything stolen is included in the deal, so it’s waiting for him after he’s released from prison. He’s never committed a capital crime, so there’s no chance for a death sentence.”

“So the government is asking you to just give up your money for their justice?” Ha-yun asked with wide eyes. “Well, how generous of them to consider screwing you over as the victim of his crimes.”

I snorted. She had no idea when I’d saved the damn president’s life as a child. I would never regret it when his mother was such a wonderful woman, but sometimes I wished I’d smacked him more when I’d had the chance. Seriously, he asked way too much of me at times.

20

Ha-joon

The moment I stepped outside I swore under my breath. I was such an ass. I had been focused on controlling my temper and not making a scene instead of the whole situation.

If I made it clear something big had happened that was upsetting and left Ellie in front of my family… They’d pester her with questions.

---