KICK IT | JENLISA

77

Lisa

A pair of dark eyebrows lifted at me. "And you had absolutely no idea?"

Bitterness tightened my vocal cords and coated my tongue dry. "None, Jae-suk."

My new best friend sat next to me. Beneath his grey dress pants, Mark's knee bounced in an earthquake. I assumed his armpits sweated as mine did, beneath our white dress shirts.

Overhead lights gleamed Yoo Jae-suk's bowl-cut head, the sports reporter who salivated most at Jackson's offer. He stroked the tip of his jawline with feigned sympathy.

"That's shocking." Jae-suk's gaping expression was Oscar-worthy. Wide eyed and slack-jawed, he looked genuinely surprised. "Absolutely shocking."

"It is." I nodded with a grimace. "I was shocked."

He leaned forward, false shock soaking his voice. "And how did you feel when you found out?"

Nancy's 'single word prompts' recommendation flashed in my mind.

"Shocked. Horrified." I crossed one ankle over my knee and clutched it with my hand. "Betrayed. Disgusted. Not for myself but the charity donors and recipients."

"Your charity donors." Jae-suk shuffled his blank notecards. All his words were prompted in between the cameras. "What would you say to them, Lisa?"

"I'd personally apologise." Tightness compressed my chest, and my tie almost strangled me. "What happened is unacceptable. It needs to be stopped."

"How do you think those donors feel?"

I rubbed at the edge of my jaw. "If they're like me, then they feel cheated and deceived in the name of good faith and charity. I don't know if I have the words to describe how bad that feels."

Total lie. I had the words. Nancy censored them.

Jae-suk paused for another card shuffle. "You've been open about your personal donations before. Dollar for dollar, you match."

I gave a stiff nod. "Dollar for dollar."

"So... you're a victim." He slumped back into his seat with the exact revelation Nancy hoped he displayed. "A true victim. The biggest victim of all."

I wanted to admit that I was an idiot who trusted the wrong people, but my PR queen argued that came off as me accusing other donors of also being idiots. Instead, I followed her prompts, "The real victims are the recipients who the charities haven't been able to help. That changes, starting today."

Without a blink, I leaned forward. With my elbows pressed on my thighs hard enough to leave dents, I stared into the camera. "I want to assure every donor that their contributions weren't a waste. My legal team will identify every dollar of fraud. And I will personally replace every dollar that can't be recovered."

Jae-suk and Mark's eyebrows raised in tandem. The behind-camera gasps were a nice addition.

"Lisa, that could be..."

"Millions." I squeezed my hands with the same insistence tearing through my chest.

"All five charities are close to my heart. Childhood leukaemia took my uncle. A Houston food bank partner for at-risk children and seniors, Paws for Cause's animal shelter for my mom, a free after-school sports clinic for low-income families, and... veterans' support for my grandfather."

"All admirable." Jae-suk's dismissive tone made me squeeze my ankle tighter. "What can they expect?"

"Action." My stomach clenched and I squeezed my hands hard enough to burst open my knuckles. "I'm still struggling to believe this happened, Jae-suk. It's a wrong that needs to be made right. Money isn't enough, we need to take action to restore the charitable contributions to who need it."

Jae-suk turned to Mark for his portion of the interview, which went deeper than Jennie's initial impressions. My foundation wasn't the only one scammed. YG Accounting's greed soaked into the millions.

Per Nancy's coaching, he admitted, "Lisa had no idea. Not at all."

Clueless idiot was the lesser accusation, which I accepted because the alternative was suspected money launderer.