Page 92 of Forge the Blade

“And we want our debt repaid. You also have the small matter of your dead cousin.”

She blinked. “That has no bearing here.”

“On the contrary. Your cousin was executed for disobeying direct orders from the Yadro. He brought shame to his family for interfering on your husband’s behalf.”

“I’m not close to that part of my family. Nor am I responsible for them. However he died, that is a separate matter.”

“Riddle me this, then. Why are you not demanding Bak Gyeong pay for selling your husband a defective product?”

The two hot spots appeared in her cheeks again. There it was again, that invisible wall around Jun’s old manager and agency owner. Whenever it seemed like he should be destroyed for the ridiculous choices he had made, someone demurred to follow through.

“I do not hold Bak Gyeong responsible. It should have been better arranged.”

“And your husband was the eager buyer. He chose the venue of his enjoyment.”

“The incident took place on Merchari property.”

“Property rented to your husband for the week and staffed by himself. None of our people were onsite.”

“If the Merchari were not responsible, they should not have stepped in and tried to stop the sale partway through. My cousin was merely carrying out his duties and was killed for it.”

There were several holes in her argument. But they were ignorable.

“You want your son to marry into a prominent family. That marriage is on hold due to rumors surrounding your husband’s death.”

Black Flower said nothing.

Sevastyan tapped the tea table and looked away, pretending to admire the garden. It was truly worthy of being appreciated, unlike so much else that was going on. “Should the unit be arrested and successfully tried for murder, then the marriage will go through. But as long as these whispers continue, your family’s status will fall. As it is, you’ve barely secured this match. And without it, you have no standing in your family or society, at least not standing of significance.”

Sevastyan faced her more directly. “I’ve no interest in obstructing your son’s nuptials. My only task is to recover as much of the debt as possible.”

“Then we are at cross purposes. This meeting is pointless.” Black Flower stood.

Sevastyan ignored her tantrum. “I’m authorized to offer you a commission on earnings recovered, if you agree to continue to seek a murder conviction, provided you are quiet once we’ve leveraged that threat to recover the asset.”

She turned around, holding herself stiffly. “You want the warrant to go through, but not the arrest?”

“Precisely. We need a lever large enough to force the asset back to work, for us.”

“A commission will not get my son married.”

“No, but some quietly placed words and a counter rumor about a car company paying out insurance money would, especially if you suddenly have the money to provide largess to your son.”

“How do I know that I’ll be paid? My husband was doing Bak a favor by buying services. You might see the whore as an asset, but you’re not the only one counting him on your balance sheet. Bak always had to pay the first owner before you. So who makes money first now?”

Sevastyan studied her face. It did not appear that she was lying. It would be interesting, then, to uncover who this first “owner” was. If Sevastyan had to gamble in that very moment, his money would be on a parental figure. “When we recover the unit, he will be under our complete control to secure the debt. You will be paid.”

“And when this other collector comes calling?”

“Obviously, if they exist, they’ve lost control of their asset.”

“If you don’t pay, I will have blood.”

“If we don’t pay, it’s because the money is not being collected, in which case, we are happy to see the unit eliminated.”

She eyed him for a long moment. “I want my son’s wedding paid for in full, and sufficient funds to set him up with a primary residence.”

“One midlevel residence, and the contribution of the average amount for a large family wedding, not a society wedding,” Sevastyan countered.