Before saying anything more, I grabbed Amy's birth certificate, looked at Anderson, and grabbed his hand, "we have to leave now," I told him. I turned around thanked Dr. Falcon, I told him, "We never came, and no one absolutely no one should know about this conversation." He replied, "Sure no problem Diana." We closed the door and left his office, took the stairs and headed out of the hospital straight to Anderson's car. When we got into the car that was when Anderson turned to ask me questions about what just happened, without explaining in details, told him that Amy might be in South Korea with my parents and I think they might all be in some kind of danger. "What do you mean?" asked Anderson. "I can't explain right now in details but you will have to trust me, ok?" He looked at me, "of course Diana," he said. "Thank you Anderson, I am not hiding anything from you, just need to put everything in perspective but all will be explained in time."
We drove out of the parking lot towards the main street went off the highway heading straight back to Anderson's place. When we got home, took my phone and called Chris and Jaime to ask how they were doing with getting information from the CCTV camera's, they informed me they needed two more days, would have everything ready on Friday. In addition, their two tech savvy friends Kitty and Eddie were available to meet on Friday as well. "Perfect," "How did it go at the hospital?" asked Jaime, "It didn't go so well, will fill you in when we meet on Friday. When we hung up the phone, I turned to Anderson asked him to have a seat, he looked at me and knew it was not going to be anything good. I told him that I will have to go to South Korea after the board meeting on January 26th. There was a moment of silence between us before I continued speaking. "Do you remember the way we left the hospital in a hurry? It was because I figured out that my cousin Amy could be in South Korea with my parents and their lives could be in danger. It could be the only way I get all my questions answered and in finding out what happened to my parents and Amy, they could still be alive or worst case scenario dead which I didn't want to think in that direction." There was another long silence before one of us spoke. Anderson spoke, "I understand how you feel my love, but going to South Korea will be very dangerous and it is too risky." "I know it is very risky, but it is the risk I need to take in finding out what happened to my parents, to Amy, who else is in involved and why they would want to harm my family, in addition, get answers to questions I have so long searched for, this might also be a way for me to find out about my birth parents." Anderson was seated with his hands folded not sure what to say, he agreed to what I said and suggested but needed time to think about it, which was no problem as there was still time before I left to South Korea at the end of January. We clearly both needed some space and time to think about a lot of things especially what was going to happen once I left for Seoul.
As the days went by it was kind of difficult just trying to pretend everything was normal especially our visit to Dr. Falcon office at the hospital, everything was either confusing, nerve wrecking or unbelievable to digest and no matter how much I tried to understand and get all the information straight in my head, it was not only painful, but was truly a turning point in my life I never expected to ever happen in my life, but I needed to focus and stay on task if I was to figure out my next steps moving forward.
As the week was coming to an end, Anderson, Jaime, Chris and I discussed our return dates to Boston. I opted for Sunday January 15th as there were matters needed to be discussed and finalized before heading back to Boston. We all agreed booked our tickets for the Sunday the 15th leaving Chicago at 3PM. On Thursday January 12th things started picking up really fast; Mr. Morris called at 2PM to confirm that all the transfer and transactions were in my name, they were all transferred to a separate account I had opened while at Chase Bank. I had initially thought of have everything transferred to my personal account which my parents opened for me back in 2019, but that would only raise suspicions, so opened a business account which was under my name and I would be the only person who could authorize any transfers or transactions and if anyone tried to withdraw any money from this business account, was to be notified immediately. Secondly, Cynthia also called that she had all the information about all ten board members prepared in files, including all the itinerary travel dates, destinations and last known addresses of my parents with CCTV footage, financial transactions done internally and externally in connection to the company for the last five years and finally the other two co-founders of my parents' company including their names and contact details. Cynthia informed me that I needed to be prepared for what she was to present to me in our meeting on Friday evening. Thirdly, Chris and Jaime had found additional CCTV footage of my parents' via their reliable sources and would have everything ready for viewing including having Kitty and Eddie over on Friday evening. I confirmed with Cynthia if she had made copies of the original documents, all was confirmed, prepared and in files. Once all the information was confirmed, I scheduled an appointment for all of us to meet including Mr. Thompson on Friday January 13th 2023 at 7PM at my parents' residence. Since not many people had known of our residence, I felt it was the best place to meet privately to discuss everything, finalize what was needed to be done before the board meeting on Thursday January 26th at 10AM and my travel to Seoul, South Korea. The best part was that everyone was available for the meeting on Friday. Once all was set was time to prepare for Friday which meant heading back to my parents' residence to clean up and prepare dinner for our guests; Cynthia, Mr. Thompson, Anderson, Chris and Jaime and Kitty and Eddie friends of Chris and Jaime.
On Thursday evening I updated Anderson on all information received from Cynthia, Chris and Jaime and Mr. Morris, he was actually very impressed with how fast everyone was able to get the information and before heading back to Boston on Sunday afternoon. I informed him of the scheduled meeting at my parents' residence on Friday evening at 7PM; he was OK with the time and agreed to help out with the preparation. We then sat together to write a shopping list of foods and drinks, once all that was done, we decided to head on over to the supermarket as there was time before it closed. We did all the shopping; we had to make sure not to buy a lot of items as we didn't want anything left in the fridge before we left, but if there was anything left over, we would gladly give to anyone who wanted to take with them. We loaded everything unto the car, drove to my parents' residence. At my parents' residence, the house needed dusting and cleaning which wasn't as bad as we thought; all shopping items were loaded and placed in the kitchen and unpacked. Next, cleaned and vacuumed the living room, all the bedroom floors, cleaned the two bathrooms upstairs and the toilet downstairs and finally the kitchen and storage space. I had forgotten how tough and exhausting it was cleaning a house, but with Anderson's help it was so much easier but still exhausting. The good thing was we had already informed Anderson's parents our plans and where we would be spending Friday evening, but didn't tell them about the meeting. We also packed extra clothing and toiletries for Saturday as we had planned to spend the night at my parents' residence to make sure it was well cleaned before heading back to Andersons' place on Saturday early evening and Boston on Sunday. After doing the heavy housework, we relaxed with a glass of wine and snacks before heading to bed as it was already close to midnight.
The following day we were awake by 7AM, Anderson had prepared breakfast including coffee, pancakes, bacon, sausages and eggs and his favorite cereal. I had almost forgotten how an expert he had become in making a great filling breakfast. We greeted each other with a morning hug and kiss; I had been worried ever since we had the conversation of my travel plans to South Korea, although he had agreed but still wasn't sure how he felt about the entire plan exactly; was I ready to bring it up, not now, wasn't ready, but eventually it would have to come up in discussion especially with our meeting on Friday and the board meeting on the 26th of this month. I decided not to spoil our breakfast with this topic but to wait until after our meeting on Friday and when we were back in Boston to talk about it and hear his thoughts. After breakfast, we started preparing for the evening; prepared the marinating of the beef and chicken, baked a lemon vanilla cake with icing, prepared the utensils, glasses and table mats, prepared the living room making sure there were extra space and finally the dining table. Everything was prepared and in order by 2 in the afternoon, we were to start cooking at around 5PM and since Anderson was also helping out with the cooking, it was our plan to have dinner cooked and ready by 6:45PM.
At around 6:30PM Chris and Jaime arrived, we hugged and kissed each other with smiles and joy, as they were already familiar with our residence, they helped themselves to drinks and snacks, was just funny watching how they made themselves feel at home, at The Johnson's residence. They had brought all their documents including laptops and cables for the presentation; they were going to connect their laptops using their cables to the TV to upload the CCTV footage. Kitty and Eddie arrived a few minutes later; there were introductions and the story of how they knew Chris and Jaime. Apparently they have been good friends since high school; they met at the Chess, math and science quiz net competition. Although they were one year ahead of Chris and Jaime in high school, they formed a great friendship during the competitions, they not only had a lot in common, but were all math, science and tech geniuses, but way more tech savvy than Chris and Jaime, which they were not embarrassed to say at all!
As we waited for Cynthia and Mr. Thompson, I offered drinks and snacks while we continued talking, at the same time Anderson was finishing up with the final dishes and Chris and Jaime were setting up their laptops connecting to the TV. At exactly 7PM Cynthia and Mr. Thompson arrived at the same time, almost as if they came together but that wasn't the case. What was interesting though was that they both knew each other; Cynthia and Mr. Thompson had worked together in the court cases that involved my parents' company, Cynthia had provided documents and information that helped save the company multiple times, that conversation put a smile on my face because I was even more convinced that Cynthia was the perfect and most trusted person to work with on the company's issues and in the solving of the disappearance of my parents. They had also brought quite a number of documents, including their laptops and files for the meeting. Once everyone had arrived, we all did a formal introduction to each other and started setting up and preparing the dinner table. I informed everyone we shall first have dinner and then while having dessert will have our meeting; sounded like a good plan as everyone was starving ready to eat. The dining table was already served with all the dishes Anderson and I had prepared, once we were all seated with drinks, everyone started digging in serving and eating their meals. Anderson and I were very happy with the compliments received on our cooking; I had made the dishes my mum had taught me and the ones I enjoyed cooking and eating the most. During dinner we were exchanging various topics having interesting and funny conversations including jokes which was wonderful as we all got along quite well, almost as if we had known each other for years and were meeting today for a reunion, was very moving and touching.
At around 8:30 in the evening was time to bring out the dessert and preparing for our meeting. We all took part in clearing the dinning table, did mention that if anyone was hungry later could always get more food in the kitchen. I brought out the dessert and placed it on the dining table already cut in pieces ready to be served. As everyone came to get a piece, did a run down of the meeting agenda in the following order; Diana, Cynthia, and finally Chris and Jaime, if there were any questions, let's save them for the end. We all gathered in the living room and once everyone had settled down, the meeting began. I begun by explaining the purpose of the meeting and all the information I had received from Mr. Thompson and Cynthia regarding the mysterious disappearance of my parents', the company issues past, present and future moving forward and the latest developments was finding out that my mum was pregnant giving birth to a baby girl called Amy back in 2021, but not sure of Amy's current location, it was my guess worst case scenario she was with my parents' at the time of their disappearance in Seoul, South Korea. The information that got everyone shocked was finding out that I have a baby cousin called Amy whom I never knew about nor ever seen. It was my hope that more information about my parents' and Amy's whereabouts would be reveled in the meeting.
Next up was Cynthia; she had prepared files on each board member including their full names, date of birth, education, work experience and the number of years they have been board members at my parents' company. They had all been working with my parents for the longest time I could remember based on their profile, but what struck out the most was not about their high end profile but the number of shares each of them had which was more than they had initially from 8% to 15%, this clearly didn't make sense at all because from what I know based on what Mr. Thompson informed me was that each board member had always owned 8% of the company shares since the founding of the company, so where did the other 7% of shares come from I asked myself. Second thing was the finances, over the last 5-10 years there had been numerous amounts of large transactions from the company's account being sent to various accounts around the world and I mean huge amounts of money amounting to over a million dollars. Cynthia had known about the money transactions being made from the company, but every time she monitored to find out where the money was being transacted from, and to whose account she was denied access and the finance department was never helpful in giving her accurate information on the ongoing transactions. According to Cynthia as of today counting back ten years, there is a missing sum of over twenty million dollars that is unaccounted for and it is unknown where the money is as we speak. This got everyone's eyes wide open and in shock, a sum of twenty million dollars vanished without a trace is unbelievable. I commented, "yes it is quite shocking hearing such information which could only lead to two things; one either someone or some people have been embezzling money from the company or someone has been using public funds for either illegal or personal gains." The fact that Cynthia has been unable trace the whereabouts of the money, someone is working really hard to cover their tracks making sure they don't get caught. I doubted if this was a one person show I told myself, but there was going to be one way to find out. Finally, with the mysterious disappearance of my parents' the board members according to the information presented by Cynthia have been getting anxious wondering what happened to my parents' but what Cynthia didn't understand was why the eagerness of wanting to appoint a new CEO and Director when there has been no concreate information on the whereabouts of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and no one from the board members was even interested in finding out what happened to the two most important people of the company. This prompted a lot of suspicious questions and a need to dig deeper on what had been going on in within the company for the last 5-10 years especially in the last six months before the mysterious disappearance of my parents and Amy. Before Cynthia concluded her presentation, she presented evidence of three board members who had been involved in taking bribes, working on illegal projects while making dirty money and selling company secrets to our rival companies in Chicago and New York. When I heard 'New York,' I looked at Cynthia saying, "New York isn't that where my uncle Mr. Kim lives and works?" "That's correct, which is why I believe there has to be a connection with the missing twenty million dollars." I asked, "Alright, do you have the names of the three board members and a list of all their committed crimes on files?" Cynthia handed me the files which I went through them briefly, then she continued, "I also got the contact information and details of the other two co-founders of the company; their names are Mr. Tobias Everson and Mr. Davids Williamson, they were the other two co-founders of the company including all the company branches in Europe and Asia. I asked, "What, are you serious, this means they own a very huge percent and shares of the company, right?" That's correct but I am not sure exactly how much, here are their contact details emails, phone numbers and information on their current country of residence and their profile information," said Cynthia. "They both reside in Europe at the moment from their profile information; I will contact them after our meeting, thank you." I replied to Cynthia.
"Mr. Thompson, were there any cases you and Cynthia worked on with regards to embezzlement, illegal usage of public funds etc.?" I asked. "Yes quite a number of cases but we were never able to get concrete evidence on these matters so never pursued the cases further, there was also an issue on who should take over the company" he replied. "Like what issues," I asked. "Well, when Uncle Kim would make visits to the company, he had always wanted to be a part of the share holder of the company, including taking over your mother's position of the Director of the company, but your father disapproved about it multiple times resulting in constant arguments between your father and Uncle Kim. Uncle Kim had once threatened to sue your father because he thought since the company was founded by your father, he should also be a share holder and not my mum as she is not family, also there was a time he had asked your father for almost ten million dollars, but your father declined." He replied. I turned and looked at him, "Are you seriously saying that my uncle, Uncle Kim wanted to sue my father because as brothers he should have a share of the company, get rid of my mother as the Director as she is not family and that she has no right to be a shareholder of the company, is that what you are saying?" "That's correct Ms. Diana," he replied. "Also ten million dollars is a lot of money, what did he want the money for?" I asked. "I don't know all I know is that your father refused to give him the money, and he was not happy about that." I turned around, stood up and said, "That explains a lot of things; the missing twenty million dollars with no whereabouts, the constant fights between Uncle Kim and my father and all the illegal transactions and projects, the board members wanted to pin all these problems on my parents making it look like they were responsible for all the company financial losses and then that would be a perfect way of kicking them out not only as CEO and Director, buying out their shares but most importantly no longer in charge of the company and all the branches, very smart I have to say. I also think that Uncle Kim must have been having financial issues either personal or with the company otherwise why else would he ask my dad for ten million dollars. "Mr. Thompson, can you do a background check on Uncle Kim's company in New York for the last ten years, I want everything you can find on Uncle Kim and his company, something is not right," I said. "Sure no problem will get right to it on Monday morning", he replied. "Also keep it on a low profile as I don't want to spook anyone or raise any suspicions," I told him. He gave me an OK sign and we continued talking.
I was speechless, shook my head in amazement telling myself, what people will not do for power and wealth to the extent of wanting to get rid of your family member, unbelieveable. I looked at everyone and concluded, "From all the information Cynthia and Mr. Thompson have presented, guys I don't think we are only dealing with embezzlement, illegal use of public funds, bribes and getting dirty money from illegal projects, we are dealing with a group of disloyal, untrustworthy, cunning board members working with a person who has always wanted to not only get rid of my parents but to also take over their company, not only in Chicago but all their branches around the world running it how they see fit and that's my father's brother, Uncle Kim.