Daniel opened the suite door immediately.
Evelyn rushed inside and locked it behind her before either of us could speak.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
She looked pale.
Breathing unevenly.
And for the first time since the wedding began…
Evelyn looked completely terrified.
Daniel noticed instantly.
“What happened?”
Evelyn turned toward him sharply.
“They know where she is.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Evelyn looked directly at me now.
“You were followed.”
The room went silent.
Cold.
Heavy.
Daniel’s expression darkened immediately.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Lie.
Small lie.
I caught it instantly now.
Daniel did too.
“You do know.”
Evelyn crossed her arms tightly like she was physically trying to hold herself together.
Then finally whispered:
“They’re connected to Seoul.”
The note from the necklace flashed through my mind instantly.
TRUST NO ONE IN SEOUL.
My pulse accelerated violently.
Daniel moved toward Evelyn slowly.
“What aren’t you telling us?”
She looked at him.
And suddenly something shifted between them.
Not romance.
History.
Pain.
Shared guilt.
Oh my God.
I stared between them carefully.
Then realization hit me all at once.
“You knew each other before me.”
Neither answered immediately.
That silence told me enough.
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
Evelyn looked exhausted now.
“Yes.”
The air vanished from my lungs.
Not because they knew each other.
Because suddenly every interaction between them made sense.
The tension.
The distrust.
The unfinished anger.
I looked at Daniel slowly.
“How long?”
He swallowed hard.
“A long time.”
I laughed softly under my breath.
Of course.
Of course there was another lie hidden underneath all the others.
Evelyn spoke quietly.
“We worked together.”
Worked.
Not dated.
Not family friends.
Worked.
Something about that word felt worse.
Daniel rubbed his forehead slowly.
“Sophia—”
“No.”
I stepped backward immediately.
“You don’t get to say my name every time another secret appears.”
That hit him hard.
Good.
Evelyn looked at me carefully now.
And somehow…
she looked guilty too.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Because suddenly I realized:
Evelyn wasn’t just protecting me.
She was hiding something from me too.
“What kind of work?” I asked coldly.
Silence again.
Always silence.
Then Daniel finally answered:
“We investigated your mother’s death.”
The room tilted beneath me.
What?
No.
No, no, no.
My heartbeat became violent.
“You investigated my mother?”
Evelyn nodded slowly.
“After the accident… things stopped making sense.”
Daniel looked exhausted now.
“There were missing records.”
“Witnesses disappeared,” Evelyn added quietly.
“Security footage vanished,” Daniel continued.
“And every person connected to the case either quit, disappeared, or suddenly became rich.”
My stomach twisted violently.
For years…
they knew.
Not everything.
But enough.
And they said nothing.
I looked directly at Daniel.
“You let me mourn her while secretly investigating her death behind my back?”
Pain crossed his face immediately.
“We were trying to protect you.”
That sentence finally made me angry enough to laugh.
Actually laugh.
Sharp.
Cold.
“There it is again.”
Daniel looked shattered.
Good.
“Do you hear yourself?” I whispered. “Every terrible thing you’ve done somehow becomes protection.”
Evelyn lowered her eyes slightly.
Interesting.
That meant she agreed.
Daniel noticed too.
“Evelyn.”
She looked at him carefully.
Then quietly said the sentence that changed everything again:
“You should tell her what happened in Seoul.”
The entire suite froze.
Daniel’s face lost color instantly.
Real fear.
Not controlled.
Not hidden.
Fear.
And suddenly I understood something horrifying:
Seoul wasn’t just where the conspiracy happened.
Something happened to Daniel there.
Something bad enough that even now he couldn’t speak about it.
My pulse accelerated.
“What happened?”
Daniel stayed silent.
Evelyn crossed her arms tighter.
“She deserves the truth.”
“No.”
His answer came instantly.
Too instantly.
I stared at him carefully.
Then suddenly noticed something I somehow missed all night:
A scar.
Tiny.
Hidden near his wrist beneath his shirt cuff.
White.
Thin.
Old.
The exact same kind Evelyn asked about earlier.
The exact same kind connected to Min Seo.
Oh my God.
I looked between them slowly.
Then whispered:
“You were there.”
Daniel’s expression shattered completely.
Evelyn closed her eyes briefly.
And suddenly I knew.
Whatever happened in Seoul…
Daniel wasn’t just connected to it.
He survived it.
Then Daniel finally looked at me.
Completely broken now.
And quietly said: