He came at her so abruptly that it left her no room to breathe.

“…I went shopping with Aunt. We got back a few minutes before you did, Tae-moo.”

“Just the two of you?”

“Yes.”

She had spent less than two hours with Woo-hyun.

If she brought up the details, it felt as though his mood would sour all over again.

“You didn’t meet anyone else?”

The relaxed atmosphere froze instantly at her silence.

“How did you—”

“Is that what’s important?”

Her husband already knew she had met Woo-hyun.

He had known all along and merely pretended otherwise.

He had been testing her, waiting to see what she would say.

“We ran into each other by chance at the hospital.”

A frightening man.

She had always known his temperament well, but she had never imagined he could be this relentless.

“Another coincidence? That’s a remarkably convenient excuse.”

Whenever it seemed as though she might slip even slightly from his grasp, Seong Tae-moo would tighten his hold and shake her back into place.

“Aunt was there too. We only had coffee and then parted ways. That’s why I didn’t think there was any need to tell you—!”

She couldn’t finish.

He had lifted her dress and slipped his large hand beneath it.

Caught completely off guard by the touch, Yeon-ha sucked in a sharp breath.

“You don’t get to make that decision.”

He made it unmistakably clear.

“I told you not to meet that bastard.”

Who her master was.

“Why do you keep forcing my hand?”

The hand he spoke of—was it the one touching her, or…

“Ah!”

Her thoughts shattered as her vision turned white.

His hand drove her relentlessly forward, moving with a rhythmic precision that left her gasping for breath.

“S-Stop…”

He knew exactly where she broke.

“No.”

He brushed aside her plea with ease and pressed down harder.

The touch against the place where her nerves gathered sent a small cl*max through her.

“Hng…”

A rush of moisture spilled from her.

Instead of tears, warmth flooded between her legs.

She could feel it herself.

There was no way the man handling her body as though it were his own hadn’t noticed as well.

Humiliation washed over her so intensely that her entire body felt feverish, yet all strength was draining from her limbs.

As her body pitched forward from the weakness, he caught her effortlessly.

Wrapping an arm around her with a forearm that contrasted sharply against her slender waist, he smiled coldly before pushing her away.

She fell onto the bed.

A moment later, he climbed over her.

“This is the last time I’m letting it slide.”

Eat.

He pressed his fingers to her lips, making her take them into her mouth, a languid smile curling on his face.

Then he grabbed her ankle and draped it over his shoulder.

His head tilted slightly.

The deep sensation of his lips brushing the rounded curve of her ankle made Yeon-ha’s body go rigid.

“There won’t be a next time.”

A strange shiver started in her leg and spread throughout her entire body.

It felt less like a warning and more like a threat—that if he chose not to overlook it again, he would break her legs himself.

Holding her breath, Yeon-ha nodded.

***

Jin-hee stopped at the very end of the corridor lined with expensive paintings and opened a room marked with a nameplate.

The moment she saw the woman sprawled across the marble table, her brow twisted slightly.

Noticing the crease between her brows, Jin-hee forced her expression smooth and walked toward Ah-jin, who was completely drunk.

“Ah-jin.”

If she hadn’t been Seong Tae-moo’s younger sister, friendship would have been out of the question. Jin-hee wouldn’t have spared her a second glance.

“Seong Ah-jin.”

After shaking Ah-jin’s shoulder several times without success, irritation surged through her. She dug her nails into the woman’s arm and pinched hard.

“Ow!”

The sharp pain jolted Ah-jin awake. She lifted her face from where it had been pressed against the table.

“Ah-jin.”

Pretending to be startled, Jin-hee stepped back.

Ah-jin blinked her unfocused eyes.

“W-When did you get here?”

“Just now.”

“Hss… What the hell? My arm hurts so much.”

“I was trying to wake you up and accidentally scratched you with my nail. Sorry. Does it hurt a lot?”

“Wouldn’t it hurt if it happened to you? Be more careful. My skin’s sensitive.”

Jin-hee glared at the grumbling woman rubbing her arm, but the moment Ah-jin looked back at her, she quickly softened her expression.

“Okay. I will.”

Smiling sweetly, Jin-hee sat down on the sofa and placed her clutch bag beside her.

“How many bottles have you had?”

“A few.”

It was far more than a few.

The smell of alcohol filled the room.

“Did something happen at home?”

Ah-jin, who normally called constantly whenever she wanted to hang out, had been unusually quiet for days. Jin-hee had been planning to call her herself when Ah-jin suddenly invited her out.

From the look of things, there was a problem Jin-hee didn’t know about.

“Did something happen to your mother?”

“It’s not my mom. It’s me.”

“What happened?”

“Listen. My mom is hiding something from me, and she won’t tell me what it is.”

“Tell me more.”

At the mention of Madam Go, Jin-hee leaned forward.

“Not telling!”

Ah-jin burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.

‘Honestly…‘

Ah-jin laughed like a madwoman before abruptly stopping and grabbing the liquor bottle.

Jin-hee said nothing as Ah-jin filled her glass to the brim and drank it down.

“Why am I the only one…”

Ah-jin suddenly lowered her head and muttered something.

“What?”

Jin-hee moved closer and tilted her head toward her.

The slurred words drifted into her ear.

“I’m the only one… who didn’t get an inheritance…”

No inheritance?

Jin-hee’s eyes widened.

“…Why didn’t I get an inheritance?”

“I don’t know… Grandma didn’t leave me anything… Everyone hates only me…”

Madam Jeong Man-ok hadn’t left Ah-jin any inheritance?

Tae-moo’s grandmother had adored Ah-jin when she was young.

Madam Jeong had never favored her grandson over her granddaughter.

If she truly hadn’t left Ah-jin anything, there had to be another reason.

‘And Madam Go knows what it is.‘

What could it be?

Knowing the answer certainly wouldn’t hurt Jin-hee.

“There, there. I understand how you feel.”

Offering only a half-hearted consolation, Jin-hee pulled out her phone from her clutch and called her driver.

“Come to Room 11.”

A short while later, she handed Ah-jin over to the driver who had arrived and passed her card to the manager.

“Put it on my bill.”

She fully intended to make Ah-jin pay her back for everything she had spent today.

“Ah-jin, would it be okay if I stayed at your house tonight?”

“Mmm… yeah…”

Watching the half-asleep Ah-jin answer, Jin-hee slowly curled her lips into a smile.

***

‘She gets around just fine on her own.‘

His lips twisted with a sharp, mocking sneer as he spread her legs apart.

‘With a body this wanton, could she ever be satisfied with just one man?‘

Her body trembled with a cold ache of longing.

‘Don’t forget.‘

Because he refused to fill the emptiness inside her…

‘You can’t live without me.‘

After satisfying his own desire, he left a sticky trace across her stomach.

It was nothing less than a demonstration of what awaited her if she disobeyed him.

‘Be a good girl.‘

As though her body was her own responsibility to manage, he rose without hesitation and turned away.

‘Then I might give you the love you want.‘

***

Something cracked deep inside her chest.

It was the sound of the roots of her feelings for him snapping.

For the first time, she hated him.

It wasn’t that she wanted him to understand her feelings.

Nor had she ever demanded that he love her.

What disappointed her was how little he valued the feelings she carried for him.

“…I don’t want to see him.”

She couldn’t face him while carrying emotions like these.

“Mom…”

I’m pathetic, aren’t I?

This was the first time she had visited after moving her mother to the new hospital, yet all she could do was complain about her own troubles.

Yeon-ha gazed at her peacefully sleeping mother and smiled sadly.

Her mother looked far more at ease than she had in the previous hospital.

It seemed her biological father still hadn’t realized she was gone.

They had said security here was strict, and seeing her mother receiving the best possible care under his protection quickly eased the resentment that had been piling up in her heart.

“How am I supposed to hate him when he does things like this…?”

The thought that she might never escape the man who toyed with her heart filled her with despair.

The situation felt so bleak that she wanted to cover her eyes and shut it all out.

Yet at the same time, a bittersweet thrill washed through her at the realization that she couldn’t run away from the man she loved.

“…I’m crazy.”

Crazy because she couldn’t let him go.

What she felt for him wasn’t only love.

There was gratitude too.

‘I need to do better.’

‘I can’t disappoint him.’

“Mom, I’ll come again next week.”

Even when she didn’t want to see him, she always ended up going back.

The consequences of doing otherwise were simply too much to bear.

As she turned toward the side corridor leading to the elevators, she collided with someone.

She stopped and looked up.

The moment she saw who it was, shock flooded her eyes.

“Well now, I never expected to run into you here, Miss.”

A lie.

The calm composure on the man’s face made Yeon-ha certain of it.

“Were you following me?”

“What you’re really wondering is whether your biological father ordered me to, isn’t that right?”

Heo Il-woo slowly curled the corner of his scarred mouth into a smile.

“Come with me.”

“…”

“It would be in your best interest to do so.”

She didn’t know what Heo Il-woo wanted.

But at the very least, he didn’t seem eager to reveal her weakness to her biological father.

“Get in.”

At the sight of the car Heo Il-woo had arrived in, Yeon-ha hesitated.

“We can talk here.”

“If you don’t get in, you’ll be the one who suffers.”

What should I do?

Heo Il-woo clearly knew her mother was in this hospital—and even knew which room she was staying in.

And that wasn’t all.

If she tried anything foolish, he was exactly the kind of person who would report it directly to her biological father.