The moment his fingers wrapped around my wrist, the past and present collided, shattering the fragile illusion I had so carefully crafted.
His touch burned—a searing brand against my skin, a cruel reminder of a night I had spent years trying to bury.
Seong-Jin Lee.
The man who had unknowingly ruined me.
The man I had sworn to destroy.
I willed my body to remain still, to mask the storm raging inside me, but my pulse betrayed me—thumping wildly beneath his grip.
“You can’t escape me that easily.”
His voice was the same—low, edged with amusement and danger, sending a shiver down my spine. It was infuriating how effortlessly he could pull me back into the past. How, with just a whisper, I could feel the ghost of his hands on me, the weight of his presence pressing into the marrow of my bones.
But I was not that girl anymore.
I was not the helpless pawn he had once controlled.
I was Taerin Yang, and I had spent years sharpening myself into a weapon, ready to cut through the dynasty he had sworn to protect.
I turned to face him, carefully crafting the expression that had become second nature—detached, unreadable, untouchable. The air between us was thick with something unspoken, something dangerous. His dark eyes held mine, searching, prying, as if he could strip away the layers and find the truth buried beneath my skin.
I smiled. A lie in the shape of parted lips.
“I wasn’t trying to escape,” I murmured, tilting my chin slightly. “You were never chasing me to begin with.”
A dark chuckle rumbled from his chest, a sound that slithered through my veins like poison. He was close now, too close, and I could feel the weight of his gaze pressing against my skin like a physical touch.
He still didn’t recognize me.
How poetic.
How cruel.
I had spent years living in the shadow of his sins, raising a child who would never know the truth of her own bloodline, carrying the weight of a past he had long since forgotten. And yet, as he stood here, staring at me like I was a puzzle he couldn’t quite solve, he had no idea who I was.
It should have made this easier.
But it didn’t.
Because Seong-Jin Lee had always been my greatest weakness.
He leaned in, his breath ghosting over my ear, a test, a challenge.
“Tell me,” he murmured, voice laced with intrigue. “Why does a woman like you seem so familiar?”
A sharp ache bloomed in my chest.
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to scream.
Because I had been his before.
Because my body still remembered him in ways my heart refused to forgive.
I met his gaze, letting a flicker of something dangerous—something real—flash through my eyes before smothering it with a practiced smile.
“You must be mistaken.” The words rolled off my tongue effortlessly, silk-wrapped deception. “I’ve never met you before, Mr. Lee.”
His grip loosened.
I stepped back.
And just like that, I slipped away, vanishing into the crowd like the ghost I had become.
But my hands trembled as I clutched the glass of wine from the table, the liquid swirling as unsteady as the emotions I had locked away for years. I exhaled slowly, forcing my heartbeat to steady, reminding myself why I was here.
This was a game.
A long, winding chess match where I had spent years moving my pieces into place. I had studied them, hacked into their accounts, unraveled their secrets one by one. I had climbed my way into the underworld, collecting power like currency, waiting for the day I could dismantle the Lee family from the inside.
And now, I was one step closer.
Seong-Jin had no idea what he had just let slip through his fingers.
But he would.
I would make sure of it.
Because this time, I wasn’t the girl begging for freedom.
I was the woman holding the chains.
And by the time he realized the truth, it would be too late.
By the time he realized who I really was, he would already be in love with me.
And I would watch him burn.
Two Hours Later
The moment I stepped inside, the weight of my mask slipped, and my breath came in sharp, ragged exhales. The night had been long, the encounter even longer, and my body ached with the effort it took to remain composed.
I reached for my phone, the screen lighting up with a single notification.
Nari: She finally fell asleep. Do you want me to stay over?
I exhaled, tension bleeding from my shoulders. Yuna.
My little girl. The only thing in this godforsaken world that was still pure.
Me: No, I’ll be home soon. Thank you.
I placed the phone down and turned to the mirror.
My reflection stared back, the woman I had become barely resembling the girl I once was. I touched my lips absentmindedly, the ghost of Seong-Jin’s kiss still lingering, an uninvited phantom.
Did he kiss all his women like that? With possession? With hunger that tasted like destruction?
I shook my head. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t mine. He never had been.
But soon, he would belong to me in a different way.
I would take everything from him.
I reached for my laptop, plugging in the extra USB I handed Kyung-Min had back earlier. files loaded, years of gathered intelligence flashing across the screen. The Lee family’s dealings, their financial records, and their weaknesses.
But my fingers hesitated over one particular file.
The engagement he had announced because he thought it was me. Because he had spent years searching for a ghost, chasing whispers of a woman he had lost before he even knew her name.
He thought I'd disappeared and Gone
And in some ways, I was.
The girl he had taken that night no longer existed. The woman standing in her place was something far more dangerous.
I leaned back, a slow smirk curling my lips.
Let the game begin.
One Week Later – the banquet
If there was one thing I had learned about the elite, it was that they reveled in extravagance. The chandeliers dripped with crystals, the champagne flowed like water, and the air was thick with power plays disguised as polite conversation.
I moved through the crowd effortlessly, a wolf in designer silk, the scent of revenge sweet on my tongue.
And then, I felt him.
Seong-Jin.
I turned, my heart beating a little too fast, a little too loud.
He was standing at the top of the grand staircase, the picture of control and dominance, a king surveying his court. His gaze swept the crowd until it landed on me, and for a split second, something flickered in his eyes. Recognition? Suspicion?
Or something far more dangerous?
I smiled, raising my glass slightly in a silent toast.
His jaw clenched.
Good.
Let him wonder.
Let him chase me through the shadows, through the twisted corridors of his own past.
Because by the time he realized who I truly was, by the time he pieced together the puzzle…
I would already have his heart in my hands.
And I would crush it.
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