The café suddenly felt colder.
Hana's fingers tightened around the cup until her knuckles whitened. She didn't dare look again, but she felt it.
That gaze.
That same gaze from years ago—before she lost everything.
Her heart pounded against her ribs. Every instinct screamed run. But where could she go?
She turned slightly, pretending to glance around casually.
And there he was.
Chairman Baek Do-Won.Same polished arrogance. Same calculating eyes. But now, he wasn't hiding in the shadows. He was watching her in broad daylight.
Brazen.
Confident.
Dangerous.
Her phone buzzed.
📩 UNKNOWN NUMBER: You've been missing, Miss Seo. The empire doesn't wait for little girls to wake up from comas.*
Her blood froze.
No one else knew about that. No one outside the hospital. Unless…
She stood abruptly, nearly knocking her chair back. She didn't care. She pushed out the café door into the busy Seoul street, forcing herself to disappear in the crowd.
She didn't hear him get up. But somehow…she knew he was following.
Back at Kang Estate, Joon-Hyuk stood at his desk, staring at the torn marriage contract.
Mrs. Kang had left. His office was silent.
But he was far from calm.
He opened the drawer, pulling out the crumpled letter Hana's mother had written—entrusting her daughter to their family.
"You promised her," he muttered to himself, "but you're pushing her away."
The thought twisted in his gut.
Then his phone lit up.
📩 MIN-JI: "You need to see this. Hana's being followed."
A photo.
Blurry but unmistakable: Baek Do-Won standing just outside the café Hana had ducked into.
Joon-Hyuk's blood turned cold.
This wasn't just about money anymore.
It was a game of control.And the girl he once tried to ignore... was now the center of it all.
He grabbed his coat.
No more silence.No more pride.
He had to find her.