Chapter 66.1

Chapter 66.1

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

“Oh. Did my father forget to invite you? My apologies, then.”

There wasn’t a polite word left in Jae-heon’s mouth. Every fiber of him wanted to smash Yi-taek’s smug face into the desk. But the girl trembling in his arms kept him grounded. She was terrified. So why had she come here?

“You got what you came for?” he asked softly.

Goyo shook her head firmly.

Even in fear, there was something she had to know. Something that had dragged her here the moment she could stand.

“I… I need to hear it. About that day—”

“Goyo! Shut your mouth!”

Yi-taek roared, cutting her off. His jaw clenched, grinding his teeth as if the very topic was poison.

“I don’t know what garbage you’ve been fed, but don’t bring it here,” he snapped. “Spouting nonsense…”

“I just want to know the truth—”

“So this is what you’re doing? Threatening me with Director Kwon at your back?”

Yi-taek’s voice turned low and guttural, his teeth grinding every syllable. His glare bore into Goyo, cold, sharp, unforgiving. A silent warning that he wouldn’t tolerate another word.

Goyo stared at him, stunned.

Had she really expected the truth from him? How naïve. How foolish. His reaction was exactly what she should’ve predicted.

Her energy drained all at once. She had run here with everything she had and ended up exactly where she started.

It was bitter. Her first act of rebellion had ended in nothing.

“Hm. That’s an interesting way to put it,” Jae-heon murmured.

He had been gently stroking Goyo’s hair, but now he looked up straight at Yi-taek. The smirk he usually wore was gone, replaced by a calm, chilling edge.

“Have I threatened you, Congressman?”

“You barge into my house and cause a scene. Isn’t that threat enough?”

“Would you like me to show you what a real scene looks like?”

Jae-heon’s voice dropped low, dangerous. Yi-taek’s attempts to silence Goyo were one thing—but now he was clearly trying to push Jae-heon out the door as fast as possible.

There’s something here.

Jae-heon’s gaze swept across the study. Shelves, desk, coffee table; everything was dressed in antique wood and polished brass. Nothing unusual at first glance.

But then his eyes landed on a large framed painting in the corner. A replica of a world-famous oil painting. And somehow, it didn’t match the rest of the carefully curated room.

As Jae-heon stared, Yi-taek’s eyes flickered just for a moment.

“Let’s go home…”

The tense air cracked as Goyo spoke, her voice thin and strained. She clutched Jae-heon’s collar with trembling fingers, barely able to get the words out.

“My house?” Jae-heon asked, surprised. “You want to go to my place?”

Goyo didn’t say anything and just nodded.

She hadn’t stayed there long, but somehow… she missed Jae-heon’s place more than the house she’d lived in for over a decade.

“Alright. Let’s go. To our home.”

Jae-heon pulled her into a firm embrace. As he gently patted her trembling back, he turned his eyes away from Yi-taek. For now, soothing the woman shaking in his arms took priority over whatever suspicions he still had.

Later that night.

Goyo fell asleep the moment they arrived, more like collapsed, really. Jae-heon left her to rest in the bedroom and stepped out onto the terrace, a cigarette pressed between his lips. He took a long drag, letting the smoke fill his lungs as he replayed everything that had happened at Yi-taek’s house.

“There’s definitely something there.”

Ffhhh. He exhaled into the night, smoke drifting up toward the sky.

“…She wants to know the truth about that day.”

There was no doubt in his mind. That day, she meant the kidnapping case from fifteen years ago.

“What the hell are you hiding, Congressman?”

Should he dig through the prosecutor’s office?

Or break into Yi-taek’s private residence?

Either way, he needed to uncover whatever Yi-taek was concealing. A man like him wouldn’t share secrets with anyone. Sooner or later, Jae-heon would have to return, and this time, he wouldn’t be so polite about it.

He stubbed the half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray and turned back toward the bedroom.

As expected, Goyo was thrashing in her sleep, trapped in yet another nightmare. When he gently woke her, she clung to him like she was trying to push the fear out of her body.

“Please… hold me, Jae-heon…”

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”

He didn’t ask a single question.

And just like that, wrapped in his arms, she gave herself to him—desperate and silent—before falling into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.