Chapter 17: A Love Hidden in Shadows (Part 15)

(POV: Ahn Min-jae – The Truth She Left Behind)

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A Box of Secrets

I stared at the small, locked box in my hands. It was old, the edges worn with time, but I knew—this was something my mother had hidden for a reason.

Soo-min knelt beside me, her gaze shifting between the box and my face. "Do you think it has answers?"

I swallowed hard. "It has to."

There was no key. My mother must have hidden it somewhere else, but I didn't have time to search. Without a second thought, I grabbed a small metal rod from a nearby drawer and jammed it into the lock.

A few twists. A click.

The lock broke.

Soo-min inhaled sharply as I slowly lifted the lid.

Inside were several old documents, some photographs, and a neatly folded letter.

My hands shook as I picked up the letter. The paper was fragile, as if it had been read many times before.

My mother's handwriting stared back at me.

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A Mother's Confession

"To my dearest son, Min-jae,"

"If you are reading this, it means the day has come when you finally learned the truth. And for that, my heart aches, my love. I wanted to protect you from the past, but fate is cruel, and some truths cannot stay buried forever."

"You are not Ahn Sang-hoon's son."

Even though I already knew, seeing it written by my mother's own hand sent a shiver down my spine.

"Your real father was a good man. A kind man. He was the only person I ever truly loved. His name was Seo Joon-hyuk."

I clenched my jaw. The name meant nothing to me. But I would find out everything about him.

"Ahn Sang-hoon ruined him. He destroyed everything we had and forced me into a life I never wanted. I married him to keep you safe, Min-jae. But even after all these years, I never stopped loving Joon-hyuk."

I exhaled shakily.

"Ahn Sang-hoon made me swear never to tell you the truth. He wanted to erase your father's name from history. But I couldn't let that happen. So I left behind these documents, proof of your real identity, and proof that Ahn Sang-hoon is not the man he claims to be."

My heart pounded as I reached for the documents inside the box.

They weren't just birth records.

They were evidence.

Bank transactions, company documents—papers that proved Ahn Sang-hoon had stolen everything from my real father.

Proof that he had built his empire on a crime.

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The War Begins

Soo-min gasped as she looked through the documents. "Min-jae… this is enough to ruin him."

I tightened my grip on the papers. "Good. Because that's exactly what I'm going to do."

For years, I had fought to earn Ahn Sang-hoon's approval. Now, I would destroy everything he built.

Not just for revenge.

For justice.

For my real father.

For my mother.

And for myself.

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