NEW IDENTITY

chapter 9

Lyla finally let out a long, shaky breath as she sank into the back seat of the car.

The moment the door closed, the confident expression she had worn inside the engagement hall disappeared.

She leaned her head against the seat and slowly closed her eyes.

For a few seconds, she simply sat there.

Then the memories came rushing back.

Her father's face.

His laughter.

Her throat tightened.

Four years.

It had been four years since Japhet Kim died, yet the pain still felt as fresh as the day she stood before his coffin.

Her father had been the one person she had never doubted.

The one person she believed would always choose her.

And perhaps that was why losing him had broken something inside her that could never be repaired.

Lyla swallowed hard as another memory surfaced.

Mary Kim.

Before Japhet's death, Mary had been the stepmother Lyla adored.

She had been gentle, patient, and affectionate. She would prepare meals for Lyla, defend her whenever someone upset her, and call her “my daughter” with such warmth that Lyla had never once questioned whether Mary truly loved her.

A bitter smile touched her lips.

“How foolish I was…”

After Japhet died, everything changed.

When the will was read, Lyla had sat there believing her father must have made proper arrangements for her.

But the contents of the will shattered her.

Five percent.

That was all she had been left.

Ten percent of her own father's shares.

The rest of his wealth and properties had been distributed among the three family.

Lyla still remembered the numbness that had spread through her body when she heard it.

She had stared at the lawyer, waiting for someone to say there had been a mistake.

No one did.

Her father was gone.

And suddenly, the family she had trusted seemed to have no place for her.

But grief had blinded her at first.

She mourned her father so deeply that she couldn't bring herself to question the people around her.

It was only later, after she began investigating, that she discovered how many things had happened behind her back.

Documents.

Transfers.

Decisions made without her knowledge.

Pieces of information that didn't add up.

And the more she uncovered, the more one horrifying possibility began to take shape.

Perhaps she hadn't simply been unlucky.

Perhaps she had been deliberately kept in the dark.

Mary had known exactly how much Lyla trusted her.

She had known Lyla's greatest weakness was her love for her family.

And she had used it.

Lyla's eyes slowly opened.

The grief in them had hardened into something colder.

For years, she had mourned her father.

For years, she had blamed herself for being too trusting.

But she no longer blamed herself.

She blamed the people who had taken advantage of her trust.

Her fingers tightened around the handle of her handbag.

“Dad…”

Her voice was barely a whisper.

“If they really took what belonged to me…”

She paused, her eyes darkening.

“Then I'll take it back.”

Not through begging.

Not through tears.

And certainly not through forgiveness.

They had spent four years believing Lyla was weak because she had once been too kind to fight back.

They had no idea that the woman they had abandoned had spent the last three years becoming someone they could no longer control.

Lyla's lips curved into a faint, chilling smile.

She didn't want apologies.

She didn't want their sympathy.

She wanted the truth.

She wanted everything that had been stolen from her.

And she wanted every person who had participated in her downfall to watch as she took it back—piece by piece.

“Drive to the bar,” she said calmly.

“Yes, Miss Kim.”

The driver started the engine.

Lyla leaned back and closed her eyes.

This time, she wasn't remembering the past with grief.

She was remembering it with purpose.

The game had already begun.

And this time, Lyla Kim would be the one holding the pieces.