✨Chapter One — The Secret Behind Her Father
Patricia’s POV
“Father, please! I won’t do it again. I promise! I’ll never come back again. Please, don’t hit me!”
I gasped and shot upright in bed.
My chest rose and fell rapidly as I stared into the darkness.
A dream.
It was only a dream.
I pressed a hand against my chest, trying to calm myself. But the fear in that dream had felt far too real.
“Hey, Patricia. What are you doing, sleepyhead?”
I turned toward the voice.
Sylvester stood by the door, staring at me with an amused expression.
I quickly composed myself.
“Nothing. Just having a nightmare.”
He walked closer, a teasing smile spreading across his face.
“I heard your little crush is getting proposed to today.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You're not jealous, are you?”
I gave him a sinister smile.
“Oh, please. There are plenty of beauties waiting in line for me.”
I laughed.
“That confidence of yours is going to get you in trouble someday.”
“Maybe. But at least I'll look good while it's happening.”
I shook my head, still smiling.
For a moment, everything felt normal.
But I couldn't shake the strange feeling left behind by my dream.
I didn't know it yet, but something from my past was about to catch up with me.
And this time, I wouldn't be able to wake up from it.
Sylvester’s POV
I found out about Yuno by accident.
At first, I thought Patricia’s father was just another ordinary man struggling with gambling and alcohol.
I was wrong.
My investigation led me somewhere I never expected.
Yuno had once been the right-hand man of one of the most feared organizations in the underground world—a group made up of highly trained killers.
The kind of organization people didn't dare speak about openly.
Then I discovered something even more disturbing.
Yuno owed a mysterious figure an enormous amount of money.
The debt was so large that even if he worked a hundred jobs a day, he wouldn't be able to repay it.
Apparently, Yuno had become a perpetual gambler and heavy drinker.
It wasn't difficult to understand how he'd ended up in that situation.
Still, one question bothered me.
How had a man who once stood beside some of the most dangerous people in the country fallen this far?
I stared at the information on my phone.
There was one final detail that made my blood run cold.
Yuno wasn't simply being chased for his debt.
Someone was looking for his daughter.
Patricia.
I slowly lowered my phone.
“Just who are you, Patricia?”
I had no idea that by asking that question, I'd just stepped into a world I might never escape.
