Chapter 6 - MY HUSBAND'S SISTER HAD BEEN PLANNING THIS FOR MONTHS
Three days after returning home, I received a package.
No return address.
No sender name.
Just a small cardboard box delivered through the front gate.
Grandfather's security team checked it before allowing it into the house.
Inside was a silver hair clip.
I recognized it immediately.
Nari wore it at my wedding.
It had a small pearl in the center and a thin gold clasp.
I remembered complimenting her.
She had smiled and said it was a gift from Jihoon.
Under the clip was a folded note.
You were never supposed to marry him.
I stared at the words.
For several seconds, I didn't move.
Then I called Director Jang.
She arrived within an hour.
She examined the hair clip without touching it.
“Did Nari send this?”
“I don't know.”
“Why would she?”
“That's what I want to understand.”
Director Jang asked the security team to preserve the package.
Then she opened her laptop.
“We've been investigating the connection between Nari and Han Daewon.”
I sat carefully across from her.
“And?”
“They met more often than we realized.”
She turned the screen.
Restaurant records.
Travel bookings.
A private investment forum in Singapore.
A luxury hotel in Tokyo.
At first, the dates appeared ordinary.
Nari attended many business and cultural events.
Daewon traveled constantly for Haedam.
Then Director Jang highlighted one entry.
A hotel reservation.
Three years and six months earlier.
Two months before Jihoon first met me.
The names were listed on separate bookings.
Nari.
Daewon.
Same floor.
Same dates.
Then another meeting.
And another.
The pattern continued after my wedding.
I felt a familiar coldness settle in my stomach.
“What were they doing?”
“We don't know yet.”
“Did they have a relationship?”
“Possibly.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn't explain why she hated me.”
Director Jang studied me.
“Unless her objective wasn't simply to remove you from Jihoon's life.”
I looked up.
“What else?”
“She may have wanted access to something you possessed.”
My inheritance.
My voting rights.
My identity.
I frowned.
“But she didn't know who I was.”
Director Jang hesitated.
“Are you certain?”
The question struck harder than I expected.
I had been so sure my secret remained hidden.
Jihoon certainly hadn't known.
His shock was genuine.
But Nari?
She had always asked strange questions about my childhood.
Where my parents worked.
Why I never showed Jihoon family photographs.
Whether my grandmother had left me property.
I used to think she was searching for ways to embarrass me.
Now I wondered if she was searching for confirmation.
I remembered a dinner from our first year of marriage.
Nari had leaned across the table and asked:
“Unnie, have you ever heard of Haedam Group?”
I laughed.
“Who hasn't?”
She smiled.
“My friend says the Han family has a missing granddaughter.”
My fork had stopped moving.
Nari watched me.
I told her I didn't follow celebrity gossip.
She laughed and changed the subject.
At the time, I forgot about it.
Now I couldn't.
“Director Jang.”
“Yes?”
“I think she suspected.”
The attorney nodded slowly.
“That would explain some of the records.”
“What records?”
She opened another file.
Private investigators.
Payments made by a small consulting firm connected to Nari.
I stared.
“She hired people to investigate me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Shortly after your wedding.”
I closed my eyes.
For three years, I thought Nari's cruelty came from jealousy.
Now the possibility was uglier.
She might have been studying me.
Waiting.
Trying to confirm that the ordinary translator her brother married was the missing Han heiress.
I remembered the accusations.
The supposedly stolen jewelry.
The rumors about another man.
The constant demands that I apologize.
Perhaps each was a test.
How would I react?
Would I call my family?
Would a lawyer appear?
Would I finally reveal myself?
But I never did.
I handled everything alone.
That had probably convinced her I was easier to break than expected.
Then Director Jang said:
“We found the company that paid the investigators.”
“What company?”
“Seorin Capital Services.”
I froze.
The name from my father's notebook.
I looked at her.
“Seorin?”
“Yes.”
“Isn't that company defunct?”
“The original was dissolved years ago. Several successor entities still exist.”
I felt my pulse quicken.
“And Nari?”
“She received consulting payments through one of them.”
“How much?”
“Approximately six hundred thousand dollars over two years.”
I stared.
Nari had no need for consulting income.
Jihoon supported her lavish lifestyle.
She owned an apartment he bought.
A car he leased.
A generous annual allowance.
Why would she accept money from a corporate entity tied to my father's old investigation?
Director Jang looked at me.
“We're still tracing the transfers.”
I nodded.
Then asked:
“Who delivered the package?”
“Security is reviewing footage.”
At that moment, her phone vibrated.
She read the message.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
“The courier wasn't a courier.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The person delivering the package was a woman.”
“So?”
“She entered the gate carrying a delivery uniform, but the camera found her face.”
Director Jang turned the phone toward me.
I recognized her.
Kim Hyejin.
A young housekeeper who had worked at Jihoon's mansion during our first two years of marriage.
She disappeared suddenly the previous winter.
Nari told me she had been dismissed for stealing cosmetics.
I never believed that.
Hyejin had been gentle.
Quiet.
Always careful.
Once, after Nari threw a glass of wine against the wall during an argument, Hyejin stayed late to help me clean.
She had whispered:
“Madam, please be careful.”
I asked what she meant.
She looked toward the staircase.
Then shook her head.
Now she was delivering an anonymous warning.
I asked Director Jang to locate her.
Two hours later, Hyejin called.
Her voice shook.
“Madam?”
“Hyejin.”
She began crying.
“I didn't know whether you'd remember me.”
“Of course I remember.”
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not helping you sooner.”
I sat straighter.
“What happened?”
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
“I heard Miss Nari talking about you.”
“With whom?”
“A man.”
“Where?”
“At the mansion.”
“When?”
“The night before I was fired.”
My heart began pounding.
“What did they say?”
Hyejin took a shaky breath.
“Miss Nari said she was tired of waiting.”
“For what?”
“She said you were supposed to disappear after the wedding.”
I stopped breathing.
Hyejin continued.
“The man told her it wasn't time yet.”
“What man?”
“I never saw his face.”
“Did you hear his name?”
A long pause.
Then:
“She called him Director Han.”
Daewon.
My cousin.
I stared at the window.
The gardens outside were beautiful.
The sunlight warm.
For a moment, I wanted to pretend none of this was happening.
Then Hyejin said something that changed everything.
“Madam, I kept something.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
My heart thudded.
“Of their conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I'll bring it.”
“Please don't travel alone. Director Jang can arrange someone you trust to meet you.”
Hyejin went quiet.
Then whispered:
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“I was fired because Miss Nari found out I had copied a security recording.”
I closed my eyes.
“From which night?”
“The night she first tried to frame you.”
My voice became very small.
“What did it show?”
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Hyejin answered:
“Miss Nari entering your bedroom while you were asleep.”
