Chapter 12 – A Truth Too Heavy
The air in the mansion felt different the next morning—charged, restless, like a storm waiting to break. Lin Yue sat in her room, her gaze fixed on the closed door, her thoughts circling like vultures. The image of that box burned into her mind.
What secrets did it hold? What was Mo Chen hiding so desperately that he would rather threaten her than explain?
She paced the room until her nerves frayed. Finally, she stormed down the hall and stopped outside his study. This time, she didn't hesitate. She flung the door open.
Mo Chen was there, seated behind the desk with the box resting in front of him. His eyes lifted slowly, locking onto hers with that unnerving calm that masked something deeper.
"You don't knock," he remarked dryly.
"Not when you owe me the truth," she snapped. Her hands trembled at her sides, but her voice was steady. "Tell me, Mo Chen. What was in that box? What are you hiding about my father?"
For a long time, he said nothing. The ticking of the clock filled the silence, stretching it until Lin Yue's heart thudded painfully against her ribs.
Then he rose, lifting the box as though it were made of glass. He placed it carefully on the table between them.
"You want to know so badly?" His voice was low, edged with something she couldn't place—grief, maybe. "Then I'll show you. But once you see it, Lin Yue, you won't be able to turn back."
Her breath caught. "I've already lost everything. What more is there to lose?"
His eyes darkened, but he didn't argue. With deliberate slowness, he unlocked the box. The lid creaked open, revealing neatly stacked documents, a bundle of photographs, and a single leather-bound journal.
Lin Yue's gaze landed on the top photograph, and her blood turned to ice.
It was her father—shaking hands with Mo Chen's late father, both smiling like men who had sealed a powerful alliance. Behind them stood rows of factory equipment, and workers who looked far too thin, far too young.
"What is this?" she whispered, her throat tightening.
Mo Chen's jaw flexed. "Your father and mine built their empires together. But it wasn't clean, Lin Yue. The factories… they weren't just producing goods. They were hiding things. Exploiting people. My family paid the price when it all went wrong."
Lin Yue's head shook violently. "No. My father would never—"
"He did." Mo Chen's voice cut like a blade, but his eyes softened with something almost like pity. "Do you really think your father was innocent? The man you worshipped wasn't the man he showed you at home."
Her chest ached. She wanted to scream, to deny it, to tear the photo into pieces. But doubt gnawed at her. She remembered the late nights her father spent on calls, the way he had avoided certain questions, the sudden wealth that had never made sense.
Still, the thought that he had been corrupt—that he had betrayed her—was unbearable.
"You're lying," she choked out. "You hate me, so you'll say anything to hurt me."
Mo Chen's expression flickered, pain etched across his features for a brief second before his mask returned. "If I wanted to hurt you, Lin Yue, I wouldn't have married you. I would have destroyed you completely."
Her heart twisted. She hated him—she had to. And yet, standing there with his truth colliding against her memories, she didn't know what to believe anymore.
She snatched the journal from the box and clutched it to her chest. "I'll find out myself. I don't trust your words."
"Then read it," Mo Chen said quietly. "But be ready. Once you know, there's no going back."
---
That night, Lin Yue curled up on her bed with the journal. Her hands trembled as she opened the first page. Her father's familiar handwriting stared back at her, but the words written there were not the words of the man she remembered.
"…Mo Chen's father insists on continuing the shipments through the factory. It's risky, but the profit margin is irresistible. If anyone finds out, both families are finished…"
Lin Yue's stomach churned. Page after page revealed more: secret deals, bribes, coded references to shipments that sounded far from legal.
Tears blurred her vision. Was this why her family had fallen? Was this why Mo Chen had destroyed them—to avenge his own?
She slammed the journal shut, her whole body shaking. Her father wasn't the man she had believed him to be. But Mo Chen… what role had he really played in all this?
Somewhere deep inside, she knew the story wasn't complete.
And she vowed, with her heart burning, that she would uncover the whole truth—even if it destroyed them both.