The peace of the lake house followed Li Na back into the city like a fragile bubble. For two days, she and Yen Rui had lived outside the chaos of no boardrooms, no whispers, no rivals only silence and the slow, careful rhythm of two people learning to breathe in the same space.
But peace rarely lasted.
The morning after their return, Li Na entered the lobby of the company and froze. A familiar name echoed across the marble floors, whispered from one employee to another, heavy with curiosity and shock.
"Xu Lan… she's back."
Her chest tightened. Xu Lan the bride who had vanished, leaving Yen Rui alone at the altar. The ghost of a scandal that had bound Li Na and Yen Rui in the first place.
When the elevator doors opened on the executive floor, Xu Lan was already there. Elegant, poised, every strand of hair in place, she sat calmly outside Yen Rui's office, as if she had never disappeared at all.
Her eyes lifted when Li Na approached, and a faint smile curved her lips. "Mrs. Yen."
The title dripped with irony.
Li Na's pulse quickened, but her voice remained steady. "You have no right to call me that."
Xu Lan's smile widened, though her eyes stayed cold. "On the contrary. If not for me, you wouldn't have the title at all."
The door to the office opened then, and Yen Rui stepped out. His gaze fell on Xu Lan, and for the first time since she'd known him, Li Na saw hesitation flash across his face.
"Xu Lan," he said flatly. "You shouldn't be here."
"I had no choice," Xu Lan replied smoothly. "I disappeared because I was forced to. Someone paid me to walk away. I thought you deserved the truth."
Li Na's breath caught. Paid? The words slammed into her like stones. She turned toward Yen Rui, searching his face for answers, but his expression was unreadable, stone on the outside, turmoil beneath.
"Who?" he asked, his tone sharper now.
Xu Lan's gaze flicked toward Li Na before returning to him. "Ask your own family, Rui. Not everyone wanted you married not to me, not to anyone."
The tension in the air thickened, every word pressing like a weight.
Yen Rui dismissed Xu Lan with a curt gesture, his voice icy. "Leave. We'll speak again when you're prepared to give names."
Xu Lan rose gracefully, smoothing her skirt. Her eyes lingered on Li Na one last time. "Be careful, Mrs. Yen. Contracts burn easily when ghosts return to claim what's theirs."
When she left, silence flooded the office. Li Na turned to Yen Rui, her chest aching. "Was she telling the truth?"
His eyes met hers, dark and unsettled. "I don't know. But if she is, then the enemy isn't outside this building, it's inside my bloodline."
For the first time, Li Na felt the strings tightening not only between herself and Yen Rui, but around both of them the knots of secrets, betrayal, and a past that refused to stay buried.