Chapter 6: The Truth Begins to Surface

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

Andrew had already left for work, but he had instructed the housekeeper to prepare breakfast for me.

A handwritten note sat beside the plate.

"Don't worry about anything. Recover first."

A faint smile appeared on my face.

Such simple words somehow carried more warmth than everything Hendrix had ever given me during five years of marriage.

Just as I finished breakfast, my phone rang.

It was my father.

"Yvonne, where are you?"

"I'm safe."

"Good. Hendrix came looking for you early this morning."

I paused.

"Did he?"

"He insisted the engagement shouldn't be canceled."

"I told him it wasn't his decision anymore."

After hanging up, I looked out toward the sea.

This life was finally beginning to change.

Meanwhile, inside the Zuckerman Group.

Hendrix sat silently in his office, staring at the engagement ring lying on his desk.

His assistant entered hurriedly.

"Mr. Zuckerman, the investigation report is back."

"What did they find?"

"The yacht explosion wasn't an accident."

"Someone tampered with the engine before departure."

Hendrix's eyes narrowed.

"Who had access to the yacht?"

"Only the maintenance crew... and Miss Yana, because she boarded first that afternoon."

"Impossible."

Hendrix immediately rejected the possibility.

"Yana would never do something like that."

"We're only reporting the facts," the assistant replied carefully.

"The security footage shows she entered the engine room for nearly twenty minutes before everyone boarded."

Hendrix's fingers slowly tightened around the report.

"Keep investigating."

"Do not tell anyone about this yet."

"Yes, sir."

That afternoon, Yana arrived carrying homemade soup.

"Hendrix, you've barely eaten."

She placed the lunchbox on his desk with a gentle smile.

"You shouldn't overwork yourself."

Hendrix quietly watched her.

"Yana... why did you go into the yacht's engine room before we sailed?"

Her smile froze for only a split second.

"Engine room?"

"I... I was just looking around. I'd never been on such a large yacht before."

"Is something wrong?"

Hendrix stared into her innocent eyes.

For years, he had trusted her without question.

Yet for the first time, doubt quietly entered his heart.

At the Grant villa, Andrew returned home earlier than usual.

"Your fever is gone," he said after lightly touching my forehead.

"Looks like you're recovering well."

"Thanks to you."

"Not entirely."

He smiled.

"You survived because you refused to give up."

His words made me remember the freezing seawater.

In my previous life, I had survived only to spend five miserable years paying for someone else's obsession.

This time would be different.

I would never hand my future to Hendrix again.

As the evening sun disappeared beyond the horizon, neither Hendrix nor I realized that the real truth behind the yacht accident was only beginning to unfold.