Joseph stared at the envelope.
For a brief mont, he did not move, as if simply looking at it might sohow reveal its contents. A flicker of unease crossed his features. Sothing about Axel’s expression, that unsettling calm paired with the faint smile, made the simple object feel far more threatening than paper had any right to be.
Slowly, Joseph reached forward. His fingers hovered for half a second before finally touching the envelope.
The hesitation did not escape Axel’s notice. He leaned back slightly in his chair, watching with unmistakable interest, like a man observing the opening scene of a performance he had already morized.
Joseph slid a finger beneath the flap. The quiet tearing sound seed unnaturally loud in the silent room.
He pulled out the docunts. At first, his expression remained neutral.
Then, it changed. His brows tightened. His eyes moved rapidly across the pages, and a few pictures brought back mories from several years ago.
And within seconds, the color began draining from his face.
Across the table, Axel remained perfectly still, his cold gaze never leaving Joseph. Beneath that composed exterior, however, satisfaction flickered quietly.
"T-This... Where did you find this..."
The words slipped from Joseph’s lips before he could stop them.
His composure, the carefully built calm he had worn since Axel entered the room, shattered in an instant.
The docunts trembled violently in his hands, the faint rustling of paper betraying what his face already made obvious. Fear. Raw, unmistakable fear.
Joseph’s fingers tightened around the photographs as his eyes darted from one image to another. Angles from hallways. Elevator corners. A hotel corridor. Each picture, clearly taken from CCTV footage, shows him eting the person he paid to execute his plan.
He started to feel like a hamr striking the walls he had spent years building inside himself. With every passing second, that invisible fortress crumbled.
Secrets rarely liked daylight.
Across the table, Axel remained perfectly still.
"Where I got those," Axel said calmly, his voice low and cold, "is not important."
Joseph’s breathing grew uneven.
"The important thing," Axel continued, his gaze sharp enough to cut, "is how you ca up with such an evil idea. Why did you do that?"
"Axel—"
"Don’t." The word cracked through the air like a slap.
Axel’s eyes darkened instantly, the controlled fury finally leaking through the cracks of his restraint.
"Never call my na like that again," he said coldly. "You don’t deserve to speak to that way."
Joseph visibly flinched. His lips trembled as he corrected himself, desperation replacing pride.
"Mr. Knight... this..." His voice faltered. "That was in the past. Please... don’t bring it up again. Please forget about it."
For a brief mont, Axel said nothing. He simply stared.
And the silence that followed was far more terrifying than shouting.
"Forget?" Axel repeated coldly. "You’re asking to forget those terrible things you did?"
Joseph clenched his jaw. Still, he did not answer.
Axel leaned forward slightly, his gaze burning with restrained violence.
"Did Evelyn know about this?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet. "Did she know how evil you are?"
Joseph’s eyes flickered.
"Or," Axel continued, each word heavier than the last, "was your friendship with her completely fake?"
Joseph’s shoulders dropped. That subtle movent, small yet unmistakable, carried the weight of surrender.
He exhaled slowly. "I..." His voice ca out hoarse. "I couldn’t deny it anymore, Mr. Knight."
Axel’s expression hardened.
"I was in love with her." Joseph finally spoke. The confession hung heavily between them.
Joseph swallowed, his trembling fingers tightening around the photographs.
"I loved Evelyn," he continued, his voice shaking yet strangely earnest. "More than you can imagine. I tried to show her. I tried everything. But she..." A bitter smile appeared. "She never saw as a man."
Axel’s jaw tightened.
"She only saw a coworker," Joseph said quietly. "A superior. Soone from work. Nothing more."
Joseph’s eyes lowered. "And that’s why," he admitted, sha flickering across his face, "I had that idea."
Axel’s hands clenched into fists beneath the table.
"I thought... if we slept together first... maybe everything else would follow. He will accept ."
The room seed to freeze.
Axel’s entire body went rigid. For a split second, the urge to leap across the table and drive his fist into Joseph’s face nearly won. His muscles tensed, rage surging violently through his veins. But he forced himself to stay seated. Barely.
Joseph continued, his voice softer now.
"I know what I did was wrong."
Axel’s eyes flashed.
"But, Mr. Knight, I can’t change the past," Joseph said helplessly. "I can’t undo that night."
His fingers trembled again as he stared at the photographs. "And even then, after we sleep together..." He hesitated. "It seed Evelyn didn’t rember anything."
Axel’s gaze sharpened.
Joseph nodded slowly, as if convincing himself. "She acted normally. Spoke normally. Treat the sa."
A flicker of relief crossed Joseph’s face, sickeningly misplaced.
"I was grateful," he whispered. "Because of her not rembering... our friendship survived. It still exists."
Axel stared at him in disbelief.
’Grateful...?!’ The word echoed mockingly in his mind.
Joseph suddenly leaned forward, desperation fully exposed.
"Mr. Knight, please..." His voice cracked. "Let’s not discuss this anymore."
Axel said nothing.
"I don’t want Evelyn to know about it," Joseph pleaded. "She would be devastated. If she learn about it, it would hurt her."
The shalessness of the request left Axel montarily speechless with disgust.
’This trash! He was begging, not out of remorse. But out of self-preservation!!’
Axel’s anger should have exploded.
And yet—
Sothing entirely unexpected stirred within him.
Amusent.
It began as a faint twitch at the corner of his lips. Then a subtle glint in his eyes. Because Joseph, in his frantic confession, remained blissfully unaware of the most crucial truth.
Axel leaned back slowly. His gaze, once blazing with fury, now carried sothing far more unsettling.
Calm satisfaction.
"You’re grateful, Evelyn didn’t know about that night..." Axel said quietly.
Joseph nodded weakly.
"You believed," Axel continued, his voice smooth, "that the woman you slept with that night was Evelyn."
Joseph’s brows furrowed. Confusion flickered across his face.
"Yes," he answered cautiously. "That night... It was Evelyn."
Axel’s lips curved. Not a smile. Sothing colder.
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