An accident left me suddenly and profoundly deaf.

It didn’t really affect my life, because I could read lips—but that was my secret.

I never imagined that this secret would lead me to discover a conspiracy, that the happy, perfect family I thought I had was nothing but a trap.

I gathered evidence and finally got my divorce.

I thought I could start over, but instead, someone tried to kill me…

…

In the middle of the night, I suddenly drew in a deep breath and shot up in bed. When I touched my forehead, it was covered in cold sweat. Another nightmare.

I dreamed again of what happened a month ago…

I had been suddenly, severely deaf for a week.

During that week, I’d been receiving the most attentive care from Nolan Forrester and our precious son, Reid.

Until today—when I suddenly realized my son actually hated me.

“Reid, I bought your favorite watermelon and grapes today,” I told him.

“Thank you, Mom. I love you the most.”

Reid wrote the words on a pad of paper, then went right back to his video game.

It was summer break. Even though Reid would be in his ninth-grade year next semester, I hadn’t stopped him from playing games. Everyone needs to relax sometimes.

I sat beside him, planning, as always, to take the fruit plate away once he finished.

“You have no idea how fucking annoying my mom is. She always brings in fruit when I’m playing,” Reid said, talking to his teammates while still focused on the game.

My smile froze.

I wondered if I’d read his lips wrong. How could my son talk about me like that?

I shifted my posture and watched his mouth again.

“Forget it, let’s not talk about my mom. Just mentioning her kills the mood.”

As soon as Reid said this, he seemed to feel my gaze and quickly looked over, giving me a smile as sweet as ever.

If it weren’t for this sudden deafness, I might never have known that my precious son badmouthed me behind my back.

He was the one who’d asked me to bring him fruit while he played, yet in his version, I was the crazy one.

So this was what heartbreak felt like.

For the first time, I left his room without waiting for him to finish the fruit.

When I closed the door, Reid was still absorbed in his game, not even noticing I’d gone.

Reid wasn’t my biological son. Nolan and I had adopted him from an orphanage.

Nolan and I had met by chance. We hit it off, had endless things to talk about, and after a period of long, late-night conversations, we quickly confirmed our relationship. Six months later, we got married.

While we were dating, Nolan had told me that pregnancy was too hard on women, so he didn’t want children.

I hadn’t taken that seriously. Lots of couples say things in the heat of romance that they don’t mean later, once they’re married.

But to my surprise, even after the wedding, Nolan never changed his mind. He insisted pregnancy was too damaging to a woman’s body. I took it as proof of how much he cared about me, so I just went along with it.

Half a year after the wedding, Nolan suddenly suggested we adopt a child from the orphanage he’d grown up in, so I wouldn’t feel guilty about us not having kids.

In truth, I’d never blamed myself. But since Nolan had brought it up, I agreed.

And just like that, two-year-old Reid joined our family. As it turned out, having a child at home really did make the house livelier, and taking care of him filled most of my time.

I’d always raised Reid as if he were my own flesh and blood, and he’d always acted like he loved me deeply.

But what happened that night made me wonder if that love wasn’t as deep as I thought. I could only comfort myself: this must just be a rebellious phase.

I spent half the night convincing myself, giving him excuses in my head. I never expected I’d be slapped in the face by reality the very next day.

The next morning, I got up early to make breakfast.

“Dad, he’s still not back yet?”

Reid typed on his phone as he ate breakfast and held the screen up to me.

“Not yet. He won’t be back until noon today.”

Nolan had been on a business trip for three days. For the first time, I actually wanted him to hurry home.

I used to really enjoy the one‑on‑one time I had with Reid. Now I didn’t even know how I was supposed to get along with him.

Noon came quickly. Nolan finally returned from his trip.

“My dearest wife, did you miss me?”

The moment he walked through the door, Nolan pulled me into a hug, then typed it out on his phone for me to see.

“Of course.”

Once he was back, I felt like I could finally breathe again. I planned to talk to him tonight about the problems between me and Reid.

At lunch, Reid chattered nonstop to Nolan.

“Dad, thank God you’re back. You have no idea how annoying it is dealing with Mira Driscoll all by myself!”

I hadn’t expected my son to call me by my full name right in front of Nolan, and then complain about me to my own husband.

I looked at Nolan, waiting to see how he’d correct Reid’s rudeness. But he didn’t react at all. He just kept eating, like this was nothing new.

“Dad, when are you finally going to get a divorce?”

His question left me completely confused. I’d always felt our marriage was happy and solid. So why would my own child say something like that?

I wanted to lower my head to hide my expression, but if I did, I wouldn’t be able to see what they were saying. I forced myself to keep my emotions in check and kept my eyes on them.

Nolan glanced at me. “Eat your food.”

Reid noticed I was looking, turned to me, and grinned. “What are you scared of? The pain‑in‑the‑ass is deaf. She can’t hear what we’re saying anyway.”

I quickly rearranged my expression and gave him a small smile in return.

“See? She looks like a fucking idiot.”

For the first time, I felt like I had completely failed as a parent.

“If you already know what she’s like, then don’t bother arguing with her,” Nolan said, trying to soothe him.

Hearing him comfort Reid like that, realizing this was probably how he talked to our son about me behind my back, made our marriage feel like a joke.

Here was the problem: if this was how they treated me in private, then why did they act like they loved me so much on the surface?

“Mira, I need help. It’s urgent!”

“Send me the location. I actually needed to talk to you too.”

I grabbed a canvas bag and headed out. Neither father nor son asked where I was going. They just waved goodbye.

I took a cab to the university district, avoided the busy shopping streets, and slipped into a relatively clean public restroom, where I changed into the clothes in my bag.

A white T‑shirt, a pair of jeans, a cap. With a mask on, I blended right in with the college students wandering along the sidewalks.

Following the navigation, I walked and stopped along the way until I reached a small restaurant. The lunch rush was long over, and the place was empty.

As soon as I stepped inside, I spotted the flashy idiot upstairs on the second floor waving wildly at me.

“Mira, is your hearing any better?”

“Give it another three or four days. I should be able to hear again by then.”

“That’s good. So, I picked up a new request today. I know you don’t want to take on any more jobs, but this one is really…”

Seeing Arthur Huxley about to launch into a sob story, I cut him off.

“I’ll take it. Send me the details later.”

Arthur froze. “Mira, you’re just…agreeing like that?”

“You were the one who said it was urgent.”

“Ever since you retired, you haven’t answered a single one of my emergency calls from the underworld!”

Arthur looked genuinely puzzled, then his expression shifted like he’d suddenly remembered something.

“No, wait! It must be that punk Nolan causing trouble. I’ll go beat some sense into him right now!”

“Enough. We don’t have any proof yet.”

When I’d decided to marry Nolan, I chose to retire. I was afraid my line of work would affect our little family.

I’m also a kid who grew up in an orphanage, though not the same one as Nolan.

Unlike Nolan, who stayed until he aged out, I was adopted by my foster parents when I was sixteen.

That time of my life felt like a beautiful dream. But it didn’t last long. The year I was about to turn eighteen, my foster father died in an accident.

After hearing the news, my foster mother’s mental state never recovered. The day after she stayed up to celebrate my eighteenth birthday with me, she left me forever.

After that, I drifted through life in a daze—but life doesn’t stop just because you want to.

I went to college while working part-time, and somehow I actually landed a high-paying gig. Thanks to the lip-reading I’d been able to do since I was a kid, I became an assistant at a private detective agency.

Maybe I really did have a talent for it. After graduation, relying on my ability to read lips, I was directly promoted to leader of the company’s Sixth Unit.

The Sixth Unit handled lip-reading and translation. We didn’t have to run around on fieldwork like the other teams, and there were only five of us.

Then, when I was twenty-five, I met Nolan. That’s when my life took a turn. I submitted my resignation.

When the company found out I wanted to quit, they sent everyone in my unit to talk me out of it. But I didn’t want any potential enemies from my work putting Nolan at risk, so I still left.

After I resigned, the position of “Mira from the Sixth Unit” stayed vacant all the way till now. Arthur and the others would drop by to chat with me every now and then. I knew the company was quietly allowing it—they still hoped I’d come back.

Once I fell in love, all I did was ask around a bit about Nolan’s personality and character. I never dug deeper into his background.

Looking back now, I realize I walked straight into a trap called love.

And now I have no choice but to investigate him.

“Arthur, help me look into Nolan.”

What kind of reason could he possibly have, that he’d want to divorce me, yet still put on such a loving act with Reid, acting like he adored me, making me believe our family was perfect and happy?

Two days later, I received a message from Arthur.

In those two days, I kept pretending I didn’t know anything. It gave me an even clearer picture of just how much they despise me. Nolan’s acting is fucking impeccable.

Two in the morning—the time when they’re usually dead asleep. I moved quietly, picking up the canvas bag I’d prepared in advance, and slipped out the door.

As soon as I reached the bottom of the building, I spotted Arthur hiding behind a big tree outside the complex gate, poking his head out now and then. Luckily there were no cameras in that spot, or he really would’ve been arrested as a thief.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you stealing something or what?”

Arthur winked at me. “I’m just trying to match the vibe.”

I gave him a thumbs-up. The company’s resident clown never disappoints.

Thirteen years had passed since I last set foot in the company. It looked almost exactly the same, yet something about it felt subtly changed.

We slipped in through the back door, and when I glanced toward the lobby, I saw the boss sitting there.

“Welcome home, Mira.”