The Mission That Changed Everything

Liliana Valehart had survived gunfights, betrayals, and the occasional exploding briefcase, but nothing—absolutely nothing—prepared her for the words coming out of Lucy Garcia’s mouth.

Lucy, their employer, leaned back in her leather chair, fingers steepled, eyes sharp enough to cut steel.

“I’m not asking,” she said. “I’m assigning. For this mission to work, you two need to be married.”

Liliana blinked.

Ryang‑ha Song didn’t blink at all. He just tilted his head, studying Liliana like she was a puzzle he’d already solved.

Liliana’s voice finally returned.

“Married? To him?”

Ryang‑ha smirked. “Try not to sound too thrilled.”

Lucy slid a folder across the table. “Your targets trust married couples. They don’t trust agents. You’ll infiltrate their circle as newlyweds, gather intel, and retrieve the stolen ledger. If you fail, dozens of people die. So yes—marriage.”

Liliana opened the folder. Photos. Maps. A list of names with red X’s. And at the bottom, a forged marriage certificate already stamped and dated.

“You forged our signatures,” she said.

“Efficiency,” Lucy replied.

Ryang‑ha leaned closer, his voice low and annoyingly calm. “Relax. I don’t snore. Much.”

Liliana shot him a glare sharp enough to kill. “This isn’t a joke.”

“No,” he said, eyes suddenly serious. “It’s survival.”

For a moment, the room felt too small. Too quiet. Too dangerous.

Lucy stood. “You leave in forty-eight hours. Learn each other. Your habits, your tells, your weaknesses. Married couples notice everything. So will the people you’re hunting.”

Liliana swallowed. She’d worked with Ryang‑ha before—briefly, reluctantly, and with enough tension to power a small city. He was brilliant, infuriating, and impossible to read. The idea of pretending to love him felt… reckless.

The idea of accidentally falling for him felt worse.

Ryang‑ha extended a hand. “Well, Mrs. Song. Shall we begin?”

She didn’t take it. Not yet.

But she didn’t walk away either.

Because beneath the forced smiles and fake vows, beneath the mission and the danger, something else was waiting—

Something neither of them had planned for.

Love. Murder. And a mystery that would bind them tighter than any wedding ring.

Liliana’s stomach twisted. She’d worked with Ryang‑ha before, but only in short bursts—missions where she could keep her distance, where she didn’t have to deal with his infuriating smirks or the way he always seemed to know what she was thinking before she said it.

Being married to him, even on paper, felt like stepping into a trap she couldn’t see.

Ryang‑ha stood and walked toward her, stopping just close enough to make her pulse jump. “Look at it this way,” he murmured. “At least you’re stuck with someone competent.”

She crossed her arms. “Competent doesn’t mean tolerable.”

He grinned. “You’ll learn to tolerate me.”

Lucy snapped her fingers. “You’ll learn more than that. You’ll learn each other’s histories, preferences, habits. You’ll share a home for the next forty-eight hours. Practice being married. Practice being believable.”

Liliana stiffened. “A home?”

“My home,” Ryang‑ha corrected, far too casually. “It’s already been prepared.”

Liliana’s eyes widened. “Prepared?”

Lucy nodded. “Clothes, documents, photos, even a wedding album. Everything a real couple would have. You’ll review it together.”

Liliana felt the ground shift beneath her. This wasn’t just a mission. It was immersion. Transformation. A role she couldn’t simply play—she had to live it.

Lucy’s voice softened, just barely. “Liliana… this mission is dangerous. You’ll be surrounded by killers who can read a lie from a heartbeat. If either of you slips, you both die. So yes, the marriage is necessary.”

Ryang‑ha extended his hand again, but this time his expression wasn’t mocking. It was steady. Serious. Almost gentle.

“Liliana,” he said quietly, “we can do this. Together.”

She hesitated.

Not because she doubted the mission.

But because she doubted herself—doubted her ability to keep her walls up when forced into such close proximity with a man who saw too much.

Finally, she placed her hand in his.

A spark shot through her, sharp and unexpected.

Ryang‑ha’s eyes flickered, just for a second, as if he felt it too.

Lucy exhaled. “Good. Now get out. You have a marriage to rehearse.”

As they walked out of the office, side by side, Liliana realized something unsettling:

She wasn’t afraid of the mission.

She wasn’t afraid of the syndicate.

She wasn’t even afraid of dying.

She was afraid of what might happen if this fake marriage stopped feeling fake.

And deep down, she suspected Ryang‑ha was thinking the exact same thing.

---

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***