Joseph's unease visibly grew as he realized something. "Mr. Knight…?"
Axel's eyes locked onto his. There was no anger in his gaze, only cruel clarity.
"No, Joseph," Axel said quietly, his voice calm yet sharp enough to cut through bone. "It wasn't her."
Joseph froze.
The reaction was immediate and absolute, as if someone had pressed a hidden switch inside him. His body went rigid, his breath stalled, and for a brief second, even his blinking stopped.
The words did not simply surprise him. They shattered something far deeper.
Instantly, his mind was dragged violently back to that night.
Fragments of memory surfaced, unstable. The noise of the gala. The dim lights. The burning frustration he had carried for months, watching Evelyn remain forever distant, forever polite, forever untouchable.
Then the drinks. The carefully executed plan. The subtle exchange. The quiet satisfaction of believing everything was unfolding exactly as he intended.
After that… Blur. Fog. Darkness.
