The morning before my sister’s wedding, our driver suddenly lowered his voice and said, “Lie down on the back seat and cover yourself with a blanket. You need to hear this.” I refused at first, but he insisted, “Trust me.” Half an hour later, I heard Takeo…

He nodded once.

“I overheard them talking in the lobby last night,” Marcus continued carefully. “I wasn’t trying to listen—but they were discussing you and some paperwork. Something about it didn’t sit right.”

My chest tightened.

“What paperwork?”

“For the past few days they’ve been asking you to sign something, correct?”

The “small transfer document.”

My mother had been pushing it all week.

It’s just for family efficiency. Stop being dramatic. It’s a wedding gift.

Marcus extended the folded blanket toward me.

“If you stay sitting up, they’ll watch what they say. But if they think you’re not here…”