He should’ve known better. 

When Mark stepped walked across the living room to find an envelope slipped under the front door, he should’ve known better. No one knew where he was staying and the envelope had no return or mailing address which meant someone knew where he was and stood on the other side of the door but walked away without trying to kill him. 

But his name was on the envelope and he was so surprised that he didn’t pause to think about how strange it was. He didn’t stop and consider that whatever was in the envelope was meant to stir up. 

Because as his eyes read over the contents over and over, his head started to spin. The words weren’t making any sense, too scientific for his mind to comprehend. He grabbed Jinyoung’s laptop and began searching up the terms he didn’t understand. Jinyoung had left to try to bug the CEO’s home and Jaebum had taken Heiran and Lucy out for fresh air, Heiran had worried that the little girl becoming depressed and needed a change of scenery. 

The silence was taunting him as he slowly pieced together what was on the papers that were sent to him.  

It was around the 6th time that he was reading the pages that he noticed a handwritten note on the back of the last page. 

Looks like the Duchess has been keeping secrets. Too bad I know a few of hers. Better make sure she keeps shut or else. 

-GOT7

-----

When Heiran, Jaebum, and Lucy all came home, they found Mark sitting on the couch, holding pieces of paper in his hands. To anyone else they would’ve assumed he was just deep in thought, but Mark always looked up whenever Heiran or Lucy walked into the room. His eyes always darted to them as soon as he could. 

So they knew immediately that something had happened. 

“Everything okay?” She asked as she kicked off her shoes and helped Lucy out of hers. 

He lifted her head and took her in. She looked happier after having been out, her cheeks were red from the chill but there was a sparkle in her eyes. His gaze then moved to Lucy, the little girl who always looked a little bit like Heiran but never as much as he assumed a daughter should look like her mother.

She also looked brighter and more refreshed. Looking at her, he wondered why he never saw it before, why the anomalies never really raised any red flags. Maybe he just didn’t want to look too deep into it or maybe he just figured that even if he brought it up he knew she wouldn’t give him a straight answer.

“Mark?” Jaebum asked with a frown. 

“Lucy?” Mark called out quietly, looking only at her, “Can you give us a few minutes? You can watch tv.”

She glanced up at her mother and Heiran smiled, kissing her on the head, “Go on, sunshine.”

Once Lucy was out of earshot, Mark stood and handed Heiran the pages he had clutched tight in his hand for an hour, “This was slid under the door today addressed to me.”

Heiran looked confused until she started reading through the pages. Her eyes widened when she caught the last page and looked up at him, caution in his eyes, “Who gave this to you?”

“Who do you think?” He said bitterly, “Your dad.”

Jaebum looked over her shoulder before his eyes widened, “Woah, wait, is that a DNA test?”

“Lucy’s DNA test.” Mark said softly. His eyes zeroed in on Heiran who only stared back, “I don’t really know what to make of it but based on the results, you’re more related to Lucy’s father than you are to Lucy.”

She shook her head with tears filling her eyes, “It’s not what you think.”

“What does that even mean?” He asked, his brows twisted in confusion.

She was trembling, "Mark, please."

"I'm just confused, what does any of this mean?" He asked with a serious stare on his face.

She squeezed her eyes shut as if it physically pained her to speak, “Lucy…biologically…isn’t my daughter. She’s my niece. Her father was my older brother.”

Jaebum looked at his feet as Mark took a sharp breath, “Where are her biological parents?”

“They died.” She whispered, “In a car crash.”

7 Years Ago

Heiran stood next to Lucy’s hospital bed reaching out to touch her arm. There was an oxygen mask covering more than half her face and bandages covering different parts of her body. 

The doctors said that her mother had shielded her from the impact. And her father had taken most of the hit, he had died instantly, but his wife had died on the way to the hospital. Heiran prayed that she didn’t see him die. She couldn’t imagine how much that would’ve hurt her. 

Heiran collapsed in the chair and sobbed into her hands. She didn’t think her world could get any darker after her mother passed away. She always thought that at least she had her brother, she’d always have her brother. 

Johnny Seo, she always about the American nickname. She preferred Young Ho. Every minute of her life, she had Young Ho next to her, looking out for her, being the shoulder she cried on, the rock she leaned on, the ray of light in a black hole. 

And he was gone. 

What was she going to do? How was she going to live? She was all alone now. Truly alone. 

She was on campus one minute and then her phone rang and she blinked and was in the hospital to identify her brother and sister-in-law’s remains. This was just a bad dream. This was all just a sickeningly realistic bad dream. 

But then why did her chest hurt? Why could she hear her heart beating?

Why wasn’t her brother waking her up?

She had cried when her brother got married, she didn’t want him to move out and start a new life and have a new family. She wanted him to stay in their little run down 2-bedroom apartment where they stayed up and watched tv on the cable they stole from the neighbours. Even though he promised he’d always be her brother, she didn’t want to be left behind. 

But this was worse. 

Now she wanted him back with his family, with his wife and daughter who treated her like part of their family. She wanted him laughing loudly and taking pictures of every single moment. She wanted him sneaking kisses with his wife when he didn’t think she was looking. She wanted to film him playing with his kid who he loved more than she thought possible. 

She didn’t want to be left behind. 

Lifting her head, she looked at Lucy’s unconscious body. The doctors said that it was a miracle that she survived but Heiran knew that the reason Lucy was alive wasn’t a miracle but because her parents sacrificed their lives to save her.

The doctor also said that Heiran needed to decide if she was going to take over guardianship of Lucy or else they’d have to call Child Services. She signed whatever papers they gave her but it wasn’t until this second that the seriousness of what she had committed to had sunk in. 

From the moment ink met paper, she was Lucy’s guardian, parent, adult, mother, whatever you want to call it, she was it. She didn’t know the first thing about raising a child. While Johnny and his wife poured over parenting books, she was eating pasta and teasing them about studying for the parenting exams. 

She wasn’t prepared to be a mother, she was prepared to be an aunt. The person who buys gifts, gossips with her niece once she’s old enough and gives her everything her parents were too strict to give her. She wasn’t ready to be the responsible one. 

She hadn’t even graduated yet, she didn’t have a steady job or enough money to have a daughter. Johnny and his wife barely had enough saved up to pay rent and they both had jobs. She was going to fail, she was going to do a bad job and be a bad parent. She was going to let her brother down. 

Why did this happen to her? 

Maybe she should ask the doctors to call the Child Services people again. Lucy was still young, she could probably get adopted by a good family that could raise her better than she ever could. A family that was actually ready for a child. A few months in foster care would be better than a lifetime stuck with an unfit, unprepared mother.

Making up her mind, she stood with her purse and started walking to the door to find someone to help her when Lucy’s cracked voice echoed out.

“Mhhmm, aunty?” 

Heiran wiped at her face and spun around, rushing and leaning over Lucy in worry, “Lucy, sweetie, are you okay? Thank god, shh shh, don’t sit up. Let me call a nurse.”

“W—What happened? Where’s mommy and daddy? What’s going on?” She asked, scared. 

Heiran opened but she couldn’t get the words out. She didn’t want to be the one to tell her the truth. But the fear and uncertainty in the 3 year-old’s eyes mixed with the relief when she saw her aunt there waiting for her made everything fall into place. Heiran was sinking and fast and if she wasn’t careful she was never going to make it out of this black pit alive. 

She wasn’t going to let Lucy get hurt the way that she was. And maybe raising her and putting all of her efforts in giving her the best life would save her from her own helplessness. The pain might not drown her if she had Lucy keeping her afloat.

She didn’t know how she was going to do it, but she was going to raise her. She was going to be there for her. 

Lucy was her ray of sunshine in all the darkness. 

And she would protect her or die trying. 

-----

Mark let out a shaky breath as he looked away, “Does she know what really happened?”

“Yeah.” Heiran whispered, “Once she was discharged I had to tell her, her parents were suddenly gone, I couldn’t lie.”

He nodded, blinking hard, “What caused the accident?”

“Drunk driver.” She said, her voice catching. “They arrested and charged the guy a few months later.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” He asked with confusion painted in his eyes. 

Her stare dropped, “Because then I had to remember the moment when I almost abandoned her. You kept telling me how I was this amazing, selfless mother. I didn’t want to deal with you being disappointed in me when you learned the truth. The truth that I almost gave her up.”

“I wish you just told me.” He whispered thickly.

Jaebum cleared his throat and slipped the papers out of Heiran’s hands and flipped them over, “Why would someone send this to Mark, though? What did they think was going to happen? It’s not like you told him that it was his kid or something.”

“I think it’s a distraction method.” Mark mumbled while staring at Heiran, “We’d be too consumed with this bomb, that we’d be off our game. That must mean we’re getting to them.”

Heiran broke eye contact and crossed her arms, “How did he even get a DNA test done?”

“When Jackson kidnapped Lucy, you said that he gave her back to Mark without putting up much of a fight, right?” Jaebum prompted. 

Mark finally pulled his gaze away from her and frowned, “Are you saying that he lied and took a strand of her hair or something?”

“We’ve determined that her father lied once already because I never threatened to come after Lucy. He must’ve sent Jackson to get a sample under the pretence of protecting her.” He reasoned. “It’d make sense.”

“Does your father know that Johnny died?” Mark asked her. 

Heiran shrugged, “I don’t know but if he had been keeping tabs on me, he probably kept tabs on his other child too.”

“That means he probably knew you weren’t her mother and wanted to double-check. It was probably going to be leverage.” Jaebum said. 

Mark pressed his fingers against his eyes, “, this is probably going to be a custody thing.”

“What do you mean?” Heiran demanded, alert.

Mark gave her a solemn look, “He’s Lucy’s grandfather and he has proof that other than you, Lucy has no other living relative. If you lose custody and he comes forward as her relative, he’ll get custody, so he’s saying that if you do anything to come for him, he’ll expose all the illegal activity that’s been done in your name, send you to jail and take Lucy, which he knows you’ll never let happen. Which means he’d basically telling you to back off. Telling us to back off.”

“Oh my god.” She whispered, her hand shaking. 

Jaebum ran his hands through his hair, “We need to regroup and figure out a change in plans to make sure that doesn’t happen. This changes everything now.”

Heiran was frozen solid, immobile and Mark was quick to move closer and pull her into his arms, “It’ll be fine, we won’t let anything happen to her, even if it means kidnapping her before your father can claim custody.”

She