Hidden Secrets

Prologue

He stood still as the last person in the silent cemetery, gazing down at his daughter's dark, simple coffin. The mourners had long departed; no surprise, it was already late, and for late October, relatively cool. But Kenji Tsukino was unfazed. It was still incomprehensible to him that his daughter should no longer be there.

In her early twenties, she was abruptly taken from life simply because another driver wasn't paying attention. Now his life lay shattered before him. His wife had passed away several years ago, and now his daughter was gone too.

His family, his legacy, his life's work – everything seemed to crumble like a house of cards at this moment, and his hard-earned power threatened to fade away.

A man, also dressed in an immaculate black suit, approached slowly and thoughtfully. Kenji felt his presence but didn't turn around, remaining motionless.

"Kenji, I figured I'd find you here. I know the timing might be inappropriate, but we need to talk. You promised our family a wedding, and since Minako is no longer with us..." the man began.

Kenji slowly raised his hand to silence the uninvited guest. "I promised you a wedding, and you will have one. I have another daughter; I just need to locate her first. Her mother left me during pregnancy and disappeared since then. I'm working on it. Give me a week, and your son will meet his bride... and as for the business, everything will remain as discussed," Kenji replied coldly, without diverting his gaze from his daughter's final resting place.

The other man approached Kenji and spoke emphatically, "If you expect us to just accept this, I must disappoint you. Otherwise, you could pick any girl off the street and present her to us as your daughter. We expect a paternity test, conducted by our own personnel."

Kenji clenched his fists, felt the cold seeping through his fingers, and swallowed hard. "So be it," he finally said, his voice tinged with a hint of bitterness. "I have nothing to hide."

For two weeks, his people had been searching for his other daughter, but there was still no trace of her, except for her name on a birth certificate: Usagi Sasaki. The surname Ikuko had given her was a small detail Kenji could easily rectify; once he found her, she would be a Tsukino. But first, he had to locate her.