LOGINLiora POVThe photograph stays on my screen.My mother.Alive.Tied to a chair.Waiting for me.My first instinct is to move.To run.To find her.Because for years I imagined this moment.Meeting the woman who gave me life.Hearing her explanation.Asking why she left.But not like this.Not with a threat.Not with someone using her as a weapon against me.Darius immediately notices my reaction.“Liora.”I look at him.“She’s my mother.”My voice breaks.“I finally found her.”I pause.“And now someone is taking her away from me again.”I grab my jacket.“I’m going.”Darius immediately says:“No.”The word makes me freeze.Because the old anger rises.The feeling of someone deciding for me.But before I can react, he continues.“Not because I want to control you.”He pause.“Because whoever did this wants exactly that.”He points at the message.“They want you emotional. They want you alone.”I know he is right.And that scares me.Because even after everything…He understands me.Fo
Liora POVThe photograph is still in my hand.A woman holding me as a baby.A woman whose face I have never seen.A woman whose name I have never spoken.Elara Voss.My mother.The word feels strange.Almost unreal.Because for years, I lived with one painful belief.That nobody wanted me.Not my father.Not my family.Not the woman who gave birth to me.But now I am being told something impossible.She was alive.She knew about me.And somehow…She stayed away.My chest feels heavy.Because I do not know what hurts more.Finding out she abandoned me…Or finding out she might have had a reason.Darius notices the change in me immediately.The bond reacts before I even speak.He says my name softly.“Liora.”I look at him.“What if she left because she didn’t want me?”The question breaks something in him.I could see his expression.Because he knows what it feels like to carry the belief that you are unworthy of love.He says:“Don’t decide her reason before hearing the truth.”He pau
Liora POVThe room is silent.Too silent.Everyone is staring at the screen.The recording has ended, but the words remain.“Dr. Lucien.”The name feels impossible.Because Dr. Lucien was the person Darius trusted when nobody else could reach him.The person who helped him face his guilt.The person who taught him how to stop controlling everything.The person who encouraged him to become better.And now…He might be the person who has been destroying my life.I look at Darius.His expression is unreadable.But I know him.I know the difference between anger and pain.This is pain.Because this is not only a betrayal against me.It is a betrayal against him.Darius takes his phone.He watches the recording again.Once.Twice.Three times.Looking for something.Maybe a mistake.A manipulation.Anything.Finally, he lowers the phone.“No.”The word comes quietly.Not denial.Pain.“I know his voice.”He pause.“But I also know him.”I look at him.“Do you?”The question comes out hars
Liora POVThe name on the back of the photograph refuses to disappear.“Selene Blackwood.”.My sister.The person who found me.The person who gave me a home.The person who told me I was never a mistake.I keep staring at the handwriting.Waiting for something inside me to reject it.To tell me it is fake.A lie.Another manipulation.But my instincts tell me something else.Something hurts.Because if Selene knew…If she knew the truth about me from the beginning…Then every moment we shared suddenly feels different.The first hug.The first time she called me her sister.The way she looked at me like she had been waiting her entire life to meet me.Was it real?Or was it another secret I was never allowed to understand?I look at Adrian.My voice shakes.“Explain.”He does not immediately answer.And that makes me angry.“Explain why my sister’s name is on this.”Adrian takes a deep breath.“Because Selene was involved.”My heart drops.“Involved how?”He looks at the photograph.“
Liora POVThe document is still in my hands.I keep staring at the name.The name that is supposed to explain everything.The name that is supposed to answer why my entire life was built on secrets.“My half-brother.” I whispered to myself.The son who inherited everything.The son who had the family name, the wealth, the protection.The son who got the life I was never allowed to have.I look at Darius.“Are you sure?”My voice is barely above a whisper.Because accepting this means accepting something painful.Someone from my own blood wanted me gone.Darius does not rush to answer.He knows me well enough now to understand that I am not asking because I doubt him.I am asking because I am trying to survive the truth.“We’re still investigating.”He pause.“But everything points to him.”I lower the document.My entire life, I thought I was forgotten.I thought I was abandoned because I was a mistake.But now I am discovering something worse.I was remembered.I was watched.And som
Liora POV“Ravenna was the reason you survived.”The words keep replaying in my mind.I sat there frozen.Because everything I believed about Ravenna is suddenly uncertain.For years, I thought she hated me because I was proof of my father’s betrayal.I thought every cruel word.Every cold look.Every moment she made me feel like I didn’t belong…Was because she blamed me.But now Adrian is telling me something different.Something impossible.That Ravenna protected me.That she knew the truth.And that she kept a secret that shaped my entire life.I look at Darius.He is watching me carefully.Not demanding answers.Just waiting.The way I asked him to.And somehow, that makes the confusion even heavier.Because the people I trusted hurt me.And the person I hated might have saved me.I call Adrian back.This time, Darius stays beside me.Not taking over.Just present.I ask the question that has haunted me my entire life.“Why did my father hide me?”The silence on the other end las
Liora POVI didn't respond immediately; I stared at her for a while. I wasn’t expecting to hear it from her. Definitely not now. You could see the shock on my face after hearing all that from her. The apology is too unstable for me to accept and too late to reject outrightly. It hangs between us
Several days later, Liora left the mansion, Darius still grieving about his loss and everything that happened.He became distant from everyone; the staff understood the situation and how much he was suffering and gave him all the distance he needed and avoided disturbing him.Days passed by, and D
Liora POVI walked away from his sight with dignity after ordering me out of his house. I wasn’t ready to ask for his mercy and get a guilt trip about my decision to save my sister's life or make him see from my perspective. I walked down to the room, picked up a few things, booked a ride to my ol
Darius sat alone in the hotel suite, staring at the TV airing the early morning news while his mind went around with his thoughts. The voices from the television filled the room, but none of the words registered in his mind. They became nothing more than distant noise, blending into the silence tha







