9

Elara’s Pov

The next morning arrived with a pale, cold sunlight that crept through the hospital window and stretched across the white floor.

I hadn't slept well.

Before the city had even fully woken up, the door clicked open quietly, and Silas stepped inside. He wasn't carrying a clipboard full of cold medical charts today. Instead, he carried a small, neat kit for the DNA test, walking with a gentle, careful step as if he were walking near a sleeping animal.

"Good morning, Elara," Silas said softly, offering a warm, tired smile. He pulled a chair up beside my bed and sat down without rushing. "I brought everything we needed for the test. But before we do anything, I want you to know that you are completely in control. If you wake up today and decide you aren't ready for this, or if it feels too scary, you can stop me. We won't force you."

He also told me that he had arranged for an independent doctor to check my ribs and my head injuries, just to make sure I was healing properly. He explained that he didn't want me to feel like the family was using my fragile health or my weak condition to trap me into a decision.

I looked at him, touched by his kindness. In the Rooke household, nobody ever gave me a choice. Everything was decided for me—from the clothes I wore to the life I was expected to quietly endure.

"Thank you, Silas," I whispered, my voice sounding a little steadier than it had yesterday. "I want to do the test. I need to know."

Silas nodded gently and began preparing the samples. But as the small cotton swab touched my skin, a cold wave of anxiety washed over my chest. My heart hammered hard against my ribs.

What if the test came back negative? What if the Veynes were completely wrong, and their grief was just built around a tragic mistake? If that happened, I would have to accept that I was still just an ordinary orphan, and I would be left wondering why Kael had recognized my pendant so immediately.

And yet, what if the result confirmed the truth? What if I really was their missing daughter? That meant everything I had believed about myself for twenty-four years—that I was unwanted, abandoned, and alone—was a complete lie. It meant I had a whole family, a history, and a bloodline that went deeper than any wealth Darian could ever imagine.

While we waited for the laboratory to process the rush order, Ronan tried to distract me. He pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed and started telling funny stories about the family estate to ease the thick tension in the air.

"You wouldn't believe what Kael was like as a teenager," Ronan chuckled, shaking his head. "When he was sixteen, he tried to sneak out of the mansion past midnight to meet some friends. He thought he was a master spy. But he completely forgot about the new laser security system Dad had just installed. He tripped every single alarm, woke up the entire neighborhood, and the local police showed up with flashing lights while Kael was hanging upside down from a tree branch in his pajamas."

Kael, who had been standing quietly by the window with his arms crossed, let out a low groan and rubbed the back of his neck, a rare hint of embarrassment coloring his cheeks. "Do you have to tell her that story, Ronan?" Kael muttered, though a faint, fond smile touched the corners of his lips.

I managed a small, quiet smile, though my thoughts kept drifting back to the test. Kael noticed my restless hands and stepped closer, keeping his distance so he wouldn't crowd me.

"Elara," Kael said softly, his stormy eyes looking straight into mine. "Stop worrying. If you're regretting this, you don't have to carry the weight of our family history. And if you're apologizing for being nervous yesterday... don't. You have nothing to apologize for. We should just be grateful that you're alive and breathing in front of us, whether you ever call us your brothers or not."

His words felt like a warm blanket wrapping around a freezing person. I looked around the room—at Ronan's comforting smile, at Silas's steady hands, at Kael's unwavering protection—and felt an ache so deep it was hard to breathe.

"Tell me," I whispered, looking up at Silas. "When I was little... what kind of person was I? Before I disappeared?"

Silas smiled sadly, looking down at his hands. "I was too young to remember much of you myself, Elara. I was only six when you vanished. But I spent my whole life listening to Kael and Ronan talk about you. They told me you were a stubborn little girl who refused to take 'no' for an answer. You insisted on following your older brothers everywhere, even when they tried to play sports without you. Kael kept one of your tiny plastic toys hidden in his desk drawer for ten years after you were gone. And Ronan... Ronan refused to celebrate his birthday for a long time because it reminded him of the last family party we had together before your stroller went missing."

Hearing those stories left me feeling comforted and devastated all at once. The people sitting around me had carried the heavy, empty absence of a little girl for nearly their entire lives. They had lived in a house full of ghosts.

Just then, Silas's phone buzzed sharply on the bedside table.

He glanced down at the screen, and the color completely drained from his face. Without saying a single word, Silas stood up so fast his chair scraped loudly against the floor. He turned and hurried out into the hallway.

Through the glass window of the hospital door, I watched as Kael and Ronan rushed over to meet him. Seraphina, who had walked into the room just a few minutes earlier, froze in her tracks. Her hand reached out, trembling violently, and gripped mine tightly for support.

Outside, Silas held a thick manila envelope in his hands. He looked down at the papers inside, his mouth slightly parted, looking completely unable to speak. For a long, agonizing moment, none of the brothers moved. They just stood there in the corridor, staring at the pages as if the words printed on them held the weight of the entire universe.

Then, Silas turned and pushed the door open, walking slowly back into the room.

He walked over to the side of my bed. He didn't look at Ronan or Kael; his eyes were fixed entirely on me, shining with thick, heavy tears that he wasn't trying to hide anymore.

Silas placed the sealed report gently down on the small table next to my bed. He took one deep, shaky breath, trying to steady his voice, and looked directly into my eyes.

"There is no mistake," Silas said, his voice breaking completely as he revealed the result. "Elara, you are our sister. You are a Veyne.”