Mikhail"Leave me alone," I whispered to Liliana, my voice barely audible through the sobs that were still wracking my body. "Please. I need... I need to process this."I couldn't look at her. I couldn't bear to see the reflection of my own devastation in her eyes. Everything I had believed about myself, about my identity, about my place in the world, had been stripped away in the span of a single conversation. I was not who I thought I was. I had never been who I thought I was.Liliana hesitated for a moment, and I could feel her wanting to stay, to comfort me somehow. But she understood. After everything we'd both endured tonight, we needed space to breathe, to think, to figure out what any of this meant for our future."I'll be in the garden," she said softly, and I heard her footsteps retreating down the hallway.Alone in Anastasia's room, surrounded by the evidence of her decades-long manipulation, I let the full weight of the truth crash over me like a tsunami. I was Nikolas Orl
Last Updated : 2025-09-11 Read more