جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 173

Daniella didn’t speak during the drive back to the old house.She sat beside Christian in silence, staring through the window while her uncle drove ahead of them. Every word he had spoken at the training compound kept replaying in her mind.I created Crown Meridian.I killed your father.I trained you to become a weapon.She had spent thirteen years believing her uncle had saved her from the monster who murdered her father. She had trusted every lesson, every warning and every piece of information he had given her.Now she couldn’t tell which memories were real and which had been carefully constructed for her.Christian reached across the space between them and took her hand.Daniella looked down at their joined fingers.“I don’t know who I am anymore.”Christian’s voice was quiet. “You don’t have to figure that out tonight.”“He made me.”“No.”She looked at him.“He trained you. That’s different.”“It doesn’t feel different.”“It is.”Daniella swallowed.“My entire life has been bui

Daniella stared at the injured man on the floor, unable to shake the words he had just spoken. “You’ve been looking for the wrong monster.”Her eyes moved slowly toward her uncle. The room seemed to grow smaller as she studied his face, searching for another lie. There had been too many already. Too many secrets, too many carefully constructed stories, too many years of believing something that had never been true.“Who ordered you to kill my father?” she asked.Her uncle remained silent.Christian stepped forward, his expression hardening. “Answer her.”The man’s eyes flickered toward Christian before a faint smile appeared on his bloodied face. “You really believe him?”Christian’s jaw tightened. “Believe who?”The man laughed weakly. “Everyone in this story has been lying.”Daniella crouched in front of him. “Then start telling the truth.”He looked at her for several seconds before speaking. “Your father wasn’t killed because of Crown Meridian.”Daniella’s eyes narrowed. “My uncle