“They’re... still alive?”
I stared at the masked man without blinking.
All this time, I’d always believed both my parents were dead.
But it turned out...
They were still somewhere out there.
“Don’t believe him!”
Dad’s voice echoed throughout the room.
The masked man only smiled coldly.
“I have no reason to lie.”
His gaze returned to me.
“We came to take you to meet them.”
My heart began pounding harder.
“If that’s true...”
I bit my lip.
“...why only now?”
The man let out a quiet sigh.
“Because we’ve been looking for you too—for twenty-two years.”
I grew even more confused.
“If you were looking for me, why did you only find me tonight?”
“We didn’t know you were being hidden in the Mahendra family’s home.”
At once, every eye turned toward Dad.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
As if he could no longer bear all the secrets that were beginning to come to light.
“Dad...”
My voice trembled.
“So it’s true? You hid me?”
Dad slowly nodded.
“Yes.”
Just one word.
But it was enough to destroy the last of my trust.
“Why?”
He didn’t answer right away.
His hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice!” I shouted.
“The choice to love me!”
“The choice to feed me!”
“The choice to tell me who I really was!”
“But you chose to stay silent!”
The room fell silent again.
No one dared interrupt me.
Even my two older brothers only stared at the floor.
I turned toward them.
“You knew?”
The eldest nodded slowly.
“I only found out a few years ago.”
“And you still kept quiet?”
“I...”
“I had no right to explain.”
I gave him a bitter smile.
“But you had the right to hate me?”
His face immediately went pale.
“You had the right to let me starve?”
“You had the right to watch Tasya take everything I had?”
My brother’s tears finally fell.
“Nara... I’m sorry.”
I shook my head.
“It’s too late.”
Tasya, who had done nothing but cry until then, finally stepped forward.
“Nara.”
I looked at her impassively.
“I didn’t know either.”
“You think I’m going to believe you?”
“I really didn’t know.”
Her hands were shaking violently.
“I only found out tonight that we aren’t blood-related.”
I stared into her eyes for a long time.
For the first time...
I didn’t find any hatred there.
Only fear.
And guilt.
“Nara.”
Revan’s voice broke the silence.
“We have to go.”
I turned to him.
“If I go with you...”
“Will I really be able to meet my parents?”
Revan nodded firmly.
“I promise.”
The masked man immediately laughed.
“A promise?”
“Revan, you don’t even know if they’re still in the same place.”
Revan shot him a sharp look.
“At least I’m not using them as a threat.”
The masked man shrugged.
“I’m just stating a fact.”
The tension in the room rose again.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Everything that had happened tonight was too much.
Too fast.
But there was one thing I finally understood.
There was no way I could stay in this home.
Not because I hated them.
But because I wanted to know who I really was.
I opened my eyes.
My gaze stopped on Dad.
“All this time...”
“Even though I’m not your biological child...”
“Did you ever...”
I drew in a long breath.
“...consider me your daughter?”
That question made Dad’s face crumple.
The tears he had been holding back finally fell.
“I did.”
His answer was barely audible.
“Very often.”
“Then why did you treat me like that?”
He wept.
“Because I had to make you hate us.”
I fell silent.
“What do you mean?”
Dad shook his head.
“I can’t explain yet.”
“Again with the ‘can’t explain yet.’”
I gave a hollow smile.
“It’s always the same.”
“Every time I ask, the answer is always later.”
“But you never really explain anything.”
I wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“In that case...”
I looked at every member of the Mahendra family one by one.
Mom.
Dad.
My two older brothers.
Tasya.
“Thank you.”
Everyone looked shocked.
“Thank you for raising me.”
“Even if it was filled with pain.”
“Even without love.”
“I’m still alive today.”
Mom immediately broke into sobs.
“Nara, don’t go.”
I slowly shook my head.
“For the first time...”
“...let me choose my own path in life.”
I walked toward Revan.
Every step felt heavy.
Yet not a single person tried to stop me.
Maybe...
They realized they no longer had the right to hold me back.
When I was standing beside Revan, he opened the door.
The night air immediately swept across my face.
Outside, several black cars stood in a line.
Dozens of men dressed in black stood guard, their faces grim.
I had just started to step down from the porch when the sound of gunshots rang out again.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
One of Revan’s guards came running toward us in a panic.
“Mr. Revan!”
“They’re here again!”
“There are three times as many of them as before!”
Before we could react, the distant roar of dozens of vehicles speeding toward the Mahendra family’s home reached us.
Floodlights blinded the yard.
Then an old white-haired man stepped out of the lead car.
The moment he saw me, his eyes immediately grew misty.
In a trembling voice, he called out a name I had never heard before.
“My little girl...”
Everyone froze on the spot.
Including Revan.
Because the old man hadn’t come with the enemy.
Rather...
He was the head of the family that had never stopped searching for their missing heir for twenty-two years.