The tension in the room was suffocating. My heart pounded as I stood facing my mother, the woman who had always seemed so strong, so unshakable. But now, her gaze flickered between me and the ground, a silent storm swirling behind her eyes.
"You knew, didn't you?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "You knew everything. About who I really am."
Talia's eyes, usually so confident, were soft with something I couldn't quite place—guilt, fear, or perhaps regret. She shifted uncomfortably, her fingers twisting the hem of her sleeve. “Lena, I didn’t—” She stopped herself, the words clearly too difficult to speak.
I felt a knot tighten in my stomach, a gnawing sense of dread pooling in the pit of my chest. “You didn’t tell me the truth,” I said, the hurt in my voice unmistakable. “How lo
