LILYA
I stood there, my heart pounding in my chest, as my mother dropped the bombshell. She wanted me to meet Lucas in this alternate universe. Lucas, the very name that had been the source of my pain and anger for so long. The man I believed had taken my father away from me.
"No, Mom," I protested, my voice shaking with the surge of emotions. "I don't want to see him. I can't."
My mother's eyes, so much like my own, held a mixture of understanding and determination. "Lilya, you need to see him. You need to understand what led to that moment."
I shook my head, my mind a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts. How could she ask this of me? How could she expect me to face the man I believed was responsible for my father's death?
"But, Mom," I began, my voice quivering, "he killed Dad. How ca
