He suddenly fell silent. Unable to contain my curiosity, I looked up and asked, "What happened then?" My voice was rough and hoarse from crying.
Seeing me speak first, a faint smile tugged at his lips. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.
Then he continued, "Grandfather and I managed to escape back into the country, but we were fugitives all the way—ragged, desperate. On the road, we met a brother and sister traveling from the capital to conduct business abroad. During our flight, we lost all our money and documents, so we had to borrow from them to return home. But we never imagined those ruthless killers would follow us all the way—and in the end, we dragged the siblings into the tragedy…"
By now, I could guess the truth.
I looked at him. "Ariana Whitmore and her br
