The truth
1080 Words
Chapter 4: The Truth
Lushan couldn't take her eyes off him.
She wanted to run.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to demand answers.
But her body refused to move.
The man standing in front of her was supposed to be dead.
She had heard his name only in whispers from her father.
A man who had disappeared years ago.
A man her father had always described as dangerous.
A man Lushan had never expected to see.
Yet here he was.
Alive.
“Why?” she finally whispered.
The man looked at her.
“Why what?”
“Why did my father tell me you were dead?”
His expression hardened.
“Because it was easier than telling you the truth.”
“What truth?”
He stepped closer.
Lushan immediately stepped back.
“Don't come near me.”
He stopped.
“I didn't bring you here to hurt you.”
“You kidn*pped me!”
“I know.”
“And you expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
His answer surprised her.
“I don't expect you to trust me.”
“Then what do you want?”
He looked away for a moment.
“Your father took something from my family.”
Lushan frowned.
“What?”
“My father spent his entire life trying to get it back.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“Everything.”
Lushan shook her head.
“No. Whatever happened between you and my father has nothing to do with me.”
“You're right.”
He looked at her again.
“It shouldn't.”
There was something in his voice that made Lushan pause.
“You're not telling me everything.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I tell you everything now, you won't believe me.”
“I already don't believe you.”
A faint smile appeared on his face.
“At least you're honest.”
Lushan folded her arms.
“Start talking.”
He studied her for a moment before walking toward a wooden table.
On it was an old box.
He opened it carefully.
Inside was a photograph.
He picked it up and handed it to her.
Lushan stared at it.
Her breath caught.
She knew the man in the picture.
Her father.
But he was much younger.
Standing beside another man.
The man from the photograph looked strangely familiar.
“That's my father,” the stranger said.
Lushan looked at him.
“And that's mine.”
Her fingers tightened around the photograph.
“What happened between them?”
“My father trusted yours.”
“And?”
“He shouldn't have.”
The room became silent.
“My father had a business partner,” he continued. “Someone he considered family. They built everything together.”
“Your father and mine?”
He nodded.
“Until one day, something disappeared.”
“What?”
“A document.”
Lushan looked at the photograph again.
“What kind of document?”
“The kind that could destroy your father's entire reputation.”
Her eyes widened.
“My father wouldn't—”
“You don't know your father as well as you think.”
The words hit her harder than she expected.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I was.”
Lushan dropped the photograph onto the table.
“Then why didn't you just tell me this before k********g me?”
“Would you have listened?”
She opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
He was right.
She probably wouldn't have.
“My father spent years looking for the truth,” he continued. “Before he died, he told me one thing.”
“What?”
“To stay away from your family.”
Lushan stared at him.
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
His eyes met hers.
“Because I couldn't.”
Something about the way he said it made her uncomfortable.
She looked away.
“Who are you?”
He was silent.
“You know my name. You know my father. You know things about my family that I don't even know.”
She turned back to him.
“So who are you really?”
He took a slow breath.
“My name is Raphael.”
Lushan froze.
The name sounded familiar.
She had heard Gracie mention it once.
And now she remembered her father's reaction whenever the name came up.
“Raphael…”
“Yes.”
“You're the man my father warned me about.”
“I suppose I am.”
Lushan stepped backward.
“So this was all planned?”
“Yes.”
Her heart sank.
“The k********g?”
“Yes.”
“The village?”
“Yes.”
“You brought me here because of my father?”
“Yes.”
She stared at him with tears beginning to gather in her eyes.
“Then what happens to me when you get what you want?”
Raphael didn't answer.
That silence frightened her more than anything he had said.
“Raphael.”
He looked at her.
“What happens to me?”
Before he could answer, a loud sound came from outside.
Both of them turned toward the door.
Raphael's expression changed immediately.
“Stay here.”
“Why?”
“Don't move.”
He walked quickly toward the door.
Lushan followed him.
“Raphael, what's happening?”
He stopped and looked back at her.
For the first time since she had met him, she saw fear in his eyes.
“Your father found us.”
Lushan's heart stopped.
“My father?”
Raphael nodded.
“And he's not here to take you home.”
The sound of a car approaching grew louder.
Lushan rushed toward the window.
A black vehicle stopped outside the house.
Several men stepped out.
Then the back door opened.
A familiar figure stepped out.
Her father.
Lushan covered her mouth.
He was here.
After everything that had happened, after all the lies, after believing she had been abandoned—
her father had come for her.
But something was wrong.
He wasn't alone.
And he wasn't looking at the house like a worried father searching for his daughter.
He was looking at it like a man preparing for war.
Lushan slowly turned toward Raphael.
“What is happening?”
Raphael stared through the window.
“Now,” he said quietly, “you'll finally learn who your father really is.”
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