Lina's POV
"We're enemies because my mother murdered his father." The words escaped my lips in a broken whisper as I wiped away a tear that had betrayed me.
I hadn't intended to fall apart in front of Jasmine, but the agony crushing my chest made it impossible to breathe normally. The weight of this secret had been suffocating me for years.
Drawing in a shaky breath, I lifted my gaze to the star-scattered sky above us. "It began when I was ten years old..."
The memory hit me like a physical blow. Those sterile white hospital corridors, the constant flow of people rushing past, my small legs dangling from an uncomfortable plastic chair. Mom had brought me to her workplace that day because school was out and she had nobody else to watch me. Being a single mother meant making these kinds of arrangements.
