Apollo’s eyes darkened slightly. "But he was the only one capable of holding back those chasing us. The only one who could stand between me and death."

"We offered him everything we could," he said, voice steady but edged with something deeper. "But a man like him didn’t think in terms of simple payment. He knew the kind of enemies he had made over the years... and he knew what that meant for his child."

A brief silence stretched between them.

"In the end, we struck a deal. If anything happened to him while ensuring my safety... I would take his daughter in. Raise her as my own sister. Protect her from the life he could no longer shield her from."

Apollo exhaled slowly. "A life... for a life."

The weight of those words lingered in the air.

"And he kept his end of the bargain," Apollo added quietly. "He gave everything to make sure I survived."

His gaze lifted again, steady now, though the shadows of the past still lingered within it. "So I kept mine. I brought Ophelia into this family, raised her as my sister... and protected her from the enemies her father left behind, just as he once protected me."

Now that Ashley had finally heard the truth from her brother, her emotions tangled into something far more complicated than she expected. Ophelia and Apollo’s connection ran deeper than mere obligation; it was rooted in a debt of life, the kind that could never truly be repaid.

In that moment, Ashley began to understand why Apollo had always shown such patience and tolerance toward Ophelia. No matter how difficult Ophelia could be, he had never once tried to push her away.

She had lived in comfort and luxury for years, but knowing now that such a life had been bought with her father’s own life cast everything in a different light.

The realization struck closer to home than Ashley anticipated.

She was reminded of her own mother, of the sacrifices made, of a life risked just to ensure Ashley could live safely in a far more dangerous world. That memory softened something inside her.

For the first time, she truly saw Ophelia not as a rival or an outsider, but as someone carrying the weight of a similar loss. Empathy replaced the bitterness she had long harbored, and it felt as though the shadows in her heart began to dissolve.

The distinction between "real" and "fake" daughters or sisters suddenly seemed meaningless. The insecurities she carried had never truly come from Ophelia, but from the wounds left behind by the Yorks, the very people who had cast her aside the moment Maddison returned to claim her place.

That betrayal had made Ashley guarded, even paranoid, leaving her constantly questioning whether her own biological brothers might one day treat her the same way. But now, with clarity settling in, she realized those fears had never belonged to this situation at all, they were echoes of a past she had yet to fully let go.

After laying bare the truth of their entanglement, Apollo wasn’t just explaining the past; he was quietly drawing a line for the future. Beneath his words was a steady reassurance that no matter what happened, Ashley would always remain their sister and their priority.

Ophelia had been brought into the family because of a life debt her father had earned, but that obligation did not outweigh blood, nor the place Ashley held in their hearts. Apollo didn’t say it outright, yet his sincerity was unmistakable, an unspoken promise that when it truly mattered, he would stand on Ashley’s side.

At the same time, there was balance in his stance. As long as Ophelia did not cross the line, she would continue to be protected, her place in the family honored out of respect for the sacrifice tied to her name.

But if the moment ever came where a choice had to be made, Apollo made it clear, without needing to voice it, that Ashley would come first.

Still, threaded through his assurance was a quiet plea for understanding, a request for Ashley not to let doubt consume her or read too deeply into every situation. He wasn’t asking her to accept everything blindly, only to trust in the bond that tied them through blood.

After sorting through the storm of thoughts in her mind, Ashley slowly nodded and lifted her gaze to meet her brother’s.

There was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes, as if she stood at the edge of a decision she wasn’t sure she was ready to make.

She could feel their sincerity, every single one of them, but trust was not something she could give so easily, not when the truth she carried was far heavier than they realized.

Telling them what had truly happened to their mother meant more than revealing a buried tragedy; it meant exposing the world she had come from, a world steeped in the supernatural, where secrets were tightly controlled by the peacekeepers and hidden factions within the government.

Once spoken, there would be no taking it back.

And that was what held her back. She didn’t know if dragging them into that reality would protect them or destroy the normal lives they still had. Yet, keeping the truth from them felt just as wrong; they deserved to know what had been taken from them.

But Ashley understood her brothers well enough to foresee what would follow. If they learned their mother had been murdered, they wouldn’t stop at grief; they would surely dig relentlessly until they found those responsible for her death.

They would seek justice... or vengeance. And the thought lingered heavily in her chest, if they stepped into that world, would they even stand a chance of surviving it?

Ashley spiraled, caught in a tightening coil of worry, hesitation, and guilt. She was the only one who knew the truth about their mother, and if she stayed silent, her brothers would continue searching for someone who would never return.

Worse, she didn’t even know what Maddison had done to their mother’s body after it had been taken away.

The memory struck like a blade, sharp and merciless, and her chest constricted until it was hard to breathe. She didn’t realize she was crying until tears slipped down her cheeks, her hands trembling faintly in her lap as the past clawed its way back to the surface.

Apollo froze at the sight, completely caught off guard. Panic flickered across his face as he tried to make sense of it.

’Had my words moved her that deeply, or had I unknowingly hurt her?’ He thought to himself.

He didn’t know, and the uncertainty only made his chest tighten. Without another thought, he stood abruptly and dropped to his knees in front of her, his hand rising to gently wipe away her tears.

"Don’t cry... your brother’s here... shhh..." he murmured softly, his voice unsteady despite his effort to soothe her. But the moment her tears touched his palm, he felt as if they burned, scalding against his skin, and it sent a sharp jolt of panic through him.

"Shhh... I’m here," he repeated, his touch gentler now, as if afraid she might shatter beneath his hands.