Chapter 162: An Epiphany

LIANA

As I stood there, enveloped in the warmth of Zaylen's embrace, a whirlwind of emotions churned within me.

It wasn't just the sudden realization of Zaylen's difficult past that had driven me here tonight. It was the searing anger I felt towards everyone who had made his life so unbearably tough.

I thought about his father, Ryan—the abusive man who had inflicted so much pain and suffering on Zaylen. My fists clenched at the thought, my anger boiling over at the injustice of it all.

How could someone be so cruel to their own flesh and blood?

And then there was his mother, who died, abandoning him when he needed her the most.

My heart ached for the boy Zaylen must have been, left to shoulder responsibilities far beyond his years.

The thought of him enduring all that alone, without a mother's love and support, filled me with a sorrow so deep it threatened to overwhelm me.

His siblings, too—how could they have taken him for granted? They had relied on his strength, his sacrifice, w