“Seventeen Years Later: The Truth She Couldn’t Bury”

But this?

This was different.

“You lied,” I said, my voice dropping.

She nodded, tears falling freely. “I was afraid. Afraid he would choose you. Afraid I’d lose him. I thought I was protecting him, protecting our family name… all those stupid, cruel things that seemed so important back then.” She shook her head weakly. “I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.”

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Wrong doesn’t even begin to cover it.”