Thor walked over to the window. His voice was lower now, but heavy with feeling.

“Raul… isn’t my biological father. My parents’ marriage was a deal between families. But my mother was in love with one of my grandfather’s employees. A manipulative bastard. She gave herself to him, thinking it was love. But what he wanted was status. My grandfather found out and put an end to it. Three months later, my mother married Raul.”

Celina listened, motionless, her face pale.

“My mother hid the pregnancy. At first, the marriage was a façade. They slept in separate rooms. She despised him, blamed him for the disappearance of that scumbag. Then one day she fainted. At the hospital Raul found out. She was pregnant. My father said his world collapsed. She wasn’t a virgin, she was pregnant by another man, and she didn’t love him. But do you know what he did?”

Thor turned to her, his eyes wet but steady.

“He took me in as his own son. Out of love for her. Even while being rejected. Even while hearing