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Chapter 15

“Before we go any further, I need to ask you something.” My voice was steady, but there was a sharpness to it that caught their attention.

Felis, sitting to my left, raised an eyebrow. “What is it?” he asked cautiously.

I looked at each of them, searching their faces for answers before I even spoke the question. “How did you find me?”

The question landed like a stone thrown into still water. The ripples of discomfort were immediately visible in their expressions. Orion shifted uncomfortably in his seat, Caelum and Leo looked down at the table, and Nash suddenly seemed very interested in his drink.

“Estella, it’s not—” Orion started, but I cut him off, my voice firmer now.

„No. Don’t brush this off. I want the truth“ I said, my voice firm but controlled. I wasn’t angry not yet but I could feel the tension building inside me. “I haven’t seen you in years. No contact. No explanations. And now, suddenly, you show up knowing where I live, knowing how to reach me. That doesn’t just happen. So, tell me how?”

Felis sighed and ran a hand through his hair, clearly uncomfortable. “It’s… complicated.”

“Then simplify it for me” I shot back.

There was another heavy pause before Leo, the quietest of the group, finally spoke up. “We asked someone for help. We… we hired a private investigator.”

The words hit me like a blow. I blinked, staring at him, unsure if I’d heard correctly. “A private investigator?” I repeated slowly, disbelief lacing my tone. “You hired someone to track me down?”

“We didn’t know any other way” Felis said quickly, as if trying to justify it. “We’d lost all connection to you, Estella. We didn’t even know if you were still in the city.”

“So you thought it was okay to invade my privacy instead?” I asked, my voice rising slightly. “You couldn’t just reach out through someone we both knew? Noah, maybe? Or God forbid write a letter? You had to hire someone?”

“We didn’t think you’d want to hear from us” Nash interjected, his tone defensive. “And honestly, we weren’t wrong, were we? You didn’t exactly welcome us with open arms.”

“That’s not the point, Nash ” I snapped, glaring at him. “The point is, you made a decision for me. You didn’t give me a choice. You just… decided you had the right to know where I was, what I was doing.”

“We wanted to make sure you were okay” Orion said, his voice quieter than the others. There was a hint of guilt there, but it only frustrated me more.

“You don’t get to act concerned now, Orion” I said bitterly. “Not after all this time. You left me. All of you. And now you’re telling me you suddenly care? That you care so much you thought it was okay to dig into my life without even asking me?”

Felis leaned forward, his expression earnest. “Estella, we made mistakes. We’ve all said that. But we’re here now. We wanted to reconnect with you, to fix things. The investigator was just… it was a way to find you. That’s all.”

“And then what?” I asked, my voice cold. “You thought you’d show up and I’d just forgive everything? That I’d forget the years I spent wondering where you were, why you left, why none of you ever came back?”

“We didn’t expect you to forgive us” Caelum said softly. “We just wanted the chance to try.”

I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms as I tried to process everything they were saying. My anger hadn’t dissipated, but there was something in their voices a mix of guilt, regret, and genuine care that made it harder to lash out.

“You should have trusted me” I said finally, my voice quieter now. “Trusted that if you’d reached out, I would’ve listened. Instead, you took that choice away from me.”

Felis nodded, his expression heavy. “You’re right. We didn’t handle it the right way. And for that, I’m sorry.”

There was a moment of silence as I stared at them, searching their faces for sincerity. I could see it there the regret, the shame. But it didn’t erase what they’d done, or the years of pain that had led to this moment.