She waited, quietly, almost tensely, for Ace to finally explain what was going on. There was a shift in him now, subtle but unmistakable. The warmth he had shown earlier when she first woke had cooled into something more controlled, more serious, and that change alone was enough to make her brace for whatever was coming next.

Sure enough, by the time she finished the last spoonful Ace guided to her lips, Ashley hadn’t even realized how much she had eaten. Only when he finally pulled the spoon away did it sink in, leaving her momentarily dazed.

Ace, on the other hand, seemed satisfied. A faint, relieved smile crossed his face as he began clearing the table, packing the empty containers back into the eco bag he had brought earlier.

He handled everything with quiet efficiency, setting the bag aside once he was done, likely to have it returned to the hotel it came from.

Then, without another word, he gestured toward the others.

As if shaken from a trance, the group finally moved.

The five of them stepped forward in unison, four men and one woman, closing the distance that had felt so suffocating just moments ago. Up close, their presence felt even more defined.

The woman appeared to be in her late forties, her composure steady but her eyes still carrying that restrained emotion. The men, in contrast, varied in age but none older than their early thirties, with the oldest likely in his late twenties, while the others ranged from mid-twenties down to the early edge of adulthood.

Yet despite the differences, they all shared that same striking appearance, that same quiet intensity... as if they belonged to the same world Ashley couldn’t quite place herself in.

"Hello... little sister."

The words came from the oldest among the men, his voice measured but edged with nervousness. He adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, though the slight tremor in his fingertips betrayed him.

At the sound of it, Ashley’s brow lifted almost instinctively. ’Little sister?’ The familiarity felt too abrupt, too intimate for someone she had never seen before. And yet, nothing about him matched that warmth.

His posture was rigid, almost guarded, his expression composed to the point of stiffness. Thin lips pressed into a tight line, as if he were holding something back, words, or perhaps emotions he refused to let surface.

The contradiction unsettled her. She couldn’t quite make sense of him, and that only deepened the quiet tension coiling in her chest.

Ashley turned her gaze toward Ace, the question clear in her eyes even if she didn’t voice it. She needed him to speak, to make sense of whatever this was. Catching the subtle cue, Ace let out a small, helpless smile and stepped closer, positioning himself beside the group as if to bridge the distance between them.

He reached out and lightly pulled the man with the gold-rimmed glasses forward before beginning, his tone gentler now. "I heard from the investigators earlier, before they left, that you still remember your name... Ashley?" he asked, pausing to let her respond. When she gave a slow, uncertain nod, his smile returned, softer this time.

"That’s fine," he continued. "If you can’t remember anything else, I’ll explain it instead. My brothers..." He trailed off briefly, glancing at them. "They’re not exactly good at talking, especially not like this."

His gaze lingered on them for a moment. Standing there, they looked almost unreal because of their strikingly handsome faces and well-defined proportions. Composed to the point of being too intimidating, and their presence was sharp enough to push people away without a single word.

Even in silence, they carried an oppressive weight, the kind that made it clear they weren’t used to explaining themselves... or being questioned at all.

As Ace spoke, Ashley found herself tilting her head slightly, her confusion only deepening with every word he added. None of it quite fit. Why would he bring his brothers here? To compensate her for something?

That didn’t make sense; if anything, it should be the other way around. He had saved her life. If anyone owed anything, it was her. The logic she clung to felt solid, almost reassuring... until it didn’t.

Because whatever she had expected, it wasn’t this.

There was a shift in Ace’s tone, subtle but heavy enough to make her chest tighten, and in that moment, Ashley realized she had been standing on the wrong assumption all along.

What he was about to say, as she could feel it, wasn’t something small, or simple, or easily dismissed. It was something that would crack through everything she thought she understood and leave nothing untouched.

"Um... you see," Ace began, the words tumbling out faster than he could properly pace them, as if he feared even a second’s hesitation might cost him everything. "My brothers and I, we’ve been looking for our mother and sister for a very long time. Almost two decades now. We were already starting to lose hope... and then this happened."

He drew a breath but didn’t stop, pressing on before anyone could interrupt him. "When I pulled you out of the lake, and the doctors cleaned you up, I finally got a proper look at you. At first, it was just the resemblance, the same hair color as our mother. But I wasn’t sure then. Not until you opened your eyes... and I saw your full face, and you stared back at me."

His voice tightened slightly, though he forced himself to continue. "Before this, I joined that camping trip because of Clarissa. She had the same hair color, and there were similarities to the projected adult sketch of our missing sister. I thought... if I got close enough, I could confirm it." He shook his head faintly, almost at himself. "But then you appeared."

His gaze was fixed on Ashley now, unwavering despite the tension in his expression. "You look exactly like her, like our mother. Like a younger version, almost perfectly mirrored. That’s when I knew... I was more than sure." His voice dropped, steadier now, weighted with conviction. "You’re our missing sister."

The explanation came out in a rush, imperfect and tangled at the edges, but driven by something raw and urgent. Ace didn’t dare slow down, didn’t dare give doubt or interruption a chance to break through.

His brothers’ silence loomed heavily behind him, their presence intimidating enough on its own, and he knew how easily this could go wrong. If Ashley misunderstood, if she pulled away now... they might lose her all over again before she ever learned the truth.

The revelation struck Ashley like a bolt of lightning, splitting straight through her thoughts and leaving everything in chaos. Not long ago, she had already uncovered a truth that had shaken her to the core: that she wasn’t the Yorks’ biological daughter.

That she had been born to an Omega mother, her father unknown, her origins murky and tainted enough for others to look down on her without hesitation, that reality had been harsh, humiliating even, but it had at least been something she could accept.

But this... this overturned everything.

The people standing before her were nothing like the life she had known.