For a moment, confusion flickered across Finnian''s face, but he still said nothing.


    Hogan went on, "That night, you were drugged. In your dazed state, you somehow made your way to Grandfather''s house, and someone rescued you..."


    “Finnian, it wasn''t Liliana who saved you that night—it was Amara.”


    "I don''t know why you believed it was Liliana, but after that night, Amara became pregnant. She''s carrying your child."


    "And as it happens, the maid, Tina, witnessed the whole thing. That''s why she kept looking at you yesterday—she was trying to let you know that Amara''s baby is yours."


    Hogan paused after exining all this, then continued, "That''s pretty much everything. I don''t have undeniable proof of what happened, but what I do have is concrete evidence that Liliana was never pregnant."


    "Her im about having a miscarriage was aplete fabrication. Back then, I kept pressing Liliana toe clean to you about pretending to be pregnant, but she refused. When she couldn''t keep it up any longer, she lied about losing the baby."


    By the time Hogan got all this out, his mouth was parched.


    Finnian just stared at him, lost for words.


    "Finn, what''s going on? Is something wrong?"


    Liliana caught up to them, stopping at Finnian''s side with concern in her voice.


    Finnian turned to her. "You were never pregnant. You made the whole thing up, didn''t you?"


    Liliana''s eyes flew wide, shock etched across her face.


    Finnian kept his gaze on her, watching every change in her expression. He saw the sh of panic and helplessness in her eyes as soon as he spoke.


    In that instant, he understood—Hogan was telling the truth. Liliana really had never been pregnant.


    Liliana''s breathing grew shallow as panic overtook her.


    What''s going on? Did Hogan actually tell Finnian the truth about my fake pregnancy?


    She was overwhelmed with anger and dread, and for a moment, even someone as quick-thinking as Liliana couldn''te up with a way to fix this. She could only re at Hogan, her eyes full of rage.


    awas


    But Liliana was smart enough to realize right away she couldn''t let herself fall apart. She quickly lowered her head and said, "I''m


    sorry Finn. It''s true was


    never pregnant fied because just wanted so badly to be with you."


    She looked up, voice pleading. "Later, I knew what I did was wrong, so I pretended to have a


    miscarriage couldn''t stand to keep I tying to you. I really know I was


    wrong, Finn, please don''t hate me, okay?"


    Finnian looked at Liliana and continued, "And four months ago, that day I was drugged—it wasn''t you who saved me, was it? We never... we never slept together?"


    His tone wasn''t usatory; if anything, it sounded almost matter-of-fact. Liliana was caught off guard by this.


    Honestly, if Finnian hadshed out at her, she might have snapped back immediately in anger and protest. That would at least give her something to work with in this situation.


    But his calmness left her momentarily speechless, and she couldn''t muster a response.


    Seeing this, there was nothing left for Finnian to question.


    He closed his eyes, and a rush ofplicated feelings welled up inside him anger and


    disappointment at having been lied to relief that something terrible had never happened, and, buried deep, a glimmer of quiet joy.