She herself was still deeply reeling from the revelation. She could only imagine the stares and whispers she would be subjected to if she showed up to work.
After thinking it over, she called Elysia to see if she was home, then headed straight to her place.
Elysia had been with Lucian since yesterday afternoon. She knew about the leaked audio from the day before, but she had completely missed the fact that Finnian had registered a Twitter account and dropped a bombshell statement.
When Amara arrived and broke the news, Elysia quickly pulled out her phone to read the post.
Her eyes widened as she absorbed every word. After she finished, she sat in stunned silence for a long time, trying to process the magnitude of it.
"So Liliana actually saved his life?" she murmured. "No wonder everything felt so off before..."
"What felt off?" Amara asked instinctively.
Elysia put her phone down. "Over the last few months, I kept noticing how well he treated Liliana. Logically, it seemed like he must love her. But at the same time, he was overly devoted to you."
"Remember when I told you that even though you two supposedly had no relationship anymore, I got the distinct feeling that if anything ever happened to you, Finnian would risk everything—even his own life—to save you?"
"It felt like a crazy theory at the time, but my gut was screaming it at me."
"Because of that gut feeling, when Emma had you kidnapped and you ran into the forest, my immediate reaction was to beg Finnian for help. And he didn't let me down. He tore that place apart looking for you, and he found you."
Elysia rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It just struck me as so bizarre back then. If he loved Liliana, how could he be so unconditionally devoted to you? You could call him a two-timer, but even that didn't fit."
Nora had been quietly organizing files while listening to their conversation.
Now, she set the documents aside and spoke up. "Amara, Elysia, I actually knew about the life debt between Mr. Everly and Liliana a long time ago. I assumed you two knew as well."
Amara and Elysia immediately snapped their heads toward her.
Nora pressed her lips together before continuing. "Actually, Mr. Everly never really liked Liliana. They did date back in the day, but she was the one aggressively pursuing him. Mr. Everly has always seemed to have an incredibly low drive when it comes to romance or marriage."
"He didn't like her, but he didn't like anyone else, either. When she finally confessed her feelings, and factoring in the life debt, he simply agreed. But even after they got together, their relationship was extremely cold. He provided for her flawlessly in terms of money and resources, but emotionally..."

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