Chapter 79

• Maliyla's POV
• The words my father spoke left me frozen. After all this time, he was audacious to tell me that they were my parents. My initial reaction to my father's words demanding respect after all this time was a mix of anger and disbelief. How could he expect me to suddenly view him as a parent when he had been absent for so long? It felt like a slap in the face, and I struggled to find the words to respond. I couldn't get his words out of my head. A powerful urge to scream swept through my mind. There was a part of me that wanted to cry and a part of me that wanted to hit something.
• "You will still respect us regardless of what happened," my dad said.