The next day, upon returning to their home in the city, her heart was heavy with secrets, but she knew one thing: the road to the truth had begun, and there was no turning back. Everyone was quiet in the car, and soon Lilia grew bored and drifted into a deep sleep.
Celine wanted to seize the opportunity and ask her parents, but when she lifted her head and looked at her father, she saw the marks of anger clearly etched on his face. So she decided to keep her mouth shut, for when her father was in that state, no one could guarantee the consequences.
He hadn't answered her before when they were alone, so how could he possibly answer her now? In the end, Celine surrendered to reality, but she did not surrender in her resolve to save her sister. After an hour or more, they arrived home safely.
Since their return from the countryside, Celine had become outwardly calmer, yet inwardly more vigilant. She walked around the house as though she were guarding a hidden map, her eyes watching everything, her ears catching every word. Marlene avoided looking into her eyes, and Marcus dealt with her with a coldness like a wall that could not be breached.
Only Lilia continued to sing and laugh, scribbling on the walls with crayons and sitting in Celine's lap, unaware that she had become the centre of a dark whirlpool. Celine pitied her sister so much that she could hardly bring herself to look into her face.
All the while, Celine was investigating, searching and searching, hoping to find something related to those papers at her grandmother's house, but in vain. So one night, she decided to rely solely on the few scraps of information she had until something else surfaced.
She waited until everyone was asleep, opened her old laptop, went into the search engine, and took her first serious step: looking up the name of the centre printed on Lilia's forged birth certificate. "St. Teresa Social Centre - Forin County." Her heart trembled. The name was real. An old address appeared in the very first result, along with a phone number.
She picked up her phone, typed in the number, and hesitated for a moment. It was nearly midnight, but she...
To be continued...