“Is it true?” she repeated, her voice stronger this time, carrying the weight of her heartbreak.

Yusha sighed deeply. “Yes,” he admitted. “But it’s not what you think.”

“What am I supposed to think?” Zainab felt the tears streaming down her face. “That you were paid to take me away? That my life is just a transaction?”

Yusha moved closer, his voice earnest and filled with a raw honesty. “When your father came to me, I was at the lowest point in my life. I was broken, with nowhere to go. I took his offer, not for the money, but because I needed a place to belong. But then I met you, and you changed everything. You taught me to see the world differently, through your strength and resilience.”