Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 1193

Damon stared intensely at Mira, but remembering Ethan's stern warning, he swallowed his words and stayed quiet.

The aloof, radiant woman before him was his boss, but she was also his flesh-and-blood sister. They both possessed incredible artistic talent, and given her current untouchable status in the corporate world, they could have dominated the entertainment industry together...

Instead, they were strangers. He only caught glimpses of her on television broadcasts now.

Damon faintly remembered a gala two years ago. Back then, he had been a massive pop star, an award-winning actor—the illustrious Damon Mercer.

Both of his sisters had been competing on the same stage, and he was a judge. In any normal family, it would have been a crowning moment of pride, a legendary story to tell for years.

But because of his—and their entire family's—blatant favoritism, it devolved into a vicious family feud. His fractured relationship with Mira had practically started on that very stage.

Every night he lay awake, the memories played on a loop. How had he been so thoroughly brainwashed, favoring the mistress's daughter at every turn? Even when Mira won fairly, he had ruthlessly tried to swap her slot and give it to Mara!

The swap had failed, he ruined his own reputation, and he tore their family apart.

Back then, Damon assumed Mira would just end up a celebrity like him. He never expected her to completely pivot to a different stratosphere of power...

It was their father. He had been so obsessed with grooming Mara, feeding them endless justifications until the whole family bought into the delusion.

But Damon had been in his twenties. Why hadn't he used his own brain?

The past was set in stone, and the wounds he inflicted couldn't be magically erased. All he could do now was focus on his career, for his own sake, and to avoid embarrassing his sister by association.

Lucas, being a doctor, rarely involved himself in family politics. He used to assume that his parents and Ethan would handle his younger siblings' upbringing. The harsh truth was that every cruel thing he had said or done back then had just been him parroting his parents.

If the whole family believed it, he figured it had to be the truth. In his mind, Mira had been the troublemaker, and Mara the golden child.

She was desperate to know who had tried to take her life.

"Grandma, don't worry about any of that right now. Just focus on recovering. I have the situation outside completely handled," Mira reassured her, wanting to shield her from any further emotional trauma.

"But I need to know. Who did this to me? If you don't tell me, I won't be able to sleep."

Mira studied the older woman's pale face, weighing her options. "I can tell you, but you have to promise to keep your emotions in check."

She held Eleanor's gaze steadily.

"Don't worry about me. I've weathered every storm imaginable in this life. I'm not going to ruin my health grieving over someone who isn't worth it."

On the sofa, Lacey and the Mercer brothers leaned in, practically holding their breath. They were just as desperate for the truth.