Novels by Luna Reina

"Look at me."My pulse jumped against my throat. I should have walked out, should have remembered Adrian's mouth on mine, the contract with my father's signature, every ugly thing that tied me to this man who treated me like property.Instead, I turned.Nathaniel stood at the pool's edge, water lapping at his waist, his chest bare and gleaming. He watched me with an expression that stripped me bare; not cold, not distant, but fiercely, dangerously focused. His eyes dropped slower this time, taking in every curve the swimsuit revealed. He looked at me like he was starving."You said you weren't going to touch me," I whispered.His jaw tightened. "I said nothing would happen that night."The implication hung between us, heavy and electric. He took a step toward me. The room felt smaller. I stepped back until the glass door pressed cool against my spine."Are you afraid of me, wife?""No.""Liar." The word was soft. Pleased. Like my fear excited him."I'm not afraid of you.""Then stay."

Nathaniel held the folded document between us.Adrian stood beside me, still too close. My mouth still felt warm from his kiss, and Nathaniel's eyes knew it. They kept dropping there, like guilt had left a mark he could read.I thought of my mother. How she'd stayed with my father through every failure, every humiliation. She'd called it loyalty. I'd watched it kill her-slowly, quietly, the way water wears down stone.I was already becoming her."What clause?" I asked."If my wife is publicly involved with my brother during the first year of our marriage," Nathaniel said, "your father loses the protection attached to the merger."My stomach sank.He handed me the document.Should the debtor's daughter fail to preserve marital fidelity during the first twelve months, all outstanding obligations shall become immediately due and payable in full, with interest compounded daily. Collateral shall be forfeit.My father's signature at the bottom."You own my father's debt," I whispered, "and m

"Ask Adrian why he was at that hotel bar three months ago."For a second, nobody moved. Not Nathaniel. Not Adrian. Not even the servants pretending they were invisible near the dining room doors.My fingers tightened around the staircase railing, knuckles blanching white as I fought against the storm of emotions swirling inside me.I hated that Celeste's words struck home. I hated that my curiosity outweighed my pride.Slowly, I turned to face Adrian.His eyes went somewhere else for just a moment, not to Celeste, not to Nathaniel, and then met my eyes back.My stomach plummeted. "What does she mean?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.Celeste's smile was triumphant, but her eyes betrayed a hint of moisture. "Ask him."Nathaniel's voice rang out, sharp and commanding. "Enough.""No," I replied, locking my gaze with Adrian's. "I want to hear it from him."Adrian raked a hand through his hair, his mouth opening and closing as if the truth was a live wire that threatened to shock

Celeste.Her name flashed on Nathaniel’s phone, and now, it had a face.A face I hated for being so impossibly beautiful.Not the kind of beauty that clamored for attention. No, she was the quiet, expensive kind. Soft waves of dark hair framed her delicate features, pale skin glowing under the mansion’s opulent lights. Her red lips curled into a smile that seemed to belong to this world more than I ever would in my faded dress.When she looked at me, it felt as if I had wandered into a space she had long claimed as her own.“The woman he promised not to replace,” she said, her voice a smooth whisper that echoed in the now silent hallway.Behind me, Nathaniel remained motionless, a statue of cold indifference.That hurt more than it should have.He offered no explanation, no denial, just a stoic presence, as if my humiliation was merely another family matter he would resolve later.Adrian moved first, stepping beside me. The warmth of his shoulder brushed against mine, a quiet promise

The message hung between us like a loaded gun.(You promised she would never carry your child.)I stared at the screen until the words blurred, each one piercing deeper.My hand went cold, a chill spreading through me.Nathaniel moved first, snatching the phone from the desk and flipping it facedown, as if hiding the screen could erase what I had seen.“Leave,” he said, his voice a low growl.I laughed, a sound that felt foreign, thin and broken. “You can’t be serious.”His eyes met mine, calm as ever. I hated that calm more than the message itself.“Claire.”“No.” I pointed at the phone. “Who is Celeste?”A muscle tightened in his jaw, and that was the only answer I needed.“She’s not your concern.”“Your mistress is asking if you touched me, and I’m supposed to be unconcerned?”“She is not my mistress.”“Then what is she?”Silence filled the space, heavy, cruel.Nathaniel looked past me toward the window, as if searching for the right words outside.“She was supposed to be my wife,”

“One year to produce a Blackwell heir.” Victor Blackwell’s voice sliced through the air, casual, as if he were discussing the weather rather than the terms of my existence.A child. My body. My marriage, all reduced to a deadline.I felt the walls of the expansive hallway closing in on me, bright lights glaring down. It was as if the space itself was choking on the weight of men who had orchestrated my fate before I even had a say.I glanced at Adrian. He stood beside me, an unexpected stillness in his gaze, as if he too was grappling with the gravity of those words.Nathaniel, however, was a statue of tension, fury radiating from him as he stared down his father.“This is not the time,” he said, voice low and clipped.Victor smiled, an unsettling thing that didn’t reach his eyes. “It became the time when your wife followed your brother out of breakfast on her first morning in this house.”Heat flooded my cheeks. “Don’t treat me like I’m not here,” I shot back, my voice trembling.Vic