Chapter 5

Liz’s POV

“What happened to me wasn’t Liz’s fault,” Judy said softly, glancing between Lumian and Carlos.

My breath hitched.

Finally… was she going to tell the truth?

I stepped forward instinctively, hope flickering inside my chest like a candle fighting the wind.

But Carlos just shook his head with a sigh, his arms folded tight across his chest.

“You don’t have to keep covering for her, Judy,” he said. “We all know Liz was jealous. She never wanted you here, and you left because she made you feel unwelcome.”

The words hit harder than I expected. Like a slap.

“No,” I said, voice trembling even though no one could hear me. “That’s not what happened. I never asked her to leave…”

I looked at Judy, pleading silently. But she said nothing more. She let Carlos believe it.

“But honestly, I’m just glad you're back. I wish she hadn’t been hurt, but after three years of begging you to come home…” he paused, his voice growing warmer, “I’m happy you finally did.”

The world seemed to tilt.

I blinked. My heart froze mid-beat.

Three years?

Begging her?

My mouth parted in disbelief. “Three years?” I whispered. “You’ve… you’ve been talking to her all this time?”

He had stayed in contact with her behind my back. While I poured my heart out to him about Lumian, about the pain of feeling second-best, he had been speaking to the one person who made me feel that way—and never said a word.

I clutched at my chest, the ache so sharp it felt real.

“How could you, Carlos?” My voice cracked, rising with each word even though it meant nothing to them. “You’re my brother. We told each other everything.”

He hadn’t just turned his back on me now.

He had been doing it for years.

Judy gave a soft smile, her eyes warm as they shifted between Lumian and Carlos.

“I’m glad to be back,” she said gently. “I missed you both so much.”

I stood frozen, her words echoing in my ears like a haunting melody I was never meant to hear.

Missed them? Both of them?

My stomach twisted. I wanted to believe she meant it kindly, but every syllable felt like a knife.

Then she looked down, almost sheepishly. “Liz shouldn’t see me as a threat. Especially not now that her place as Luna is set. I mean… now that she’s pregnant.”

Silence.

My heart stopped.

She said it.

She told him.

The secret I had clung to. The hope I had carried so close to my heart. She said it so casually—as if it were nothing more than a piece of gossip.

“Pregnant!?” Lumian almost shouted.

My hands trembled as they instinctively cupped my stomach.

The baby… my baby… was gone. Had died with me. And yet the ache of that little life still lived in me, deeper than any wound. A piece of me that never got the chance to breathe.

And now—this.

“Why would you say that?” I whispered, staring at Judy. “Why would you tell him something that wasn’t yours to share?”

But the fury I felt wasn’t truly for her.

It was for him.

Carlos.

I turned toward him, the pain in my chest unravelling into pure, bitter hurt.

“I told you in confidence,” I said, my voice raw. “You promised, Carlos. You promised you wouldn’t say anything. I just… I just wanted to wait for the right time. I wanted Lumian to hear it from me.”

But Carlos just looked at Lumian—guilt flickering, but only for a second.

Lumian stood frozen, wide-eyed, his mouth slightly parted.

“You’re saying… Liz is pregnant?” he asked slowly like the words barely made sense to him.

I closed my eyes. The moment I had dreamed of—rehearsed in my mind a hundred times. Telling him with a soft smile. Watching his face light up. Maybe… maybe finally seeing love in his eyes for me.

Now stolen. Crushed.

Judy gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “Oh no… I—I’m so sorry,” she stammered, her eyes darting between Carlos and Lumian. “I thought you knew. I thought Liz would’ve told you already. I didn’t mean—”

I stepped back, the sound of her voice fading into a blur.

Lumian’s hands dropped to his sides as he stumbled back a step like the air had been punched from his lungs.

“Pregnant,” he whispered. His brows furrowed, confusion and something deeper—regret? panic?—washing over his features. “She… she never told me.”

Carlos shifted awkwardly. “She told me… but she asked me not to say anything. She wanted to tell you herself. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I mean… she had time.”

My body stiffened.

Time?

My hands fell from where they still hovered protectively over my belly—an empty gesture now. There was no baby. No future. No time.

It had all been ripped away.

Judy looked at Lumian carefully, concern softening her features. “I thought… I truly thought you already knew. I wouldn’t have said anything otherwise. I just… I don’t want her to feel like I’m trying to take her place. She’s your Luna. And now she’s carrying your child—”

“Carried,” I whispered, the word like broken glass on my tongue. “I carried your child. Not anymore.”

Lumian didn’t speak. He just stood there, his breathing uneven, his jaw tightening as if he were trying to process everything all at once. I could see it—the struggle behind his eyes. The pieces of guilt trying to wedge their way in through the cracks in his denial.

He hadn’t come for me, but yet now he acted like he cared because I was carrying his child. If only he knew that he was too late.

“I need to see her,” he said abruptly, stepping away from Judy’s bedside. “Now.”

Carlos blinked. “Do you want me to come with—”

“No,” Lumian said firmly. “I need to go alone.”

“You’re too late, Lumian. We’re already gone” " I said as I stood there watching him walk towards the door.

The pain of what I had lost bleeding from the broken pieces of my soul.

My voice.

My life.

My baby.