LOGINLuna does not know how long she sleeps.When she finally opens her eyes, the bedroom is quiet, and Mrs. Quinn has fallen asleep sitting up.A sudden ache grips Luna's chest.She is already twenty-seven, yet she still keeps making her parents worry about her.She wraps her arms around her mother's waist and buries her face against her."You're awake?" Mrs. Quinn stirs the moment Luna moves. She lowers her head and strokes Luna's hair with tender fingers. "Are you hungry? I'll have the kitchen make something.""Starving," Luna mumbles, nuzzling against her like a child.Mrs. Quinn's eyes soften. She slowly gets out of bed. "Go wash up. I'll call you when the food is ready."***Miles away, in a pitch-black bedroom, Ethan sits on the edge of his bed with his phone in his hand.The screen glows with his chat history with Luna.He types a message, deletes it, types another, and erases that one too.He does not know what frightens him more—that she will not reply, that she blames him for wh
Before she can process the flash of steel, a heavy body slams into her and wraps around her completely.The blade pierces flesh.The sound is sickeningly clear.Luna freezes. She feels no pain, but the man holding her lets out a muffled groan. Hot blood soaks through his suit and seeps into her clothes.Davis realizes the knife did not touch her and rips it free for a second strike.Before he can swing again, a black leather shoe kicks his wrist with brutal precision.The knife clatters to the ground. Ethan's guards swarm Davis and pin him face-down against the asphalt."Luna, are you hurt?" Ethan sprints toward her, his face drained of color.Luna cannot answer.Marcus is draped over her shoulder, his face chalk-white, blood dripping from the edge of his tailored jacket."Marcus."He lets out a weak laugh against her collarbone. "Is this enough...to make up for that night five years ago...when I threatened you?"Luna's breath catches. "Is this really the time to bring that up?"She t
Inside the sprawling Vane estate, Mrs. Vane and Mr. Vane sit in suffocating silence, their hollow eyes fixed on the black-and-white funeral portraits of their eldest son and only daughter."Mom, Dad."Marcus steps into the gloomy living room and stops at the sight of them. For the first time in his life, he has no idea how to face his parents.The Vane family used to be untouchable, loud with wealth, pride, and power. Now it feels like a tomb."Was it Luna?" Mrs. Vane suddenly shrieks. "Did that bitch do this?"Marcus tightens his jaw. "The car crash was an accident.""Then why did your brother's and sister's shares both end up in her hands?" Gerald demands, his voice hoarse and trembling."Nathan transferred his shares to her before this," Marcus says quietly. "As for Stella's, she transferred hers to Ethan, and Ethan signed them over to Luna.""Why did they even go to the US?" Gerald fixes his bloodshot eyes on his youngest son.Marcus shakes his head. He truly does not know why Nat
Luna lowers her gaze, because if she looks into Julian's eyes now, she may lose the courage to finish what she has started.Julian once said that after they married, he wanted a daughter who looked exactly like her. Once, Luna wanted that too. Her little girl had come into this world for only a moment before she was gone, and for years abroad, Luna has clung to the illusion that she can still become a mother again.But coming home shatters that fantasy.The past is not buried. It lives inside her, ugly and breathing, and she is terrified that if she has another child, she will spend every day loving the new one through the ghost of the daughter she lost.That would not be fair to anyone.So she has made her decision.She will never bring another life into this world."Are you truly happy, Luna?" Julian asks quietly.Happy?Luna lets the word settle inside her. She has avenged her daughter, avenged herself, and taken back everything that was stolen from her.By all logic, she should be
Luna's answer leaves Marcus frozen in place."Marcus, do you still remember how you felt five years ago, when you sat in my family's living room and told me to leave the country and get rid of my child?"Her voice is soft, but every word cuts."Maybe you forgot a long time ago."Luna lifts her eyes to him, the hatred in them clean and merciless. "But I remember. I remember every word you used to humiliate me. I remember sitting on the floor while you stood over me with that arrogant, judgmental face, as if my pain was nothing more than an inconvenience to your precious sister."Marcus stares at her, suddenly unable to breathe.This version of Luna feels like a stranger.Maybe her affection has been a lie from the very beginning."How does it feel?" Luna asks, a faint smile touching her lips.She raises one finger and presses it hard against his chest. "Does it hurt? Is it unbearable?"Marcus staggers back half a step."You can't even handle knowing I never loved you?" Luna lets out a
When she steps inside, the entire apartment is pitch-black.With the Vane Group bleeding millions on the market, she expects Marcus to be at headquarters, fighting fires all night.Then she turns on the lights. A shadow shifts on the sofa.Luna's heart skips.Marcus sits in the dark, his chin resting against the backrest, his clothes wrinkled and his eyes bloodshot."Luna..." His voice carries the desperate whine of a wounded stray. "You're finally back.""Why are you sitting here without the lights on?"Marcus lifts a trembling hand toward her. His hair falls messily over his forehead, and grief has stripped him of every trace of arrogance. He looks like a beautiful, broken boy drowning in a storm he cannot survive.Luna stares at his outstretched hand for a long moment.Then she places her palm in his.She walks around the sofa and sits beside him. The second she settles down, Marcus drops his head onto her shoulder and buries his face into her neck."How could they just die like th
"Unlock the car, Nathan," Luna orders, her voice dropping into a dangerously quiet register that leaves no room for negotiation or argument.She does not bother to look at the man beside her. Instead, her sharp eyes remain fixed on Julian's tense silhouette on the pavement.Nathan, however, merely
The Vane estate in the early hours of the morning feels like a domestic mausoleum, wrapped in the suffocating quiet of old money.Stella is at the front door.When the convoy finally stops, she practically flies down the stone steps. Her face lights with relief, only for it to shatter into frozen c
Luna watches Marcus from the periphery of her vision, tracking the irregular, ragged rise and fall of his chest. She does not announce her intentions, nor does she seek the permission she knows his stubborn pride would instinctively refuse.Instead, she simply turns sideways in her leather seat, re
The private room on the second floor of Harlow's most exclusive members' bar is exactly as Luna remembers it—dark oak paneling, low amber lighting, the kind of acoustics that swallow secrets whole. The city's old-money crowd keeps this place for exactly that reason.Luna sits casually at a premium







