Chapter 04

Standing once again in front of the man she had loved for so many years, the man she had promised herself she would never tell the truth to, made her feel weak. Even worse was hearing her heartbeat, racing uncontrollably as she looked into the eyes of her ex-husband after six years.

But Luna didn’t intend to talk about the past. There was a disturbing emptiness in her expression that made Ethan’s doubts intensify. There was something different about his ex-wife, something that unsettled him and nearly drove him mad.

Grace was more beautiful now. She was far from the failure of a woman he once thought she would become.

“Ask your men to leave so we can talk.” Her voice was stronger than it had been when Ethan first met her.

“You’re in no position to ask me for anything.” The brutality in his voice didn’t scare Luna, and she didn’t flinch.

Realizing Luna wouldn’t give up easily, he rolled his eyes. He hated the feeling of defeat every time he lost an argument, but he was so curious to know what Luna had to say after all those years that he gave in to the pressure.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to leave you alone with a traitor,” Nataniel immediately declared, as Ethan’s jaw tightened in anger. “Besides, you’re married. Amara won’t be happy to hear about this.”

“Are you suggesting I can’t defend myself from a woman?” Ethan’s face transformed into something terrifying. “Get out of here immediately, Nataniel, before I regret my mercy.”

Nataniel looked at Ethan, embarrassed to be defeated in front of Luna, but he left silently. It was obvious he wanted to stay there to witness Luna’s humiliation. He left the room furious, promising himself she would pay for it.

When Luna found herself alone with him again, she tried to find the right way to start the conversation, but her mind felt blank. She thought she’d never see him again, so she had never prepared for a reunion. They were like two strangers staring at each other, unrecognizable.

“What do you still want from me, Luna?” Ethan said as soon as the door closed behind him.

Luna looked at the man before her—the man she had loved so deeply—but couldn’t read him. There was a giant void in his gaze. But there was no time to waste. Her ex-husband was the only one who could find her lost children.

A lump formed in her throat. She stared into Ethan’s dark eyes, which were growing more intense and impatient with every passing minute. She straightened her shoulders and returned his gaze, parting her lips.

“I need your help to find my children,” she said at last, her voice trembling.

The emptiness in Ethan’s eyes turned into confusion. He didn’t seem to understand what she was saying.

“Children?” A small wave of disappointment flashed across him. “Why would I help you find your children?”

“They’re not just my children, Ethan,” she felt herself growing weaker each time the words left her lips. “They're triplets, and they’re your children too.”

It was the most silent moment of Luna’s life. She looked at him, emotion pouring from her eyes, while doubt and fury radiated from Ethan’s pores. Luna hadn’t had time to think about this part of the story, the part where Ethan would doubt her.

“You divorced me without any resistance and now come back years later claiming I’m the father of triplets?”

Luna could barely breathe, waiting to see what he would do. Ethan took a moment longer to realize that Luna was truly serious.

“You’re lying, Luna,” he growled at her, furious. “You’re doing this to get revenge for being rejected. You probably got pregnant by some random man, and, since you can’t find your children, you came here asking for my help.”

“What are you saying, Ethan?” Luna doubted there was anyone else in her life cruel and strong enough to make her feel like she was in hell, the way Ethan was doing now. “If my word isn’t enough, go after the truth yourself. With the money and power you have, you’ll find out in seconds.”

Ethan watched her with dark eyes that gleamed with something sinister. Luna took the phone from her pocket, unlocked the screen, and showed him a photo of the triplets. Ethan froze, stunned, as he looked at the photo. It was impossible to deny the familiar and personal traits that rested on the three boys.

“Bryan, Aydan, and Dante are six years old,” her head burned with the memories. “I was going to tell you that day I was pregnant, but you forced me to sign the divorce and threw me out of your house, and I had no choice but to run away.”

Ethan remained silent. Luna didn’t want to return to the past, reopening the wounds that had been so difficult to heal. She needed to be effective and show Ethan she was telling the truth.

“They killed my best friend and took my children”—her face burned, and tears welled up. “I can’t find them alone, with the police suspecting me, but you, as their father, can.”

Luna’s tone, filled with worry, only agitated him more. Ethan’s eyes locked onto hers, searching for sincerity in her words, sharpening his senses. He looked nowhere else but at her. But Luna couldn’t tell what he was thinking or what he intended to do with that information.

“Who are the people who took them?” His eyes sparkled as he spoke.

“I don’t know,” her heart pounding, “when I arrived, they had already taken the boys.”

“So there was more than one?” Luna’s body froze at the urgency in his tone. “Who else did you tell I’m the father of those boys?”

“No one else,” her voice rose, “do you think I’m proud to go around saying I got pregnant by a man who despised me? Not even the boys knew you existed.”

“So many absurdities, Luna,” Ethan was furious. “You think you have the right to come here and drop on me that now I’m the father of triplets, that they were kidnapped by who-knows-who, and that they don’t even know I’m their father?”

He moved quickly, cornering her against the wall, gripping her neck tightly.

Luna couldn’t hold back the tears as she remembered how she had been cruelly forced to abandon her entire life and start over as if nothing had happened. Ethan’s rejection still hurt her, and feeling his touch again nearly tore her apart inside.

“I could’ve lived peacefully with my children without you ever knowing they existed,” she said with difficulty, before he let her go, “but I need your help, Ethan. We need to find the triplets before it’s too late. And you have the power to do it.”

Ethan took two steps back. It was as if the weight of the revelations was pushing him down. Life must have had a twisted sense of humor to reunite them after all this time. But his family still saw Luna as a weak, unloved woman. They would never accept this new reality.

“Many things have changed since we divorced,” Ethan emphasized, pausing briefly before continuing. “I became the company’s president and married the woman I loved.”

A searing pain invaded Luna’s heart, to the point where she could no longer breathe. She swallowed her tears and all the sentimentality that could weaken her in the face of those words. Luna was in shock, and Ethan’s words echoed in her mind on a loop. She had always suspected, but had never heard him say it so clearly.

“I already know you married Amara,” a knot choked her words. “There had to be a reason for your betrayal, didn’t there, Ethan?” Luna’s eyes looked like an abyss as she stared at him.

“I, Ethan, lead this company. I am the most powerful man in this country. I needed a strong wife to walk by my side,” he said without looking into her eyes. “You were always weak, Luna. So weak you couldn’t even protect your children.”

Luna wanted to scream at him. Ethan had no right to say that to her, not after all the dangers she faced raising three children alone. Only she knew how strong she had been and how deeply she loved those children, and she would not allow Ethan to blame her for the triplets’ abduction.

The sound of hurried footsteps approaching them stopped Luna from saying everything she needed to say to Ethan. Her stomach twisted when the woman entered the room, her face desperate. Luna knew who she was.

“Ethan,” a gasp, and their eyes met, “I could barely believe it when Nataniel told me Luna was back.”

Amara rushed toward Luna and hugged her with a smile on her face.

Luna pushed her away without any regard.

“I didn’t come back,” she smiled at the couple, swallowing all her pain with that pathetic scene. “I came only to get my children back, not to relive the past. I hope Ethan will do everything possible to help me.”

As she walked out of the room without looking back, Luna felt her legs weaken. In the end, she wasn’t the only one with secrets to reveal; Ethan had some, too. And Luna didn’t like what she had just discovered.