Semua Bab Alpha's Regret, Begging My Convict Luna Back: Bab 411 - Bab 417

Nathan's POVI pushed back from the table. I needed to move, to do something, because sitting still with this weight on me felt impossible."I'll fix it," I said. "I will make it up to her. I'll spend the rest of my life—""Nathan." Grandmother's voice sharpened, just enough. "Sit down."I sat.She looked at me steadily. There was love in her face. There was also something that looked a great deal like grief."She has forgiven you," she said. "She told me that. She does not hate you. But forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same thing, and you need to understand that or you will spend the rest of your life chasing a woman who has already made her peace and tormenting both of you in the process.""I love her," I said. "I know I never showed it properly. I know I spent years treating her like she was invisible and then I let her be taken away because I was too proud and too stupid to listen. But I have realized my mistake. I love her, Grandma. I know I do.""I believe you," she sa

Aria's POV"Sophia is not my sister." I corrected."They are both in custody, and you stand here looking at me like you didn't cause this?""I didn't cause it," I said. My voice was completely steady. "They both caused it. When they decided to commit crimes that are against the law.""You pretended!" She was almost shouting now. "You came to our house not too long ago, you sat at our table, you let us think things were being repaired , and all along you were building a case against your own father?""I sent you evidence," I said. "Multiple times. I gave you the truth in as many forms as I could find and I handed it to you anonymously." I looked at her. "You didn't use them or maybe you just chose not to believe them.""I knew they were from you, and yes, I didn’t believe them because I knew they were fabricated!" She jabbed a finger toward me. "You wanted to destroy my marriage the way you destroyed yours, and you thought if you took Patrick from me—""Mother." The word came out sharp

Aria's POVI looked at Nathan, at the man I had once loved with the whole, uncomplicated faith of someone who had not yet learned that love was not the same as safety. At the man who had stood and watched me be led away. At the man who had cried in the hallway outside my door and signed divorce papers with a shaking hand.At the man who had helped me as much as he could in my quest to clear my name and make my father pay fof his crimes.He was all of those men at once. People were not simple. I knew that, but I was done, completely done with the man standing in front of me."No, I can't do that." I said.He closed his eyes briefly."Nathan." My voice was not unkind. "It's not that I don't believe you. I think something in you has genuinely changed and will continue to change."I held his gaze. "But change doesn't erase what was. And I can't unlearn what it felt like to be in that cell and know help wasn't coming. I can't undo what my wolf learned about what it felt like to need you an

Aria's POVWhen I arrived home, I stood in the doorway of the living room and did not announce myself.Lana was on the rug with a picture book, one hand on the page and the other ferrying a cookie to her mouth. She is a little over four years old now.Rowland was on the sofa, reading aloud with the exaggerated character voices he always used because Lana found them devastating.He looked up when I appeared. He always knew before I made a sound."Hey," he said.Lana turned, saw me, and dropped the book entirely. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy—"I crouched and caught her, pressing my face into her curls and breathing her in the way I still did every time."You smell like sugar," I told her."Uncle Rowland gave me cookies," she said immediately. Lana had long decided honesty was simply the more efficient policy with me.I looked at Rowland over her head.He raised both hands. "She looked at me with that face. I'm only a wolf, Aria. I'm not made of stone."Lana turned her most serious expression on