جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 190

Lina's POVThe waiting was torture. I kept checking my phone every few minutes, hoping for a message from Adrian. Nothing.By evening, I couldn't take it anymore. I opened our message thread and started typing, my fingers flying across the screen.[Did you make it to the Capital safely? Please answer me. I'm worried.][Adrian, did something happen with the company? I can help. Please let me help.][I miss you so much.]My vision blurred with tears. I wiped them away and kept typing.[Elena's checkup is tomorrow. If everything's okay, I'll move back home. I'll cook for you every day. I'll be a good wife, I promise.][Please don't be angry with me.][Adrian, please. Don't ignore me. I can't take this.]My tears fell onto the screen as I hit send. In all the months we'd been together, he'd never gone silent on me like this. He always responded immediately, no matter how busy he was. Even if it was just a quick "in a meeting, call you soon," he never left me wondering.This silence was ki

Lina's POVI frowned, studying the man across from Mandy. "And you are?"Mandy practically lunged across the table to clamp her hand over the doctor's mouth, her face flushing with embarrassment. "This is my brother, Dr. Elijah Cross! He's heard about you and 'Majesty,' but he's talking nonsense!"Dr. Cross slowly peeled Mandy's hand away from his face, a knowing smile playing on his lips. "Step-brother, actually. Different fathers, different mothers."Behind those wire-rimmed glasses, his dark eyes gleamed with an intelligence that made me instantly wary. There was something calculating in the way he looked at Mandy — something that definitely wasn't brotherly affection.My instincts screamed that this Dr. Cross had less than pure intentions toward Mandy. But it wasn't my place to interfere. Mandy was far sharper than me when it came to reading people. She could handle herself."Well, it was nice meeting you," I said quickly, turning back to my own seat.Dr. Cross's smile widened sli

Author's POV"Holy shit! Taylor, am I going blind or did I just see Luna Lina?" Ethan's voice cracked with disbelief.Taylor grunted, not looking up from the stack of medical reports. "What Luna? Call her Lina. She's the reason Adrian got into that accident. She's not Luna anymore. Wait—what did you just say?"His head snapped up from the paperwork.Following Ethan's pointing finger, Taylor's eyes locked onto the female figure pressed against the railing across the corridor. A male figure loomed over her, trapping her in what unmistakably looked like a kabedon."That's the Luna Lina—I'm not seeing things!" Ethan insisted.The man cornering Lina was none other than Jasper Lockwood. That blessed bastard. No—scratch that. Just a blessed bastard who couldn't let go.Ethan fumbled for his phone, ready to capture this soap opera moment, but Taylor had already launched himself forward with the kind of speed he'd perfected in Special Forces Alpha training. He was going to get to the bottom of

Adrian's POVI had Derek bring me a backup phone.My fingers moved on autopilot, dialing Lina's number. The mechanical voice that answered made my blood run cold.*The number you have dialed is not in service.*Not in service. In my own goddamn hospital.Even after hearing what Taylor and Ethan had said—even after their certainty that they'd seen her with Jasper—I hadn't planned on confronting her. Hadn't wanted to demand explanations or force confessions from her lips.If it was true...It just meant I didn't weigh enough in her heart yet. That I hadn't earned my place there.If it was false...She'd come to Silvercrest with Mrs. Finch for the examination I'd arranged. There was nothing suspicious about that. Nothing that required interrogation or accusations.I didn't need to say anything.Even though the rage inside me was building to a breaking point, threatening to shatter my carefully maintained control, I refused to humiliate her. Refused to make her feel small or ashamed in fr

Author's POV"Derek, what the hell? I can't even see my bro now?" Taylor's voice boomed through the hallway outside Adrian's room, frustration rolling off him in waves.Derek couldn't tell him that Luna Lina was inside.He could only stammer and deflect, physically blocking the entrance."I've got evidence to show Adrian!" Taylor insisted, his voice rising. "If he doesn't believe me, I can mobilize the intelligence team to catch them in the act! We'll have proof—undeniable proof!"Derek's eyebrows shot up. "Catch them in the act?"In the act of what?Did he mean the Alpha and his Luna?Taylor was clearly agitated, making him more aggressive than usual. "I saw Jasper and Lina together again! They were so damn intimate—if you didn't know better, you'd think they were the ones who'd completed the mating bond!"Derek tried to keep his voice steady. "Alpha Taylor, are you sure you didn't... misidentify someone?""Look at my eyes!" Taylor jabbed a finger toward his own face. "Do they look b