All Chapters of The Human Luna's Goodbye: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Elara's POVMargaret rushed to her side, crouching down, her voice softening into the tender murmur she used with children she loved."Oh, sweetheart, what happened? Did you get frightened?"Celeste was already at her daughter's side, lifting her, pressing her face into her shoulder. She turned to look at me over Lily's head. Her face was perfectly composed. Concern. Confusion. A flicker of sympathy for a situation that had apparently gotten out of hand.Orion and Veronica came running from the pergola.He reached the pool's edge and took in the scene in one sweep. Lily was on the steps, weeping quietly. Mia was in the water with me, still shaking in my arms."What happened?""She held her under," I said."She pushed my head down." Mia's voice was hoarse and entirely certain. "She wouldn't let go."Celeste looked up from Lily."They were playing." Her voice was steady, warm, with no urgency in it at all. "I was right here the whole time. Children get carried away. They push each other

Elara's POV"I'm working." He glanced around the resort grounds, already assessing what needed fixing. "I'm the new owner of this property, as of approximately forty minutes ago. Which means—" he looked back at Orion, "—that anything that happens on these grounds is now my concern. Including whatever this is."Orion stared at him.I had given up being surprised by Samuel Kingscliff's financial decisions somewhere around the third time he'd acquired something adjacent to a situation I was involved in. I didn't have the energy for it right now."The cameras," I said.Samuel turned to me. "Rowan."A man stepped out from the walkway. Mid-thirties, compact, brisk. Rowan, evidently Samuel's beta, had clearly been listening to the whole conversation. He'd already started solving the problem before Samuel said his name."The pool area cameras," Samuel said. "Pull the last two hours.""That's the issue," Rowan said. He looked at me, not Samuel, when he said it. He knew who needed the informati

Orion's POVShe considered it with total seriousness."She's bad at swimming," Lily said."She is," I agreed. "Very bad. I'll deal with it."She seemed satisfied.I stood up. Samuel was watching me from a few feet away. I'd had twenty-two years to learn how to read that look on his face. He had something to say, and he'd decided the timing was wrong."Go after her," I said.He raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?""If you're going, go. Stop standing on pool decks looking like you're about to say something important."Samuel was quiet a moment. "She needs to get Mia home," he said. "I'll drive them." He looked at me briefly. "Unless you have an objection."I looked at him."And you intend to give her that reason.""I intend to stay out of the way of whatever she decides," he said. "Which is the only useful thing, in my experience, that anyone can do for Elara.""I'm going to her apartment," I said.He said nothing.I picked up my jacket and walked toward the parking structure.The dr

Elara's POVSomething crossed his face. Brief, quick, there and gone.I recognized the controlled frustration he usually wore, the cold impatience. This was different. This looked like helplessness.He'd reached for the lever he always relied on, and for once, it didn't move.His money hadn't worked. The Council hadn't moved. Whatever he'd tried through official channels had come back empty, and he was standing in my kitchen at nine o'clock at night because he'd run out of other approaches.I almost felt something about that. Almost."I have things to do tomorrow," I said."Elara—""If you're not going to leave, I'm calling the police."He looked at me for a long moment. He was calculating whether I meant it. He arrived at the right answer, and he didn't like it.He left.I stood in the quiet apartment after the door closed and thought, that's enough.I'd pushed back the Victoria meeting twice already. I'd rescheduled three calls, postponed two site decisions for the new lab space, le

Elara's POVHe spent most of the meal looking after Mia, cutting her food without being asked, redirecting her gently when she lost focus. I watched him and felt something warm and slightly alarming settle in my chest.Outside my building, Mia took Samuel's hand."Tomorrow?" she asked."Mia," I said. "Samuel has things—""I do," he said. "In the morning." He looked at her, serious now, speaking to her instead of over her head. "I'm meeting a friend at ten. We're signing some paperwork." He glanced at me briefly. "I asked him to sell me the swim center."I stared at him."You bought it.""I was planning to invest in the city regardless," he said. "It's a reasonable acquisition. And it means Mia has somewhere to practice whenever she wants." He held up a hand before I could respond. "Don't. I know what you're going to say. And I want to tell you something first."He looked at me steadily. "I'm pursuing you seriously. Not casually. But I am not trying to impress you with money, because I