Aria’s POV
Their vicious voices still echo in my head as they all sorts of disparaging nas and bark orders at . Cold water bucketed over my head until icicles clung to my hair.
I used to be forced on my hands and knees to scrub floors until my claws split and the skin bled.
They would drag my hair when I slowed.
My wolf whimpered inside now, rembering.
Back then, she had curled up defeated.
The worst part?
I understood her.
“They poured ice water over in the dead of winter,” I said flatly. “Made clean entire blocks alone. Slapped when I spoke. Beat for fun. Later, they competed to see which knife cut made scream louder.”
Nathan flinched at my words.
“By month seven, my belly was so round I swayed like a ship in a storm. But even then, they didn’t care.”
“Lana wasn’t even born full-term.”
My voice dropped, fangs grazing my lip.
“Even by late spring she was small, frail. They would dump hot als in the trash instead of handing them to . For her, I cried, I begged, I kneeled.”
I looked him dead in the eye.
“No dignity. I had no dignity left. The only thing that kept my wolf and alive was Lana. She was my anchor. My moon.”
“Stop...” Nathan’s voice cracked, barely above a whisper.
I shook my head.
He doesn’t get to silence , never.
“Nathan,” I said quietly, “any feelings I had for you... died there. In that concrete cage.”
My wolf stirred, ears flat, tail tucked, not out of fear of him, but fear of rembering.
I swallowed hard, forcing the lump that had ford in my throat down.
It was over.
The nightmare had ended.
I turned, my gaze drifting to the closed bedroom door.
Lana was asleep in there, my pup.
She was safe, warm, fed and loved.
Never again would she shiver in winter or starve in the spring.
I would burn the world before I let it happen again.
My smile vanished. My voice grew cold.
“Nathan, I can’t trust you. And you have no right to expect it.”
My eyes narrowed, a growl curling beneath my words.
“What have you done as a father? What have you ever done for Lana?”
I pulled a DNA report from my bag and threw it at him. Paper slapped against his chest.
He stared at it as if it were silver burning his skin.
“I took the test after I got our divorce papers,” I said. “I needed proof. For and for her.”
My wolf rose then, standing at my back like a shadow—scarred but unbroken.
“You are her father, Nathan,” I whispered, “but only on paper.”
Nathan’s POV
My lips trembled as I stared down at the report in my hands. I saw the probability that she was my child was 99.9%.
Lana... was my pup, my daughter.
The numbers blurred. My wolf whined in the back of my mind, a low, grieving sound that clawed at my ribs
How many tis had she begged to listen before she was finally sent to prison?
How many tis had I pushed her away, convinced she was the enemy?
Now every apology lodged in my throat like broken glass. Every plea felt pointless. I had no right, not as her husband, and not as Lana’s father.
I rembered it all...my rage, my distrust. That night when Sophia had gotten a scratch and I’d lost control, tossing the doctors around like toys, threatening them with reassignnt. My wolf had roared for dominance, blinded by jealousy and wounded ego, and I’d nearly cost Lana her life as her fever raged and no one dared treat her without permission.
If anything had happened to her...
Moon Goddess, I don’t think I’d still be standing.
A tallic taste spread over my tongue. I realized I had bitten my lip hard enough to bleed.
“I’m... sorry.” I said those two words.
Aria’s fingers hesitated, just for a breath, her scent flickering with surprise, but then she turned her face away, like the sight of was a wound she refused to reopen.
“Leave.” Her voice was soft, but absolute, like snowfall sealing a grave.
I obeyed her. My boots echoed against the marble as I walked out, each step a farewell drumbeat my wolf howled against. The door to her apartnt clicked shut, and the sound gutted .
I lingered outside Shevron Estates, staring up at the windows.
My hand pressed to my chest, nails digging into my shirt as if I could hold my heart in place. It beat hard and erratic, as if trying to break free and run back to her.
I had never expected Lana to be mine. Never expected Aria to have survived what she did.
I had condemned her based solely on accusations, branding her a traitor to the Hemsworth Group, convinced she’d sold secrets for Richard.
But Aria, who loved with her whole soul...
Aria, who had carried my pup alone in a cage of iron bars...
Aria, who had walked into hell with no one to call her mate...
Would she ever betray like that?
“No.”
The word ripped from my throat as clarity struck like lightning. No, she wouldn’t.
Soone had set her up. And I’d been too blind, too proud, to see it.
I whipped out my phone and called Collins. My voice was edged with a growl as I spoke.
“Get the surveillance footage from my last visit to the club. Track down the waitress who spoke to . And Collins...” my claws threatened to pierce my palm as I clenched my fist, “....retrieve all the surveillance footage from over a year ago when Luna Aria was imprisoned”
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