She was too curious, his Luna.

Kit had seen it in the stubborn tilt of her jaw when she walked away from him. Sure, she was agreeing with him verbally, but she wasn’t going to let this go, not when she still had questions.

But it didn’t matter, not when Andrei had been the last loose string.

Kit had become a master at keeping secrets, what was one more?

Once he was dressed, Kit left his bedroom, only to come up short when Fang appeared in the hallway, a tight smile on his face as he nodded at whatever Aidra was saying to him as she walked in the opposite direction.

“My office,” Kit said without looking at him, already heading in that direction. He knew what the man had come to say, but he didn’t want their conversation to be overheard.

“I know you said no witnesses,” Fang said the moment they were closed away in the soundproof room. “But I figured you would make an exception.”

Kit didn’t laugh. “Did she see you?”

“I think you would know by now if she had,” Fang suggested, digging his hands into his pockets.

“Or anything of yours? You’ve turned her into a bit of a motorcycle enthusiast. I’m sure she would have noticed yours had you parked it around.”

“Found a truck.”

Meaning he stole a truck, but Kit didn’t care about that little detail. “In any case, I’ve told her that I had you following her for the time being, so should she ever mention it, that’s your story.”

“Understood.”

Kit’s gaze drifted to the monitor on his desk, depicting seven different video feeds of the grounds. Nothing was out of the ordinary, not until a fleet of black SUVs came into view.

“Are the others here as well?” Kit asked Fang, though not taking his gaze off the screen.

“Yeah, why?”

“It seems my brother has come to pay me a visit.”

Kit didn’t arm himself as he left his office—though he was partly glad that he’d decided to put on his vest before dressing. There was no telling what his brother would do now that he was here.

He was down the stairs and out the door in seconds, standing in front of the doors as Uilleam and his mercenaries unloaded—all of which had rifles aimed at Kit’s head.

Kit was unfazed.

“You’re asking for war, Kingmaker,” Kit said mockingly once he was looking down into the face of rage as he stared at his brother. “Don’t tempt me to actually kill you.”

“I invite you to try.”

“What did you expect, Uilleam?” Kit asked as he walked down the last few steps until they were within a foot of each other. “We wouldn’t be here had it not been—”

“I’ve never liked those that play at being a victim,” Uilleam said with a modest shake of his head. “Wolves in sheep’s clothing, I say. They have their minions that tell them they couldn’t possibly have done any wrong, yet we both know the truth, don’t we? Just a two-headed dog begging to be put down. Make no mistake, you only have yourself to blame.” The hollows of Uilleam’s cheeks stood out more—he’d lost weight. “Yet, you think to throw it in my face?”

“And what do you suspect you’re doing, Uilleam? You’re so blinded by your own ego that you can’t see your own flaws. When you’re not plotting one of your schemes, you’re acting like a petulant child. Grow up.”

Uilleam’s laugh was harsh. “That’s astonishing coming from the man that decides to get into business with the very people he condemns me for. Did you think I wouldn’t find out about your arrangement with Caesar Rivera? The man couldn’t wait to spread the good news. Do you care to know why? Because the last time I saw them, I told them they were both beneath me.”

“You think everyone is beneath you, Uilleam. That’s your problem.”

“I’ve never thought you were,” he said with so much venom, it made Kit blink.

No, Uilleam had never treated him as though he were less than him. He liked his games, sure, but he had always thought of Kit as a worthy opponent.

Until Kit had stopped wanting to play the game.

But it didn’t matter anymore, they were both bound by the choices they had made. And though this looked like another betrayal, Kit was sure, he couldn’t tell him otherwise.

Not just because of Luna, but because of Uilleam.

Despite it all, he was still Kit’s brother, and he didn’t want to see any harm come to him. Until he could see a way out of the hole, he had his part to play.

Even if he had to hurt everyone he loved.

“You were sloppy,” Kit said. “You were in over your head and this—this is the result. There’s no reason for you to be here anymore, is there? You’ve said they were beneath you, there’s no reason why you should be upset that I’ve taken them on. Don’t be a sore loser, brother. It’s unbecoming.”

For a moment, Kit thought he could actually see the younger version of Uilleam standing there, staring up at him with wide eyes filled with hurt.

Kit didn’t gloat.

Yet, here he stood making a mockery of the only family that had ever truly loved him.

“I’m going to make you bleed,” Uilleam said, eyes never straying. “I’m going to cut the heart out of you.”

“Don’t threaten me unless you’re ready for war.”

“You must have forgotten,” Uilleam said as he backed away, “I excel at wars.”

---

They were acting weird.

From the minute Luna arrived in the building, service was sluggish. It almost felt as though they were purposely taking their time. But Luna didn’t have time to wonder about their behavior, not when she was going over her explanation to Belladonna.

She couldn’t imagine the woman would be pleased with what she had to say, especially considering the fees the Den charged for finding someone. Undoubtedly, she wouldn’t like that her target was dead before she could get whatever she wanted from him, and worse, Luna still didn’t know who was responsible.

As she stepped out of the elevator, she had to double-check to make sure she was on the correct floor. Unlike the last time she had been there, the walls had changed colors, the receptionist’s desk had been moved, and if she wasn’t mistaken, half of the people she was seeing inside the office were new.

What the hell?

“I trust you’re here because you have news?” Belladonna asked, heels clicking as she came around the corner. The white of her outfit was nearly blinding against her tan skin. She gestured to her office and said, “Shall we?”

Belladonna’s offie seemed to be under construction as well, plastic wrap covering majority of the surfaces in the room save her desk and the flat screen hanging on the wall. Though the TV was on and turned to one of those celebrity gossip shows, it was muted.

With everything going on with Kit, Luna didn’t want to waste any time with excuses and preambles. “Andrei is dead.”

Luna expected surprise, or annoyance maybe, but she got neither. In fact, Belladonna hardly reacted to the news that the man she was hunting had been killed.

“Before or after you found him?”

“After—I saw it happen,” Luna explained further.

“How?”

“Sniper.”

Belladonna’s red painted lips curled up. “You know two of those, correct? Red, I believe he’s called, and Fang.”

It wasn’t Red’s name that made Luna’s eyes widen in surprise—he was well known in their world for what he could do with a rifle in his hands—but Fang …

As far as she could tell, The Wild Bunch lived like ghosts. Even the mercenaries, with the exception of Skorpion, didn’t know about them.

More curious was that she hadn’t known Fang even was a sniper. She knew he handled knives well, was far beyond efficient at hand-to-hand, but he had always seemed like the one that would be right in the middle of the action.

It was strange that no one had ever bothered to mention that.

“Did you get a chance to speak with Mr. Kanekov?” Belladonna asked while Luna was still lost in her thoughts.

How was she meant to answer that question?

Belladonna had never mentioned what she wanted Luna to do once she did in fact find Andrei, only that she wanted him found. As far as her talk with the man went, she didn’t see how the gibberish Andrei had spoken would mean anything to her.

“No,” Luna settled on saying. It was the closest thing to the truth.

“That’s unfortunate,” Belladonna said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

In her movement, Luna’s gaze was drawn to the television behind her. It was still showing the same episode from the time she walked into the room, but now it grabbed and held her attention.

Because the man they had caught on camera was Kit.

Her husband was anything but a celebrity—rather a man that prided himself on his anonymity—yet there he sat, looking particularly cozy with a woman that had dark hair and …

Luna leaned forward so fast she was almost out of her chair, trying to make sure she was seeing clearly. Even as her brain tried to process what she was seeing, it still wasn’t making sense. It just wasn’t possible.

The girl who had been snapped with Kit wasn’t just anyone, it was Ariana.

Her sister.

Someone she hadn’t seen for years, yet one look at her felt like no time had passed at all. She still had the same hair, though a touch longer, same flawless skin, and her somewhat mischievous grin was the same. There was no denying who she was seeing—Luna doubted she would ever not recognize her own family.

Realizing that the television had stolen Luna’s attention, Belladonna didn’t demand she focus on her, but rather grabbed the remote and turned the volume up.

“Celebrity jewelry designer, and daughter of the renowned human activist, Carmen Santiago, was spotted having a late lunch with a mysterious new man. This news comes only months after Ariana announced her engagement to a wealthy businessman from …”

Luna tried to listen, or rather make sense, of what the woman was talking about, but it was too crazy to believe.

Though, was it?

Ariana had always had an interest in fashion, and if she had managed to make a career of it, that was amazing. But Luna didn’t understand how she knew Kit …

And why Kit had never mentioned that he was having lunch with her.

Just as Luna thought what she was seeing couldn’t get any stranger, there was another show of not just the pair of them, but Luna’s mother as well, and a man she didn’t immediately recognize.

“Oh dear,” Belladonna said, watching along with her. “I wonder what on earth Caesar and Nix have to talk about? Perhaps one of his infamous deals?”

Luna had always heard the saying, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ but as she stared at the video footage, she couldn’t find anything to say that described the confusion she felt.

And in the rapidly spoken words of the reporter, one stuck out.

California.

Was that what business Kit had out there? Was that why he was so secretive about that meeting?

She understood that she couldn’t see them—or at least had until now—but what confused her was why he had never bothered to mention it.

Was it really innocent though?

Just now, Belladonna had hinted that it may have been a business deal, and Kit had already told that it was for that reason that he was even going to California.

She didn’t think her heartbeat had ever sounded so loud in her own ears.

“I want to tell you a story,” Belladonna said, though Luna had yet to take her gaze from the television. “About a girl who life was not her own.”

It didn’t make sense.

Kit told her everything, even things she didn’t particularly enjoy. That was just who he was, honest to a fault, but why hide this?

What was there even to hide?

“Now this girl,” Belladonna went on as she twisted the gold Cartier bracelet on her wrist, “beautiful girl, she was, had become a pawn in a game she didn’t know she was playing.”

Squeezing her eyes shut to try and get her bearings, knowing she needed to focus on the present, Luna forced her gaze away from the TV. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about a martyr—about a girl whose life was taken to give another power.”

She was speaking in riddles, Luna thought with an inward shake of her head. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she was talking to Uilleam.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I need to—”

“One question before you go,” Belladonna said raising a perfectly manicured finger. “Did you ever wonder why you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“At some point over the last—how many years has it been?—you had to have asked yourself why The Kingmaker wanted you as badly as he did.”

Luna had wondered that very question since the second Uilleam offered to buy her. It wasn’t as though he knew her, or cared about the horrors she faced. Over the years, she’d had an up close and personal view of how callous he could be.

And because that was what he did, Luna thought, but didn’t voice it aloud. It wasn’t as though she were the first mercenary Uilleam recruited, and she knew she wouldn’t be the last.

So why did she feel anxious all of a sudden?

“I’ve learned a great many things about the Runehart brothers since my business began. And one thing I learned is that you never get in between them—there are often casualties in their wars.”

“You know something,” Luna said—it was the only thing that made sense.

“It’s not what I know that’s important, it’s what you don’t.”

“Then tell—”

“I think our business is concluded, Luna, don’t you? Unfortunate what’s happened to Mr. Kanekov, but I would wager you’ll find your way soon enough. But I do have something for you, because I’m sure it bugged you nearly as much as it bugged me. I finally found the owner of the warehouse I’ve been asking you to track down.” Belladonna’s gaze didn’t stray from Luna’s as she said, “I’m a bit surprised really, that Uilleam was willing to buy the place instead of having it put in someone else’s name—but I’m also sure he didn’t intend for anyone to filter through the shell companies under his employ.”

There was a dangerous thing about fear and doubts. Sometimes they could be ignored, pushed aside because the worries were unfounded, but other times it only took the smallest bit of information to make those doubts morph into something bigger.

Something like suspicion.

And very much like realization.

Luna didn’t even notice that the woman used a name most didn’t know.

---

The roar of her bike wasn’t enough to quell the storm brewing inside Luna as she drove to the New York compound where she knew Uilleam was staying. Even as her mind was a thousand miles away, she still expertly navigated through traffic.

Too many questions but not enough answers plagued her as she drove. There was so much that didn’t make sense, but more and more of the pieces were beginning to fit together.

But the picture was not one she wanted to see …

No, she wouldn’t jump to conclusions. She wouldn’t assume things she wasn’t sure of, not when she could get them from the source.

Riding up to the steel reinforced gate that surrounded the acre of property, she keyed in her personal code, whipping inside once the gate was open far enough.

With Uilleam’s attendance, the facility had been locked down, only those that he permitted allowed to come and go. One would have thought, considering the attempt on his life, that he would have requested more security to ensure that if anyone tried again, they would be dealt with quickly, but Uilleam had sent most of the security away.

His trust was hard earned, she knew. And despite him being the one that wrote the checks, he knew there was always the potential of someone risking a foolish mission because someone else offered more money.

The entire west wing of the facility was off-limits, but Luna was permitted to enter. Perhaps because she had Uilleam’s trust.

Or maybe because he didn’t see her as a threat.

Whichever the answer, it wouldn’t end well for one of them.

Uilleam was sitting in the rec room, a cloth napkin tucked into the collar of his shirt, a knife and fork in his hand as he cut into the massive steak on a plate in front of him. He was paler than usual, bruise-like shadows beneath his eyes, but as his gaze shot to her, she could see that underneath it all, he was still The Kingmaker.

“Luna, always a pleasure. What can I do for you?”

“42^nd and Hamilton,” she said without preamble, refusing to look away from him. Needing to see even the most minute expression on his face. “You own the warehouse there.”

Uilleam didn’t blink. “I own many warehouses.”

She had spent enough time around the younger Runehart brother to know when he was evading, and that realization made her snap. Jerking one of the knives she kept hidden at her wrists, she palmed it before walking over to him and slamming it down hard into the steak, shattering the plate beneath it.

Uilleam looked from her to it and back again. “You have my attention.”

“Don’t do that,” she said, her voice betraying the emotion brewing inside of her. “Don’t treat me like a fool.”

For once, she hated how calm and unbothered he was—how indifferent. She remembered once when she had wished she possessed that trait—wished she was capable of hiding her thoughts and feelings the way he and his brother could.

“You’ve never been a fool, Luna,” Uilleam said with surprising conviction. “And I’ve never treated you like one.”

“Then tell me the truth. Tell me about the warehouse.”

“Does Kit know you’re here?”

Luna was taken back by the question, not because it was particularly shocking, but because she didn’t think in all the years she had known him she had ever heard him use Kit’s name.

He was always, ‘my brother’ or ‘the facilitator,’ or as of recently, Uilleam just referred to him as her husband.

It was then she knew.

She knew.

“Tell me what you did,” she said, feeling like a fool as emotion clogged her throat.

Uilleam sighed, but there was no regret in his eyes as he pushed away from the table, tossing his napkin on the table. “It wasn’t what I did that matters, it’s what I didn’t do.”

“I swear to God, I’m not in the fucking mood for your word games, Uilleam. Did you do this to me?” she demanded, pointing her knife in his direction.

She expected him to make an excuse, to continue with his word games until she grew too frustrated to continue.

The last thing she was expecting was his answer.

“Yes.”

All the fight drained out of her as horror took its place. “What?”

“You asked if I’m responsible for you being here, right now, wielding a knife—the answer is yes.” His words were unapologetic, blunt in the pain they delivered. “I had you taken from your home and brought to a warehouse—the one on 42^nd and Hamilton.”

Luna realized almost belatedly that her hands were shaking, that she didn’t have a firm grip on the weapon she was already picturing plunging into his neck.

“How … why …” But she couldn’t think of the right question to ask.

Uilleam answered them both. “The how is rather simple. I sent a team to extract you. The why, however, is a bit more complicated.”

“Then make it uncomplicated!”

He sighed as he regarded her, as though he knew what he was saying would hurt her, but he would tell her anyway. “You were a job.”

I’m talking about a martyr—about a girl whose life was taken to give another power. The words whispered in her mind, but her brain still hadn’t caught up to what she thought she knew.

“A job,” she repeated, disbelieving. “I was a job … I don’t understand.”

Uilleam, a man that always seemed so sure of himself, hesitated. “Luna, leave this. The answer is unimportant.”

She lost it.

It only took two steps for her to get close enough to press the blade against his skin, digging just hard enough to draw blood.

“Speak.”

“About six years ago, your mother came to me—she wanted to have power, and all the money that came with it. Her idea was to run for local government. Carmen wasn’t doing it for the people, mind, she was doing it under the notion that she would get close with the cartels that worked with them. Morals, she had none, nor did she care what needed to be done to ensure that she got what she wanted.” Uilleam didn’t take his eyes from her as he spoke, nor did his tone soften as he delivered deadly words that she had begged him for. “But her vision was too narrow, she lacked the vision to know what she could become, so I made her an offer as I’ve done hundreds of others. I could give her power, for a price.”

“A price,” Luna echoed, feeling tears betraying her. Her arm had fallen to her side, the bead of blood she’d drawn sliding down his throat.

He made no move to wipe it away, nor did he make a move to retaliate.

They just stood there.

“The masses, you see, they love a victim. They can relate to one because they’ve all felt the pain of losing someone they love—and a woman advocating for change once she loses her daughter to vicious human traffickers? A prime candidate. You were the price she had to pay.”

Luna wanted to take it back.

She wanted to erase going to Belladonna’s offices entirely. She wanted to pretend like none of it had happened.

Because this—this crushed her in a way that Lawrence had never been able.

Her mother.

The one person in the world that was supposed to love and protect her had …

She was going to vomit.

But a sudden thought hit her. “Then why did you buy me?” she asked.

It didn’t make sense. If he had ensured she was out of the way and her mother could do as she pleased, why had he bought her from Lawrence?

Uilleam sighed. “My intention had always been to use you against your mother. While she plays checkers, I play chess. I’d wagered she would make it just far enough that I could make back my investment by using you as leverage.”

Beautiful girl, she was, made into a pawn in a game she didn’t know she was playing.

Belladonna had told her everything.

Luna gave a bitter laugh, a tear spilling over. “How? By showing her that you made her daughter into a whore? You’re proud of that? She didn’t even care!”

It felt like she was dying with every breath she took, the agony of it all bearing down on her shoulders.

“You’re not a whore—you never were,” Uilleam returned viciously, as though he hated the very idea. “Things didn’t go as I intended.”

“But you told them to give me to the first buyer—whoever would pay the most,” Luna said, remembering the goons that had grabbed her and their conversation.

They hadn’t thought she was paying attention to what they were saying. They didn’t realize she was crying because of how callous they sounded as they discussed her life like it was theirs to destroy.

There was a split second of confusion on his face before he masked it.

But she saw it.

She saw it.

Why was he confused?

He remembered everything else. He should have remembered that conversation as well.

“Andrei said that you were sending me after him—that you were upset because of what he had done. But you didn't know, did you?”

“Luna, leave it.”

“Why would—”And like a freight train, the answer slammed into her. “No.”

“Don’t,” Uilleam said, and actually looked apologetic.

He knew that she knew.

Luna didn’t give him a chance to say anything, or rather she was just done listening.

This didn’t end with him.

It ended with the man she loved.

---

That was the thing about grief—it manifested itself differently depending on the person.

There were some that were crippled with sadness—that lost track of time as they desperately tried to forget whatever had brought on the grief in the first place. But some grew enraged. Even as the sadness clung to their hearts trying to stop its beating, it was rage that coursed like adrenaline and kept them from succumbing to the anguish.

Luna couldn’t say when the emotions had shifted for her, but the minute her mind had ceased its noise, replaced with a fuzziness she didn’t want to think about, she was climbing onto her bike, tugging her helmet into place as she raced off, letting the view of Uilleam’s building disappear behind her.

Accelerating well beyond the speed limit, Luna could only think of the conversation they’d had that morning—that he said he would be leaving out again.

They had fallen into a comfortable routine while they worked. Should she be on an assignment, he didn’t linger around to see whether she would be home before his flight, or vice versa.

Luna didn’t know how long she rode before she was parking along the street, but it was long enough for the chill to sink into her skin and make her feel nearly as cold as the elements.

Starting up the drive, she caught sight of a familiar Maserati, parked haphazardly in front of the garage.

Trepidation filled her as she walked up those stone steps, but why was there fear? That was the last thing she should have felt confronting the man she loved.

It was a misunderstanding, she tried convincing herself.

It was all just a misunderstanding.

Kit’s voice carried through the door, the loudest she had ever heard him. He was on the phone, she could see once she cleared the door. There was a fire in his eyes as he swung his gaze in her direction.

The moment he saw her, he ended his call, tossing the phone on the table nearby. It didn’t matter that the person on the other end was still talking, his entire focus was on her.

And while once that might have thrilled her, he was too still—too assessing of her every step to make her think that it was because he was happy to see her.

Kit was on guard.

And with that thought, she realized that everything she had feared on the long drive back to him was true.

It was all true.

“What did you do?” she asked, the words like razors in her throat.

Had she not been looking for it, Luna might have missed the way he carefully blanked over his expression, revealing nothing.

She hated that look—such easy indifference in the face of her hurt. She couldn’t hide it, not if she wanted to, and the implication of that expression made her feel like he had shoved a knife into her chest and twisted.

“Tell me,” she uttered, furious with herself for begging.

“I didn’t know,” he finally answered, softer than she had ever heard him. “You—”

“Have to believe you?” There was a sort of numbness that was working its way through her, but not quick enough. Not before the pain of what he was admitting nearly took her breath her away.

But before she could say anything more, he was speaking again. “I didn’t know it was you, Luna. You have to believe that.”

“Is that supposed to make it better? Do you think that absolves you? It’s because you didn’t know who I was that …” she couldn’t find the right words, emotion clogging up her throat. There was so much she wanted to say that her thoughts were scrambled. “It’s the fact that you didn’t know who I was! How could you condemn someone to hell just because you’re upset with your brother?”

Kit wasn’t one to cast blame.

He didn’t mention his brother’s role in it, nor had Uilleam mentioned Kit. It seemed only appropriate that the two responsible for helping fuck up her life were covering for each other.

How could she have been so stupid?

So blind to the truth that had been sitting right in front of her had she ever bothered to look. She couldn’t even use naïve as an excuse—gullible sounded far better.

How happily she accepted whatever they told her, only glad that she had been rid of Lawrence and nothing more.

And Kit … she had wanted his love.

Attention.

She wanted him.

Not once had she further questioned why she couldn’t reach out to her family, or ever go back there. His word had been law to her.

But no more.

That was done.

“You misunderstand,” he tried, this time successfully closing the distance between them.

“No,” Luna said holding a hand up, making it clear that he was as close to her as she would allow. “I didn’t misunderstand anything. You told me everything I needed to know. Now, we’re done here.”

The finality of her words struck him mute momentarily. Then, as though he was only now understanding what she was telling him, he gave a harsh jerk of his head.

“You promised you would never leave,” he said, and only now was she seeing emotion in him.

Not for what he had done, but because she was walking away from him.

“You promised you wouldn’t give me a reason to.”

A look of anguish crossed his face, but this time when he reached for her, she let him.

A moment, just one, was all she needed.

Luna wanted to be selfish, to remind herself that the dream had been just that.

That the smile she thought she knew, and the skin that she was so familiar had all been a lie.

It wasn’t real.

“I can fix this.”

That was probably true.

She had no doubt that if she nodded and agreed to let him fix it, make amends, or whatever it was he intended, she would forgive him. She would try and force herself to forget the knowledge she knew, but she couldn’t.

Because she didn’t want him to fix her, especially when he was a factor behind what happened to her.

“I’m leaving,” she repeated, and it didn’t matter that her voice wasn’t as strong as she wanted it to be, her words were loud enough for him to hear.

And they were enough to make him flinch.

“I didn’t know!” he said, composure cracking completely. “You can’t punish me for that.”

“I’m not punishing you, Kit. It’s not about you.”

Though it was.

It really was.

Yes, she was angry with Uilleam for the role he played—and words couldn’t describe what she was feeling toward her mother and sister.

Yet, Kit topped them all.

His betrayal had hurt the most.

But she couldn’t tell him that, not when it felt like her throat was closing up and she couldn’t catch an adequate breath.

Luna just needed to get out of there.

His wild gaze dropped to her hands as he noticed her movement, the way her fingers were toying with the ring that marked her as his.

“Don’t,” he said almost savagely. “Don’t you dare take that fucking ring off.”

God, just hearing him speak those words hurt.

Hurt, like he had struck her because not once since he’d smiled and placed it on her had she ever thought that she would want it gone—that the sight of it would ever fill her with anything but joy.

Right now, it felt like a shackle.

“I love you, Kit,” she said, voice cracking at the end as she backed out of the room. “But I don’t think I ever want to see you again.”

Anguish like she had never seen before darkened his eyes, but it was the heaving breath that belied the real pain he was in.

“Luna, don’t. Please. Please.”

“You promised you wouldn’t follow—keep this one.”

The second she was clear of the door, she didn’t wait to see how he would respond to that, nor did she really look at him as tears burned her eyes.

She couldn’t bear to see it.

Almost to the bottom of the stairs, she jerked when she heard the sound of glass shattering against the wall, quickly followed by something else breaking.

With each possession he destroyed, the lump in her throat grew, the tears she’d been holding back finally spilling over.

The sounds of rage and destruction filtered outside as she threw the door open and rushed to her bike, not caring that she was leaving everything behind—there was only one thing she would have wanted anyway.

She didn’t know where she was going, only that she knew she needed to get away from him because she was seconds from going back to him.

But Luna was tired of being weak.

For once, she had to stand on her own.