Free Web NovelChapter 128: Chapter 128
Aria’s POV
Nathan calmly wiped his cutlery with the precision of a wolf sharpening claws. After a heartbeat, he murmured, “No talking during meals.”
As if he was the law in this house, as if I belonged to him.
My wolf snarled low inside me. I ignored her.
The servant returned with a beautifully plated replica of my simple breakfast.
He ate slowly, methodically... as if all his strange behavior was just for this, having breakfast with me.
I let out a short, bitter laugh and turned back to my own plate.
Even while trapped in Hemsworth Villa, where rent wasn’t bleeding me dry, I couldn’t forget the relic, Grandma Kate’s relic that Nathan had given me last night. It was worth a fortune. A hundred million dollars’ worth of debt sat heavy on my shoulders.
I would repay it, I had to.
Because once the divorce was finalized, we’d be strangers again. No ties, no bonds, no tangled fates pulling us toward each other.
I needed to leave this place soon. A Luna could live here, but I...I no longer could I wasn’t that anymore.
I finished eating quickly, cleared my dishes, and stood. The soft clatter must have grabbed Nathan’s attention because I felt his eyes on me...hot, probing, and unsettling.
Just as I stepped toward the hallway, he said my name.
“Aria.”
Goddess me.
A shiver raced down my spine, prickling my skin. His voice carried a strange mix of tenderness and desperation. Something that made my wolf hesitate.
I quickened my pace, panic rising like a tide in my chest.
Suddenly, a firm grip closed around my wrist.
My wolf snarled and I whipped around, my glare sharp enough to wound.
His impulsive fire dimmed.
He lowered his eyes, his voice dropping. “Where are you headed? I’ll have someone drive you.”
I yanked my wrist free, my heart pounding.
Why is he acting like this?
Like a wolf losing his mind? fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Like an Alpha on the verge of snapping?
Nathan’s strange behavior felt dangerous. His gaze, his tone, his attempts at closeness...
Was he unstable?
Why now?
I didn’t wait to figure it out.
I rushed toward the bedroom, fear and confusion tangling inside me.
I needed to check on Lana.
Nathan’s POV
The loud slam of the door made my wolf flinch before I did. A muscle in my brow twitched, my jaw tightening as the echoes vibrated through the house. Aria’s scent still lingered, yet she was already gone.
I stood there like an idiot, rooted to the spot, my wolf pacing in circles inside me. After a long moment, I walked back to the table, forced myself back into the chair, staring blankly at the table as though it could explain any of this.
The servant hovered nearby, eyeing the barely touched breakfast. “Alpha Nathan... should I prepare another?”
I shook my head. “You can leave.”
He bowed quickly, worried, but clearly relieved to escape the storm brewing in my aura.
When his footsteps faded, a strange heaviness settled over me. My chest tightened, my wolf within let out a low, restless whine.
My gaze drifted to the breakfast... her breakfast. The same dishes Aria had devoured with unexpected hunger. I’d caught myself stealing glances at her, watching the way she ate, the way she breathed, the way she existed.
Yet now that the seat across from me was empty, the food tasted like ash.
A sigh rumbled out of me, heavy and rough. My emotions were a tangled snarl, a mix of regret, anger and guilt.
Last night, I hadn’t slept. I’d stayed in the study with only the blue glow of my computer and the restless pacing of my wolf for company. During the search, I found a locked folder... one I didn’t remember creating.
Inside were photos, videos, documentation of Aria’s life from the moment she was released from prison. Every step, every hardship. Her dragging herself through the rain-soaked street as a water truck drenched her. Her pleading desperately outside Hemsworth Group Private Hospital, guarded by security who didn’t even know she used to be their Luna.
I’d sent Collins to gather the rest.
And when I watched it all...
A sharp sting pierced my chest.
Regret, raw and acidic, flooded my mouth.
If I’d found her sooner...
If I hadn’t pushed her away...
Would she have been spared any of this?
A year ago, even if I despised her, she’d been the respected Luna of the Ironclaw Pack, a top-tier attorney, confident and untouchable. My Luna.
And now?
She had turned herself into a prisoner. Outcast. A lone wolf surviving at the lowest rung of society. She had endured every fall with a strength that made something in me twist painfully.
I frowned, staring at her image on the screen. “Aria... who the hell are you really?”
Nathan’s POV
My hand went to my chest automatically, trying to calm the racing thud of my heart. My wolf pressed against my ribs, his yearning a constant plea.
The feelings clawing at me were nothing I could name, I could only feel.
Only suffer.
What was happening to me?
I’d tossed and turned in my chair until dawn, unable to cage my thoughts or my wolf. Finally, driven by a mix of guilt and something far more selfish, I called the department overseeing Kate’s inheritance and forced them to act.
The inheritance was Aria’s and whether I admitted it or not... I wanted to give her something, anything, to ease even a fraction of what she had suffered.
With another sigh, I shut the laptop and rubbed my temples, exhaustion creeping up my spine. My wolf nudged the edges of my consciousness, restless, uneasy.
“Aria...” I murmured, her name echoing strangely in my own ears.
I turned toward my room, hoping sleep might untangle the chaos inside me. But I knew it wouldn’t because whatever I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Aria’s POV
I sat in the back of the taxi, cradling Lana against my chest.
My little pup rubbed her eyes with chubby fists, her tiny belly giving a hungry little growl that my wolf picked up even before I did.
Only then did I realize—
I had bathed her, dressed her, given her milk powder and her vitamin D drops... but I’d forgotten the chicken-and-pumpkin puree she always had in the mornings.
I closed my eyes briefly. Of course I forgot. In my world, Lana comes first, even before my own inheritance.
“Driver, please stop at the next mall,” I said.
The car pulled over, and I stepped out, Lana’s warm weight snug in my arms.
Inside the mall, I headed straight for the baby-food place I remembered... only to find it missing from the directory. My frustration rose, but I kept calm.
I approached a supermarket employee to ask for help, lifting my eyes, I froze.
“Luna Aria?!” the woman gasped.
“Sandra?” My breath caught.
My wolf perked up in recognition,
Sandra had worked at Hemsworth Villa for years. She was the one who helped me escape the Hemsworth villa on the night I went to take some of my document, after returning from jail.
She had always seemed younger than her age, vibrant, quick on her feet. But now...
She looked like life had chewed her up and spat her out. Her eyes were sunken. Her hair was brittle.
My heart clenched painfully. “Nora... what happened? What are you doing here?”
When I reached for her hand, my palm brushed over her fingertips. They were rough, cracked, calloused. A shock sliced through me.
My wolf whimpered.
Sandra snatched her hand back, embarrassed.
“Is it because of Nathan?” I asked quietly.
Sandra bit her lip, clearly torn. Finally, she shook her head. “Luna Aria... I’m sorry. I broke my promise. I told Alpha Nathan where you were.”
“It’s okay,” I murmured. “But why fire you after you confessed?”
She looked down, mumbling, refusing to say more.
Guilt pricked at my chest. She suffered because of me... because of him.
I steadied my voice. “How have you been holding up?”
“Not as good as before...” she admitted. “But I’m surviving.”
I exhaled in relief, though worry still tugged at me. In my distraction, I missed the flicker in her eyes.
A sudden wail tore through the air.
Lana wriggled in my arms, her hands reaching toward Sandra. It was not the usual curious grabbing... but something else. Like she wanted to push something away.
Strange...
My wolf stiffened.
I brushed it aside and hurried to prepare formula with Sandra’s help. As soon as I put the pacifier in her mouth, Lana quieted, though she kept babbling restlessly.
Sandra leaned closer to peek.
Immediately, Lana threw a full-blown tantrum, tiny claws flexing in distress.
Sandra stepped back, startled. Lana settled.
“She’s shy around strangers,” I said.
I tapped Lana’s nose gently. “Lana, sweetheart, this lady helped Mommy before. Be polite, okay?”
Sandra smiled quickly. “She’s just a baby. She doesn’t understand.”
I smiled back, but Lana’s eyes stayed fixed on Sandra.
The interlude ended soon. I slipped some money into Sandra’s hand and continued to the new baby-food shop. After feeding Lana, I rushed to the meeting place for the inheritance.
A line of suits waited at the front desk, looking like they’d been standing guard for hours.
The moment they spotted me, the lead man stepped forward and bowed slightly. “Ms. Darvin, we’ve been expecting you. Please follow me.”
I blinked. All this... for me?
I tightened my grip on Lana and followed.
“This is your grandmother’s handwritten will,” the man said, donning white gloves and presenting a sealed Kraft envelope with reverence.
My hands trembled.
Grandma Kate’s will?
My chest constricted. My wolf whimpered softly, curling tighter inside me.
I touched the envelope.
It felt warm. When I opened it, I realized it wasn’t just a will, It was a farewell. A confession. A final embrace written in ink.
Every page except the last two was about me...Her longing...Her love...Her refusal to believe I had ever done wrong.
By the last page, I was sobbing so hard my vision blurred.
Memories hit like claws—
Sophia showing up and instantly becoming the “favorite” in my mother’s eyes.
Causing Nathan to turn cold. The accusation, the arrest.
The prison walls that felt like the world was closing in.
And Sophia visiting me severally...
Whispering about her intimacy with Nathan...Pushing and pushing until she found the one wound that could still make me break—
Grandma Kate.
Every time she mentioned Kate, I had cried silently, my wolf hunched in the corner of my mind, powerless.
I had looked forward every day to clearing my name.To going home, to seeing Kate again.
But by the time I got out...
She was gone.
Tears dripped onto the envelope as my wrists shook.
Kate had written:
“I never believed the rumors. I never doubted you. You are the child I raised, and my pride.”
My lips trembled so hard I bit down on them, hard enough to bleed.
