Luna pressed a hand to her stomach as she stared at Dr. Gina.“Are you sure?” she asked, hoping the answer would be different the second time around.But Dr. Gina just shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, Luna, but it would be dangerous for you to go ahead with the insemination process right now. Your cervix is looking weaker than it was the last time you were here, and the situation’s just too delicate right now. I only have your best interest at heart.”Luna exhaled a breath, she raised a hand to wave away the other woman’s sympathy and worries.“I know, Gina, I know,” she replied. “I just,” she shook her head, disappointment sagging her shoulders, “I was looking forward to this, you know?”Gina gave her friend a sympathetic look. “I know,” she said softly.“I really thought this was it, that this would finally be it. The time where I got to have my baby, safe and healthy, and alive. But now you’re saying if I go ahead and do this now, I might not carry the baby to term, is that
Luna navigated the car through the rocky road leading to the memorial ground. After her meeting with Gina, Luna needed to talk to someone, she needed to talk with someone she could tell her feelings to, her fears, her worries. She needed to sort through her feelings, like Gina had advised, and she needed to feel that special connection that came with talking to a person she trusted and loved the most in the entire world. And the person she was going to see had all these qualities in him. All of it, and more.Luna drove up to the iron gates closing the memorial ground from the outside world, the gates slid open as she drove up. She drove through them and up the also rocky paths leading to the cemetery.Rows and rows of tombstones lined up in an arranged order as Luna drove past, Luna glanced at the names on the tombstones as she always did whenever she came to the memorial ground.Lisa Hackney III (the third), Jaime Crow Sullivan, Kira Langdon, Larry Samuels II (the second). and as
I’m sad because I’m not getting to have my baby,” Luna continued, her eyes already watering as she talked. “I just came from Dr. Gina, and she said how I was going to have to wait for a while before I can start the insemination process.”Luna sat down on the cemented ground around her father’s grave, she continued stroking his grave.“She said it was most likely stress that caused the delay, emotional stress,” Luna swallowed. “And I know the cause of the stress.”Luna fell silent as she stared at her father’s tombstone. She remembered the last six months before his death. She remembered the toll his thoughts and guilt had taken on him. His thoughts about how he could pay off the debts he’d owed the Lakes, and his guilt at having to ship off his first daughter to the same family to be married as collateral for not paying off his debts.Luna remembered all, and that was why she couldn’t even say his name in front of her dad now. Her dad hadn’t so much said the words before he died,
“I am so sorry that I had to call you like that, I know you were with your dad, I hated having to pull you out of your time with him.”Luna turned her head to look at Rita, they were both walking towards the conference room.“You had to,” Luna said. “We both know letting this circulate any longer than it already has, and the results would be even more disastrous than it already is.”Rita nodded, the two women both walked briskly through the hallway that led to the conference room, Jaden trailing behind them.“I know, I know,” Rita said again, letting out a breath, “That doesn’t make it easier to accept.”Luna placed a hand on Rita’s arm, she gave her a small smile.“It’s all good,” she said, reassuring Rita. “I got to have my time with him before your call came in, I’m fine.”“That’s a relief then,” Rita said.They got to the conference room, through the square opening in the door of the room, Luna could see that the press was already in full force in there. About a dozen of t
Luna waited until her mother had put on her favorite baking music, ‘Dear Future Husband by Meghan Trainor’, before dropping the bomb on her. “Moira Lake invited me to a party,” she paused for two seconds, “and I’m going.” The fast intro beat of the music rolled in comically at that very same moment. Mira Jones turned slowly to look at her daughter. “What?” she asked softly. Luna swallowed as she stared at her mother. She knew her mother was softhearted and calm most of the time, which made her weary of her on the few times she wasn’t either of those things. And Luna had a feeling this moment would be one of those times. “Moira Lake invited me to a party,” Luna said again, “and I’m going. Not because I want to, but because I have to.” “Why?” Mira asked, exasperation in her tone. Luna turned back to what they were doing, they were in her mother’s kitchen in her home. They were baking, an activity that they both enjoyed doing together, and that they did at least once
“Ready?”Luna smoothed her hand down her gown, she stared ahead at the hall where Moira’s ‘party’ was being held. She knew what the party was really all about, she knew ‘party’ was just a fancy word Moira had used to disguise what it really was. A slaughterhouse for her.Not slaughter as in kill, but slaughter as in chipping away at Luna’s essence with biting words. Luna knew the night was going to be one of the most tedious nights of her life, which was why she had brought a friend with her.Luna took in a deep breath, she kept her gaze on the hall’s blinking lights ahead as she responded to Rita beside her.“Like I was born to it.”“Attagirl,” Rita muttered underneath her breath, but Luna heard it.As if of one mind, the two women started walking towards the hall.“I’m starting to rethink this grand entrance thing,” Luna muttered to Rita as they neared the hall.“Too late, honey, that dress you’re wearing is a grand entrance dress,” her friend replied, “I made certain of it.
Luna closed her eyes as she recognized the voice to be Moira’s. Shit, she thought to herself. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, she thought repeatedly to herself.Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at Rita for a few seconds before finally turning to face Moira. She was dressed as elegantly as always, and she looked as cold and vicious as Luna was starting to believe she was born to.“Speak of the devil, and she shall appear,” Rita leaned down to whisper in her ear.Luna watched as Moira’s gaze shifted to Rita, she watched as her icy blue eyes raked from the top of Rita’s head down to her toes. “You brought a,” Moira paused intentionally, “friend.”“I did,” Luna replied.There was silence for a bit after that, Moira didn’t offer her hand in greeting, Rita didn’t introduce herself. Finally, Moira smiled at Rita, her smile cracking at the corners a little bit from the force she applied to it.“What is your name, dear?” she asked.“Rita Heron,” Rita replied, she still didn’t st
“Wow,” Luna said as soon as Moira walked far enough away. “That was…. amazing.”Rita shrugged, she sipped her champagne. “Thanks.”“How did you do that?” Luna asked, staring at Rita like she was a mini goddess.“I speak bitch,” Rita replied, turning her head to look at Luna, she smiled at her friend. “I had lots of practice at my old job. When I realized those assholes at Crasters were not going to be letting up on me anytime soon seeing as I was the only woman in a male-dominated company, I had to get creative.”Luna placed a hand over Rita’s hand. She knew her friend so well, so she heard the concealed hurt and bitterness in her voice even though Rita’s words were said carelessly.“I know,” Luna said softly, “and I’m sorry you had to relive all that again because of Moira.”Rita smiled a little, it didn’t reach her eyes, she patted Luna’s hand reassuringly. “You have nothing to apologize for, Moira was the one who brought it up. And besides, I pulled out my guns first.”“Yeah
“I want to say thank you to everyone for coming,” Logan said into the microphone. The gala had been going on for hours now, it was starting to wind down, towards the end. He was giving his speech as Chairman of Lake Industries. “This would not have been successful without you all,” he continued. “I consider you all family, but I would like to thank my family, the one that I made. Both my sons, Justin and Brian, I am proud of you both. This Gala would not have been successful without you both, I love you.” He raised a toast towards Justin and Brian. “And to the ladies who stood by their side, and not just stood, but did their part in making this a success, Luna and Ashley,” he raised his glass towards Luna and Ashley, he smiled, “I love you. You are the best additions this family could have ever asked for, and my sons are lucky to have you in their lives.” He paused. “Love makes the world go around, without it, we would be lost, and I am glad that you four have found your way to ea
Luna stood in front of the full-length mirror, she placed a hand over her bump, and stared at her image. She smiled as she felt Justin’s arms wrap around her midsection. She leaned back and rested her head on Justin’s chest, she sighed as he started nibbling on her neck. “Can’t we just stay in and not go?” she asked, tilting her neck even better for Justin’s mouth to have access. Justin stopped nibbling, he looked at the mirror, meeting her eyes. “You are a witch,” he murmured. Luna laughed. “What? It’s just a suggestion,” she said, trying to look innocent. “Yeah, a suggestion that you know I am one hundred percent for,” Justin replied. “Hell, I suggested it an hour ago, and what did you say?” Luna closed her eyes. “We really should go,” she echoed her own answer. “That’s right,” Justin murmured, his mouth already muffled against the side of her neck again. Luna sighed, she twined her fingers with Justin’s on her stomach. “I was an idiot,” she murmured. Justin ma
Present. Now Luna was mad. When the article was released, while they were preparing for the press conference, during the press conference, Luna had been sick all through. But now that the press conference was over, she was mad. She had kept her calm all through the press conference. Even when the questions had turned personal and her answers had left her a little hard to breathe, Luna had kept her calm. Rita had arrived just few seconds after the press conference started, she had stood behind the interviewers, facing Luna. And she had been showing her markers with her hands, thumbs up when she was doing good and stuff like that. That had helped to keep her calm, that, and the solid presence of Justin behind her. He had stood behind her chair, no word, no interruptions, just the occasional squeeze of her shoulder. Quiet support, and steady, even gentle, backing. And then Moira had walked in. The press conference had been nearing its end by then, Luna had watched as Rita had f
Flashback Luna sat on the sofa in the living room, staring at nothing. Moira was in front of her, pacing and reprimanding her about something. Luna wasn’t sure what, she hadn’t been listening when Moira started, she wasn’t listening now, and she simply just didn’t care. She didn’t have the energy to care, she barely had the energy to be seating here as she was. She just wanted to lie down. For the past two weeks now, that was all she had been wanting to do. Just lie down, preferably in a dark quiet corner, but at this point, she would take anything she could get. But she wanted to lie down, pull a thick, dark cover over her head, and just go to sleep. She wanted to sleep, and go on sleeping, she wanted to sleep for a long period of time. And whenever she thought of the concept of waking up from that sleep, she didn’t like it. Her heart sunk at the thought of waking up, and having to face all of this again. If she woke up, she had to sit up, she had to stand, she had to walk, she
The next day, the whole issue with Honor took a back seat in Luna’s mind as she found herself with an entirely different, and bigger, situation on her hands. Another article was leaked, this one about her father. It dug up the old news about her father, and the issue he had with Lake Industries, the debacle that had brought Luna to New York and to Justin. The article was all about rehashing what her father did, how he ‘betrayed’ Lake Industries for a handout, and how he disappeared from the grid because of his shame. His name, face and story were plastered all over the news article. Even her mother and sister were not left out, Mira and Ashley’s faces and names were printed in it too. Feeling sick about it all, Luna pressed a hand to her stomach, she stood still, trying to get in a deep breath. She was at home, people were in the house, Justin had called an emergency press conference immediately the news had hit the media. Camera men and their crew were moving about the living
“I really needed that,” Luna said two hours later, as she and Justin walked back into the studio. Justin wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Which part?” Luna laughed, she swatted his arm playfully. “The food and nice view part, you pervert.” Justin shrugged. “Hey, you sounded like you enjoyed the other part very much too when we were doing it.” Luna laughed again, she shook her head. “You’re an idiot.” “An idiot you were screaming his name,” Justin leaned down and whispered into her ear. Luna looked up at him, her eyes widening. “Justin!” Somebody cleared their throat behind them, Justin and Luna both turned at the same time to look. The smile and teasing glint in her eyes were still there when Luna’s eyes met Honor’s. “Honor,” she said, startled. She sobered up immediately, Honor looked at Luna, like she focused on her like she was determined to act as though Justin was not there. Luna felt the freeze, but somehow she felt like Honor’s acknowledgement of her was not part
One week later. Luna rubbed the kinks out of her neck, she had been stuck going through things that needed to be put in place for the Gala, all morning. All week too. Ever since Honor pulled her company out of the Gala event, there had been slacks in the work that needed to be done. Both in the parts that Honor had taken up to do, and in the aspects that her company had been taking care of. The fashion aspect. “These are really good,” Luna commented, looking at the design sketches that had been left by Honor and her company before she left. “Yeah,” Temperance, the assistant working with Luna on deciding the fashion angle for the Gala, said beside her. “Miss Kosarin and her people really worked hard on it, they worked almost round the clock too. It was like there was some competition or something.” Luna knew better that Temperance just what she was saying. From the first day they had met, she and Honor had both known there was going to be a competition between them. They had
Present. Luna and Justin were both in Justin’s car, they were driving after Honor. After her announcement, Honor had dropped the mic and immediately left the party. Moira had been livid, she hadn’t shown it, of course, or at least not in an explosive way. She hadn’t screamed or shouted, or done anything of the sort. Even in the face of what someone like Moira would probably term the greatest betrayal of all time, she still hadn’t lost control. She hadn’t shown her anger to the guests or given them a show that they could go talk about to the blogs. No matter her personal feelings towards Moira, Luna had had to admit that she found that impressive. But even with her composure, Luna had known she was angry. In fact, it had been very obvious to her, and no doubt to her family members too. She saw the look Justin, Logan and even Brian, had exchanged when it happened. The vein that had popped out on Moira’s forehead had been the first tell, followed by the twitching at the corner of
Flashback. “So you’re saying there’s nothing you can do?” Brandon asked the lawyer. Luna was in her room, the room she shared with Justin, although ‘shared’ was a strong word for how much time Justin actually spent in the room with her these days. Luna shook her head to shake off those thoughts, thinking about the ever increasing distance between she and Justin for the past month would only just make her depressed. And she didn’t have the time or head space for that. She refocused her attention on the matter at hand. She was in the room, her mother and father were on a call with her, Luna stared at their faces on the laptops screen. A man was seated beside her, Carl James, her lawyer. He was a low budget lawyer, the type she had been able to afford on her own, hers and her parents, that is. She couldn’t tap into the generous money Justin kept depositing into her account almost every day. And she couldn’t do that because she couldn’t very well use his money to hire a lawyer who