chapter 4

Lune’s parents sat at the old wooden table, the weight of Arlo Donovan’s offer hanging heavily in the air between them. The dim light of the kitchen flickered softly, but it did little to brighten the suffocating atmosphere. Her father, Gerald, stared blankly at the sheet of paper in front of him—the contract that Arlo had sent earlier that day. It was an offer that would wipe away all of their debts, lift them from the crushing weight of financial ruin, and secure their future in ways they hadn’t dared dream about for years. Yet, as appealing as the solution was on the surface, there was an undeniable darkness underneath.

Evelyn, Lune’s mother, sat across from him, her fingers nervously tracing the rim of her coffee cup. She hadn’t said a word since they’d opened the letter, but the tears welling in her eyes spoke volumes. She had known this day would come; she had sensed something lurking for years—something wrong about the way Arlo seemed to circle their lives, always from a distance but never too far away.

“This is wrong, Gerald,” Evelyn whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. “I can’t... we can’t do this to her.”

Gerald sighed, his tired eyes shifting from the paper to his wife’s anguished face. “What choice do we have? Do you think I want this? Do you think I want to hand our daughter over to him like she’s some... commodity?”

“But she doesn’t even know him!” Evelyn’s voice broke, her words spilling out in a rush of desperation. “We’ve kept her away from men like him all her life, and now, because we’re drowning in debt, we’re supposed to give her to him? A man who’s—” She stopped herself, the rest of her sentence stuck in her throat, but they both knew what she was going to say. A man who’s dangerous.

Gerald ran a hand through his thinning hair, his face lined with exhaustion and regret. “Arlo made it clear, Evelyn. If we don’t accept this offer...”

“I don’t care about the money,” she snapped, her eyes flashing with anger. “I care about Lune. He’s not doing this to save us, Gerald. He’s doing this to take her, to trap her in his world. You’ve seen how ruthless he is. Do you really think she’ll be happy with a man like that?”

“No,” Gerald admitted, his voice quiet and heavy. “But what if we don’t agree? Do you really think Arlo will walk away? He’s been circling us for years. He’s been watching her for years. He’s not going to give up on this, and if we refuse, who knows what he’ll do?”

Evelyn’s breath caught, and her tears spilled over. She had sensed it too—the way Arlo had always seemed to have a hand in their lives without ever being too direct. The business deals that went sour after Lune’s boyfriends entered the picture, the sudden, subtle changes in their fortunes whenever Lune was involved. Arlo had always been there, lurking, waiting. He wasn’t a man who accepted no for an answer.

“But Lune will never forgive us,” Evelyn said softly, her voice thick with grief. “How can we look her in the eye and tell her we’ve promised her to a man like him? She’ll hate us, Gerald. She’ll hate us forever.”

Gerald’s hands clenched into fists on the table, the weight of his failure as a father settling deep in his chest. “I know,” he said bitterly, his voice shaking. “But what am I supposed to do? We’re out of options. Arlo’s offer comes with conditions—conditions we can’t refuse. He won’t let us fall, but only if we give him what he wants. And we both know what he wants.”

Evelyn wiped her eyes with trembling hands, her mind racing with thoughts of Lune—her sweet, innocent Lune, who had no idea what lay ahead of her. She had always wanted more for her daughter than the life they had given her. She had dreamed of Lune finding love on her own terms, of her being free to choose her own path, not to be bound by the ruthless desires of a man like Arlo Donovan.

“We can’t stop this, can we?” Evelyn asked in a voice so small it almost disappeared into the silence of the room.

Gerald shook his head. “No. We can’t.”

They sat there in heartbroken silence, the reality of the decision they had made settling in. They both knew that this wasn’t just about money or survival. It was about Arlo’s obsession—an obsession that had started the moment Lune was born. Arlo had been waiting for this moment for years, watching her from the shadows, and now, he had finally made his move.

“I never wanted this for her,” Evelyn whispered, her voice thick with sorrow. “She deserves better than a man who thinks he can buy her.”

“She does,” Gerald agreed, his heart heavy with guilt. “But I don’t think we have the power to stop him. Not anymore.”

In the end, they both knew they were helpless. Arlo Donovan was a man who always got what he wanted, and this time, what he wanted was their daughter.