The Alpha King's Contracted Luna by Nelson Claudia

Chapter 226

Chapter 226

-Ava’s POV-

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The first thing I saw was the flash of annoyance on her face. Annoyance at my interruption? Or annoyance at being caught?

My eyes flickered to her hands, expecting to see a phone clutched between her fingers–some proof that she had been talking to him. But there was nothing. When I looked back at her face, the irritation had melted away, leaving behind something else. Exhaustion.

I shrugged it off, “Well?”

The annoyance flared again, “Do you see a phone in my hand?”

“No,” I shot back, folding my arms. “But I just heard you say, ‘I’m so mad at you, Liam, for everything you did, but if you come back, I know we can fix this somehow.””

She rolled her eyes, “I was talking to myself.”

I raised a brow. “Right. That’s normal.”

“It is when you have a lot on your mind,” She snapped. “And since you’re so interested in my private conversations, maybe you should work on your own boundaries, Ava. Eavesdropping is a bad look.” She dragged my name out, slow and biting, full of disdain.

At least that hadn’t changed.

For a split second, I considered letting it go. Walking away. But screw that. Maybe if I hadn’t been such a pushover for most of my life, I wouldn’t have let people like Damien use me. Maybe I wouldn’t have been left with so many scars I couldn’t even begin to process.

I narrowed my eyes, “Says the person who put a bug in my phone to spy on me.”

Something flickered in her expression. Guilt? It was gone too fast to tell.

I pressed on, “Did you know? That Crystal was–or is–my twin sister?”

She exhaled sharply, and for the first time since this conversation started, she looked… tired. Not defensive. Not smug. Just tired.

“No,” She said after a pause, her voice quieter. “I didn’t know that.”

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.

She ran a hand through her hair, her fingers shaking slightly, “And I wasn’t talking to Liam. Well… I was. But not really. I was practicing. Rehearsing what I would say to him if I ever…. if I ever saw him again.”

There was something raw in her voice, something vulnerable that I wasn’t used to hearing from her.

I hesitated, “And you really think you can fix things? You can forgive him after everything he’s done?”

She let out a slow breath and turned toward the fountain, her gaze fixed on the water. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I really don’t know.”

stretched between

know how to process this kind of pain. I don’t know how to feel. What to think. From the very start, he despised me. Used me. And the worst part?” She let

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Chapter 226

him.”

didn’t respond

this was

a thorn in my side. Elaine, who had spied on me, manipulated me, done everything in her power to make my

And yet…

in the fountain, “Honestly? I don’t know what I

head sharply, eyes narrowing. She wasn’t

out the person I loved never actually cared about me—that I was just some pawn in their game?” I let out a bitter chuckle, shaking my head, “Yeah. I don’t know how I would even begin to

away. “You don’t have

“I’m not pretending.”

A long silence.

sounds were the faint trickle of the fountain, the

if I can’t. Her voice wavered slightly, and she clenched her fists at

nodding,

fake. It wasn’t a game to me,” She said, her voice thick with emotion, “And maybe I was blind. Maybe I was stupid. But it was real. And now, I

arms crossed. “Then maybe you need to figure out

humor in it.

“I know.”

gaze locking onto mine, sharp and

him just like I do

twisted, “That’s not

“Isn’t it?”

clenched my jaw, “No.”

her head, watching me closely, “You

bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t owe her an

and pretend all you want, but love isn’t something you just switch off, Ava. You can hate someone for hurting you. You can wish they never existed. But that doesn’t erase what you felt

Chapter 226

doesn’t mean they deserve forgiveness.”

her head, “No.

stretched

breath, “But it also

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I didn’t want to have this conversation. Not with

sighed again, her voice quieter now, “Not that any of it really matters. Not if we don’t make it out of this

silence between us stretched, heavy and unspoken. My eyes followed hers as they drifted downward, lingering on my stomach. The look

had caught her staring,

hesitated, then spoke, my voice quieter than before, “I’m

stared downward, “I was so happy, and I really hoped