+8 Ports
95 Say It As Is
Mara
The breakfast table fell into silence the moment Lucian, Darian, and Alpha Vander left.
Lacy had her usual scowl aimed at me, like it was permanently etched into her face. Martha looked lost in thought, her eyes clouded with worry-blackmail clearly gnawing at her mind.
But Tiffany… Tiffany smiled. Soft. Gentle. The pregnant woman I once couldn’t stand now seemed more vulnerable than ever, picking at the fruit on her plate like she was trying to keep from breaking.
“How’s the holiday home, Mara?” she asked eventually.
“It’s peaceful,” I said. “Quiet. Just us.”
She smiled again, and then lowered her gaze.
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“I envy that. Maybe when Darian finally gets over you, we can move on.”
There was no malice in her voice. Just hope laced with heartbreak. It hit me harder than I expected.
I hadn’t liked Tiffany at first. She’d taken Darian when I was still figuring out what I felt. But now? I saw the truth. She was alone. Pregnant. Stuck in a house where the man she loved barely looked her way. Her pain was not the same as Tina’s
manipulative theatrics. This was real.
“He will,” I said gently. “I think he already has.”
Tiffany shook her head. “No. Darian’s just afraid of Lucian. That’s all. If he weren’t, he’d be chasing you. He still looks at
you the same way he did in the academy.”
Her voice cracked slightly. “He never looked at me like that.”
I felt my chest tighten. “He didn’t fancy me back then,” I said, trying to give her something to hold on to.
But Martha cut in.
“On the contrary, Mara,” she said coldly. “Darian’s liked you since you were fifteen. Don’t act like you didn’t know. Wasn’t that why you left your studies to join the academy? His love was real. Yours? Shallow. That’s why you moved on so easily. Look at you now, parading around with Lucian like Darian never existed.”
I turned to her slowly, stunned by the audacity.
“Honestly, Luna Martha, I can’t believe you.” My voice was calm, but my hands were tight in my lap. “You wanted me out of
Darian’s life. You forced Alpha Vander to buy me for Lucian.”
Tiffany gasped. I turned to her.
“Yes, Tiffany. I was bought. My parents had no choice. It was either accept the match… or be cast out as rogues.”
Tiffany looked horrified.
“I adjusted,” I continued. “I made peace with it. And somewhere in that mess… I found love. So yes, I moved on. But not because my love was shallow. Because your mother-in-law gave me no other option.”
I turned back to Martha.
“Maybe if you’d left things alone, Tiffany wouldn’t be pregnant and unloved.”
I stopped. My throat clenched. I didn’t mean to throw that pain at Tiffany. It just slipped. But the weight of it hung in the
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95 Say It As Is
“Finish the sentence, Mara,” Martha said flatly. “Go ahead.”
I looked at her. Measured. Calm now.
“I’m also grateful for what you did,” I said quietly. “Because it brought me to someone who truly loves me.”
She laughed. Bitter. Cold.
“That’s not what you were going to say. If I hadn’t intervened, you would’ve ended up with Darian.”
I shook my head slowly.
“No,” I said. “I would’ve ended up settling. There’s a difference.”
3
+8 Pounts >
“Darian and I spent four years at the academy,” I said, voice steady. “Every day. And he never asked me out. Never showed he cared. If you hadn’t interfered, Martha, I still wouldn’t have ended up with Darian.”
Right then, he walked in-of course.
“You would have ended up with me, Mara,” Darian said quietly. “I was waiting. Waiting for it to be safe to show how I felt. I didn’t want my mother interfering, so I hid it.”
I cringed. I really shouldn’t have come with Lucian.
“Well,” I said with a small smile, lifting my orange juice. “That’s water under the bridge now.”
Martha scoffed.
“Of course it is,” she said. “You’re Luna now. Running Steel Corp. Lucian’s so far gone he’s forgotten all about the woman carrying his child. Honestly, Mara-you’re a master manipulator.”
I didn’t respond at first. Because now I understood why she hated me so much.
I didn’t steal anything from her-I just survived her.
She didn’t want me with her son because I had no pedigree. She despised me because Darian couldn’t stop wanting me, and that tension wrecked her little deal with Northwood. And after everything, I’d ended up Luna and head of the company. Everything she once wanted for herself.
And I didn’t even ask for it.
Lucian and I were thrown together. We chose not to be miserable. We fought for love. And she couldn’t stand that it
worked.
“I take comfort,” I said calmly, “knowing you don’t get to direct the course of my life anymore, Martha.”
Her eyes flared. “You dare disrespect me? I am your Luna!”
I smiled at her rage. Calm. Measured.
Exactly what she couldn’t handle.
“Mother, we need to talk,” Darian said, his voice low, purposeful.
She waved him off. “I don’t care! Someone has to put this b***h in her place. Just wait until your father hears about this-”
“Father can’t do anything to Mara,” Darian cut in smoothly. “Lucian is Alpha now. That makes her Luna.”
She blinked at him. Disoriented.
“No, she said, shaking her head. “Vander hasn’t handed it over yet-”
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95 Say It As is
“He doesn’t need to,” Darian said. “Lucian’s mark is active. He’s a stronger Alpha. The shift has already happened.”
Martha’s face twisted as the truth sank in.
18 Points 2
And I sat there, quietly glowing, pride swelling in my chest. Everyone thought I’d been doomed when I was handed off to Lucian. But the goddess had blessed me with something better than safety.
She’d given me freedom.
“But that’s not what I wanted to talk about,” Darian said, turning back to his mother. “What have you been doing with the money, Mother? All that money you took?”
I glanced at Tiffany, who looked… satisfied. Maybe we weren’t so different after all.
Martha straightened, eyes cutting to me. “I didn’t steal it. l’earned it. I helped Daniel win bids. That’s all.”
She stared at me like I’d betrayed her.
But the only person Martha had ever betrayed… was herself.
