29 Why Do You Care
Mara
I sat in silence as Lucian drove us to the resort. My hands stayed clenched in my lap, and I stared out the window, trying to pretend the car wasn’t heavy with everything unsaid.
The argument between him and Darian still echoed in my head-loud, raw, and humiliating.
They were fighting over me like I was some object dropped between them, and I hated that my presence had turned their home into a battleground.
When we arrived at the resort, neither of us said much. The room was beautiful-too beautiful. Romantic in all the wrong ways. Like it was meant for a couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. But that wasn’t us. We moved around
the space like polite strangers.
The chalet smelled of pine and clean air, and for a moment, I could breathe. At least here, I wouldn’t have to tiptoe around Darian or pretend not to notice Lucian’s disappearing act every night.
I wasn’t sure if I believed what Lucian said about Tina-but I wanted to. I needed to. Somewhere inside me, under the bruises and doubt, there was still a woman who wanted her marriage to work.
I watched him carefully place his wristwatch on the nightstand. He moved with a quietness I wasn’t used to. No sharp edges. No cold silence. Just…..gentleness. It made me suspicious.
“Why are you being nice to me, Lucian?” I asked. My voice came out low, edged with the weight of everything we hadn’t
said.
He paused, like the question caught him off guard. After he tucked our suitcases into the cupboard, he sat on the couch. I stayed on the edge of the king-size bed, watching him. Waiting.
“Why would you ask me that?” he said finally, soft like I’d asked something he couldn’t quite translate.
I looked at him, steady. “Because it’s different from what you said at my father’s house. You were clear back then. Cruel,
but clear.”
His face tightened. Shame crept in as he bowed his head.
“I was angry,” he said after a beat. “Martha told me things that… got in my head. I reacted. I shouldn’t have. I didn’t mean most of it. I just-I wanted to understand who you really were.”
His voice cracked around the edges, but his eyes-those sharp blue eyes-were almost begging.
Tina,” I said, and his whole face shifted. “Didn’t you love her enough?”
He didn’t answer right away. Just sat there, the question sitting heavy between us. And in his silence, I saw something flicker-regret, maybe. Or loss. Or both.
“I cared about her,” Lucian finally said, his voice low and steady, “but Martha made sure my father forced me into marrying
you. She knew how you felt about Darian. She wanted to ruin things from the start. I knew you’d be sad, maybe even
resentful. And I couldn’t, in good conscience, let you go through that alone.”
He paused, eyes meeting mine with a clarity I hadn’t seen in him before.
“How could I stand by while your whole world shifted, and mine stayed the same? That didn’t feel right. And above all, I wasn’t going to disrespect you by keeping a mistress. Tina deserved better than to be hidden away. She deserves a chance to fall in love, build a real life with someone else.”
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29 Why Do You Cate
He took a breath.
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“So no, we might not be in love-but I’m committed to trying. If nothing else, we can be friends. I’d like to be someone you can trust, Mara. That much, I can offer.”
His words landed harder than I expected. They were honest. Measured. Unexpected. I’d heard too many things about Lucian-cold, selfish, arrogant. But sitting here, I couldn’t help but think: maybe they were wrong.
“You’re kind to me,” I said simply, trying to find the right words.
He gave a soft laugh, the sound short and dry.
“Then why do people say such awful things about you?” I asked.
He leaned back slightly and looked away for a moment, as if deciding how much to say.
“You’ve met Martha,” he said. “Imagine what she could do with unlimited access to me-since I was a boy. She never wanted me to inherit the Alpha position. So she worked from the shadows, turning people against me. Told the world I recklessly got someone killed-an innocent pack member.”
I felt my brow furrow. “You didn’t?”
He shook his head.
“I wasn’t drunk. My brakes failed. And someone laced the scene with silver. It wasn’t the crash that killed the biker-it was the silver. I was the target, but I survived.”
I stared at him, the weight of his words slowly settling in. It wasn’t just scandal. It was betrayal.
“You think Martha tried to kill you?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
He stiffened, then looked me dead in the eye. “Don’t ever say that again, Mara. Not out loud. You don’t know who’s listening. My father might be powerful, but he’s blind where she’s concerned.”
I nodded, taking it in. I believed him.
Then, after a pause, he looked at me with a softness I wasn’t ready for.
“Mara,” he said, “I’d like to get to know you. I’d like to be your friend, if that’s something you’d be open to.”
He was my husband-yet nothing about this felt forced.
He hadn’t touched me. Hadn’t made demands.
Any other man might have claimed me, used his title to justify it. But Lucian waited. Gave me room. Offered me choice.
Friendship wasn’t too much to give.
“I think I’d like that,” I said.
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