Abandoned Luna Now Untouchable (Cecilia) novel Chapter 64

Sebastian

I answered the phone while dismissively waving away the office full of executives who’d been attempting to flex their seniority through political maneuvering.

Their hasty exit couldn’t have been more transparent-each one practically sprinting for the door as if their lives depended on it.

“Cecilia, is something wrong?” I asked, pressing the phone to my ear, maintaining my characteristically cool tone.

“It’s just that-l was scheduled to return to work the day after tomorrow since my leg has healed, but I need to visit my grandmother,” Cecilia explained. “I’d like to request another week off.”

Her voice maintained its usual composure, but I could detect the slight tremor beneath her words. She was putting on a brave face, though I knew better.

1 remained silent for several seconds.

“You seem to be developing quite the taste for playing hooky, Cecilia. Don’t tell me you’re planning to milk that workplace injury forever?” I finally replied, my tone deliberately provocative.

“No, it’s not that…” she quickly defended.

I expect you at work the day after tomorrow.”

“What about five days-”

“Not even half a day is acceptable. I want to see you here the day after tomorrow morning.”

Silence stretched between us.

Finally, she deflated like air escaping a balloon, her voice dropping with undisguised disappointment. “I’m sorry. I had no idea divorce would become this complicated. Had I known, I never would have applied for this position so impulsively and caused you so much trouble. Just give me five more days to sort everything out, otherwise…”

“Otherwise what?” I prompted.

“You’ll end up being gossiped about too.”

The situation had been escalating for nearly three hours now. The probability that I remained unaware was minuscule at best.

She clearly doubted her ability to reverse public opinion within two days. Appearing at Silver Peak Pack headquarters, being seen constantly in my company-she was worried about the rumors that would inevitably spread about me.

“Ah, so that’s what’s keeping you up at night,” I said, a flicker of understanding passing through me.

But I didn’t give her room to linger in it. I pressed on, voice sharpening.

“What’s your plan for handling this mess? You do have one, I assume?”

She paused-five seconds of silence that felt like five minutes. Then, crisp and controlled, she answered,

“Confront. Negotiate.”

“Cecilia,” I breathed, more surprised than I cared to admit. “You’ve startled me.”

” I don’t usually act like this, she said quickly, almost defensively. “But they’ve crossed a Line. They’re forcing my hand.”

“It’s not your defiance that startles me,” I said, voice cooling. “It’s your blind confidence.”

“You’re intelligent,” I continued, my tone now edged with steel. “So surely you’ve figured it out by now-Luna Dora isn’t acting alone. The Shadow Pack’s fingerprints are all over this.”

Y let that sink in before adding, quieter but more dangerous:

“What makes you think you can take on two of Denver’s most powerful families. alone?”

“I have my methods,” she said, stubborn to the bone. But I could hear the strain she tried to hide beneath those four words.

“Cecilia.” I said her name slowly, deliberately-like a warning.

“Courage is admirable. But it’s not a substitute for real power. A unicorn charging into a pride of lions doesn’t make it brave. It makes it a martyr.”

“Even if it is sacrifice,” she snapped, fire flaring in her voice, “I’ll take down the one pulling the strings. If I have to go down with them, so be it!”

The silence that followed was deafening.

I could feel her regret the moment the words left her mouth, like a match dropped too close to gasoline.

My jaw clenched. The temperature in my voice dropped a full degree-maybe ten.

Even through the phone, she would’ve felt the shift, like a sudden drop in barometric pressure before a storm.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, her voice turning small. “That was foolish. I wasn’t thinking.” I exhaled slowly, letting the tension bleed from my shoulders. My features softened-just enough.

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