Alpha's Discarded Luna (Talia) novel Chapter 36

Alpha’s Discarded Luna

Chapter 35

Aires‘ POV

Twenty–eight minutes until the press conference. I lean back in my office chair, watching the live feed on the wall screen. The venue is packed. Cameras everywhere. Talia hasn’t appeared yet, but the anticipation is a living thing, buzzing through the crowd.

A knock.

Leo enters, his expression strange. Hesitant. Almost… afraid.

r

“Alpha. I have information. About the

press conference.”

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Chapter 35

I don’t look away from the screen. “Speak.”

He shifts uncomfortably. “Ms. Perseus isn’t planning to apologize. She’s going to play a video.”

Now I look at him. “What video?”

He swallows. Sweat gleams on his forehead. “The car accident. From a

security camera at a nearby business. Someone recovered the footage.“”

He holds out a tablet. I take it.

The video is short. Less than a minute.

Grainy but clear enough.

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I watch Talia’s car approach the intersection. Her light is green. She begins her turn.

Then Imema’s car appears. Accelerating. Running the red light. Plowing directly

into Talia’s vehicle.

Not Talia hitting Imema. Imema hitting

Talia.

Deliberately.

୮

I watch it three times. Each viewing punches a new hole in everything I thought I knew.

The witnesses. All those consistent,

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confident witnesses–lies. Every one of them. Imema orchestrated this. Used my resources, my protection, my name to destroy my mate with a fabricated

narrative.

The office goes silent. The kind of silence that screams.

Leo speaks softly, carefully. “Alpha… in twenty–five minutes, she releases this publicly. What are your instructions?”

My mind is ice. Calculating.

୮

If this plays, Imema is finished. Ruined. The public doesn’t forgive false victims. They’ll tear her apart–the terminal illness, the sympathy, the years of

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positioning all of it turned to ash. She’ll be branded a liar, a manipulator, a mistress who tried to murder her rival.

Talia will be vindicated. Cleared. Finally

seen.

I think of Imema’s father. His body, shielding me from that rogue wolf. His blood on my hands. His last word: Protect

her.

I think of Talia’s face on the hospital ground. Broken. Bleeding. Looking at me

like I was a stranger.

The choice crystallizes.

“Replace the video feed at the venue,” I16:11

Chapter 35

say. My voice is flat, emotionless. “Block its broadcast. Prepare a car. I’m going to

the conference.”

Leo stares at me for a long moment. Then he nods and leaves.

He thinks I’m saving Imema. Maybe I am.

But as I watch the screen, watching the crowd wait for my wife to speak truths they’ll never hear, I feel something I don’t recognize settle in my chest.

Not guilt. Not regret.

г

Just the cold, heavy weight of a choice I’ll

never be able to undo.

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Talia’s POV

The press conference begins exactly on time. I walk onto the stage, and the world explodes in light. Flash after flash, blinding me, forcing my eyes to narrow to slits. The crowd is massive–standing room only, cameras everywhere, millions watching through their screens.

I grip the podium, steadying myself.

“Before I take questions,” I announce, my voice carrying through the speakers, “I’d like to show you all a video.”

The lights dim. The massive screen behind me flickers to life.

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Silence falls. Everyone leans forward.

The screen stays black.

Seconds pass. Ten. Twenty. A full minute.

Whispers begin to ripple through the crowd. They grow louder, more insistent.

“What is this? Where’s the video?”

“Is she wasting our time?”

୮

“I thought there was going to be actual evidence. This is nothing.”

“I knew it. She’s stalling. Trying to delay the inevitable apology.”

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The live stream comments scroll past my mental eye–mockery, ridicule, triumphant jeers. They think I’ve failed. They think I’m crumbling.

A staff member rushes onto the stage, face pale, pressing close to whisper urgently. “Ms. Perseus–the video file. Someone replaced it. It’s gone.”

The words hit like ice water.

I know instantly who. There’s only one person with the resources, the motivation, the access to reach into my preparation and steal my proof.

Aires.

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A cold smile curves my lips. He thinks this stops me. He thinks I came without

contingencies.

“It doesn’t matter,” I murmur to the staff. Louder, into the microphone: “Technical difficulties. Bear with me.”

I pull my phone from my pocket. Hold it up so the cameras can see.

“I have the original file here. On my personal device. The resolution is excellent–your equipment can zoom. You’ll see everything.”

The crowd stirs, confused, uncertain.

Iunlock my phone. My thumb hovers. 16:11

< Chapter 35

over the video file.

A commotion erupts near the entrance. Shouting. Movement. The crowd parts like water before a ship.

“Aires is here!”

Every head turns. Every camera swings.

He walks through the parted crowd like a king entering his court. Tall, immaculate, radiating that cold, suffocating power that makes rooms hold their breath. His eyes find mine across the chaos, and

something in them makes my stomach

clench.

The reporters swarm him instantly,

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microphones thrust forward like

offerings.

“Alpha Perseus! Are you here to witness justice?”

“Sir, do you support your wife’s press

conference?”

“Have you come to see the murderer finally confess?”

A male reporter shouts over the din, his voice dripping with the narrative they’ve all accepted: “Mr. Jones, are you here in person to deliver this criminal to the

authorities?”

Acriminal. That’s what they call me. 16:11

Chapter 35

That’s what he’s allowed them to call me.

I watch him from the stage, my phone still in my hand, the evidence of my innocence just a thumbpress away.

He looks at me. For a long, terrible moment, we simply stare at each other across the sea of people who hate me.

I wonder if he knows what I’m holding. I wonder if he cares.

I wonder if he’s here to stop me, or to

watch me fall.

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