Alpha's Discarded Luna (Talia) novel Chapter 46

Chapter 45

Talia’s POV

Robin looks up, startled, to find Aeson glaring at him like a small, furious predator.

“Aeson?” Robin’s voice is confused, innocent. “What are you doing here?”

Aeson doesn’t answer. Instead, he lunges forward, shoving Robin hard. Robin stumbles backward, caught off guard, and hits the floor with a sickening thud.

“Get away from her! She’s my mom!”

I gasp, rushing to Robin’s side. “Ropin!,

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Are you okay?”

His eyes are already welling with tears, his lip trembling. “Miss. Jackson… it hurts…”

I examine his arm–a scrape, already reddening, already bruising. My heart clenches. “I’ll take you to get medicine. Come on, sweetheart.”

“Mom!” Aeson’s voice cracks, high and desperate. “Why are you being so nice to him? Why are you letting him hug you?!”

The question hangs in the air, absurd and heartbreaking.

Robin looks from me to Aeson, then to

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Imema in her hospital bed. Confusion

clouds his small face. “Miss. Jackson is

your mom? But… isn’t your mom that lady?” He points at Imema. “You were with her at the parent–child game this morning. Everyone saw you.”

Aeson’s face goes rigid. “Just because she played in the game doesn’t make her my mom.”

“But when everyone asked, you didn’t say no.” Robin’s voice is genuinely puzzled, genuinely curious–the simple logic of a child who doesn’t understand adult

games. “And you told everyone Miss. Jackson was just your nanny. I heard you.”

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Silence.

Absolute, deafening silence.

The words hang in the air like smoke, impossible to dispel. Everyone freezes. Nick’s mouth opens, then closes. Imema’s face flickers through several expressions before settling on something that might be alarm. Even Aires looks momentarily

stunned.

This isn’t the kind of truth that can be spun or explained away. This is a child, speaking simple facts, revealing what everyone in this room has tacitly accepted for months.

Iwas just the nanny. The help. The

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woman who packed lunches and washed uniforms and existed in the background of my son’s life while he claimed another woman as his mother.

Raymond steps forward, breaking the tension with practiced ease. “Talia, I came to give you something.”

All eyes shift to him. He hands me a phone, casual as anything, as if we’re not standing in the middle of a war zone.

I look down at the screen. A video plays.

It’s the staircase. Me, descending. Imema, behind me. The angle is slightly off, but the resolution is crystal clear–Robin’s phone, recording, capturing everything16:16

Chapter 45

I watch myself remove Imema’s hand from my wrist. Watch her lunge forward. Watch her foot catch. Watch her fall.

No push. No shove. No contact at all.

་་

I look up, my voice quiet. “Is this…”

“The footage of Ms. Volkov’s fall.” Raymond’s smile is pleasant, untroubled. “Robin was filming you coming down the stairs. He didn’t expect to capture something so… illuminating.”

لو

Imema’s face drains of color. “But–there

were no cameras there-”

I turn to her slowly. “Ms. Volkov. How

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would you know that?”

She falters, scrambling. “When I went to find Aeson, I just happened to notice—I thought-”

Raymond’s voice is silk. “No cameras, correct. But Robin’s phone was recording. Lucky coincidence.”

The video ends. The room is so quiet I can hear my own heartbeat.

I look at Nick. At Aires. At Aeson. “When

I was accused, no one waited for evidence, No one asked if I had proof. You all just… assumed.”

Nick’s face is a study in humiliation. He6:16

Chapter 45

won’t meet my eyes.

Aeson stares at the frozen frame on the phone, replaying the moment in his mind. “Mom and Ms. Volkov were… they were just standing there… and then Ms. Volkov fell… I thought… I thought…”

Robin’s small voice cuts through. “Why did you think your own mom was the bad person?”

The question is simple. Devastating.

Aeson’s face twists with an emotion I

can’t name–shame, maybe. Or anger. Or both. “Because she’s always bullying Ms. Volkov!”

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“She doesn’t!” Robin’s voice rises, fierce and protective. “Miss. Jackson is kind and gentle! She would never bully anyone! You’re the ones bullying her!” He points at the phone, at the frozen image of Imema falling alone. “She didn’t push anyone! That lady fell by herself, but you all blamed Miss. Jackson anyway!”

His small chest heaves with emotion.

“Miss. Jackson is the best mom in the

world!”

Aeson’s face crumples. He’s used to being the center of my universe, the sole recipient of my attention and care. Watching me comfort another child, defend another child, choose another child–it’s breaking something in him. 16:16

Chapter 45

“She’s my mom!” His voice is a child’s wail, raw and desperate. “Not yours!”

Robin doesn’t back down. “Then why don’t you treat her like one? You only see her as a nanny!” He steps in front of me, a tiny shield. “From now on, I won’t let you bully her anymore!”

The irony is staggering. A child I’ve known for weeks defends me more

fiercely than my own son ever has.

Aeson opens his mouth, but nothing

comes out. For once, the clever words fail

him.

Aires’s voice cuts through, cold and hard.

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“Who is this child?”

Raymond answers smoothly. “My son, Robin. I hired Ms. Perseus to care for him when my work keeps me away. Her bank accounts were frozen, as I understand it.

She needed income.”

Aires’s jaw tightens. He turns to me, and something in his eyes is almost accusatory. “You’d rather care for a stranger’s child than your own? Do you even know how long it’s been since you came home?”

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