Fake Heiress True Luna (Irina) novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Debbie Was Right

Aiden’s POV

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Gosh, I was so stupid. I treated Irina like s**t, and because of me, her powers took so long to awaken. Lancer was a prick from the start, Irina couldn’t count on him from the start, but me

I still feel like s**t because I believed his lies and made my innocent mate suffer.

“Instead of wallowing in self-pity, you should find a way to make every single one of them pay,” A rlo growled inside my head. He was ready to go out for blood.

“Trust me, they’ll pay,” I replied, but I should be the first one in line if I had to make everyone who hurt her.

Guilt had weight. Regret had claws. I sat at my desk with my hands wrapped around an empty glass. I couldn’t return to my room, it was too close to hers.

“Perhaps she wants us there,” This was the third time Arlo tried to convince me, but I was not budging.

“I’m not sure about that, Arlo. We still need to earn her forgiveness. She knows how we feel about her and she…”

Ignored us.

A knock at the door broke the loop of my own miserable thoughts.

“Come in,” I said, forcing what I hoped passed for normal.

Debbie slipped inside like she owned the place, which she did in spirit if not paperwork. She was dressed down-jeans and a faded jacket-but there was a spark in her that never dimmed. She leaned against the doorframe, crossed her arms, and gave me that look that cut through pretense like a blade.

”

“You’re avoiding your room like it owes you money,” she said. No preamble. No bullshit. What happened, Aiden? Did Irina put you in the doghouse, or did you just forget how to be a half-decent mate?”

“Very funny,” I said, tempted to sarcastically throw something at her. Instead, I rubbed my face with the heel of my hand. “I don’t know how to be someone she can rely on right now.”

Debbie pushed off the frame and walked toward the window, hands braced on the sill. Outside, the trees breathed softly under the moon. “Let me guess. You think you screwed up

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< Chapter 56: Debbie Was Right

so badly she’ll never forgive you, and you’re waiting for her to make the first move.”

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“You think you know me,” I said flatly, but my voice didn’t hang with the anger I wanted it to have. I was too tired for posturing. “I treated her like-like a thing. I let Harden’s plan… all of it. I called her weak and then walked away.”

Debbie didn’t flinch. If anything, her expression softened in a way that pissed me off because it made me feel small and human and exposed. “Yeah. You did a lot of dumb shit.” She nodded as if checking items off a list. “But you also did a lot that mattered. If it weren’t for you, she would still be in that horrible pack at the mercy of that awful bitch.”

I swallowed. “She’s different now; besides, she should never have been there from the start. If I had recognized her as my mate, she…”

“Okay, you might think I’m crazy, but it is good that everything happened the way it happened.

I rolled my eyes. I know Debbie has one or two screws loose, but I never imagined she would say those words to me.

“Don’t look at me like that, just think about it! Ethan told me everything, and from my point of view, that woman is doing everything in her power to keep Irina isolated because she doesn’t want her to wake her powers up.”

“So?”

“She wanted Irina never to find her mate. If you had told everyone she was your mate, Julie, Ana, or whatever her name is, she would’ve killed her,” Debbie finished, her voice dropping to a near whisper.

The words hit harder than I expected. My throat went dry. “What?”

Debbie turned to face me fully, her eyes fierce now-not teasing, not pitying. “Think about it, Aiden. That woman’s been manipulating everyone, and who knows for how long. She’s clever, calculating, and obsessed with control. If she knew Irina was your mate back then, she would’ve found a way to eliminate her before her powers surfaced.”

Now that she says that… Julie always tried to make Irina look bad; she wanted her to be treated as the weak omega so that nobody would want her.

I never cared about that, but she never tried anything with me because she knew I hated Irina.

Does that mean…

“She was already trying to weaken Irina in every way she could,” Debbie continued, pacing slowly now, her shoes barely making a sound against the floor. “By keeping her in that pack.

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< Chapter 56: Debbie Was Right

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By feeding lies to the Elders. By turning you against her.” She stopped and pointed a finger at me. “You think you failed her, but maybe… maybe the only reason she survived long enough to awaken what’s inside her is because you didn’t say anything.”

I leaned back in my chair, exhaling a long, bitter breath. “So you’re saying my cowardice

saved her life?”

Debbie gave a half-smirk. “Yeah. Sometimes the universe works in messed-up ways.” Then her expression softened again. “But that doesn’t mean you get to stop here. You’ve got a second chance now. And I don’t think you get many of those.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, the weight in my chest pressing down harder. “You really think she’ll forgive me?”

Debbie didn’t answer right away. She walked over, grabbed the glass from my hand, and set it aside. “That depends. Are you going to keep sitting here, drinking and drowning in guilt-or are you going to get up and show her that you’re not the same man who broke her heart?”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“Start by talking to her,” Debbie said simply. “I know you have tried already, and a little birdie even told me you kneeled before her.”

Geez, I’m sure she will make fun of me forever because of that…

“That’s a good start, but if you truly want her to accept the bond, then you need to grow a pair of balls and go to her room, right now.”

“Do you think she still-” I couldn’t finish the question. It sounded pathetic even in my own head.

Debbie tilted her head, her eyes softening. “Irina’s hurt, not heartless. She wouldn’t still be here if she didn’t care. She could’ve left, Aiden. She could’ve run to another pack, hidden somewhere we’d never find her. But when you suggested coming here, she agreed.”

She let that sink in, then added with that typical bluntness of hers, “Now, stop being a damn coward.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Debbie crossed her arms again. “You’re sitting here like some tragic hero in a bad romance novel. Newsflash-she doesn’t need a martyr; she needs a partner. Someone who’ll fight for her, beside her, not wallow in guilt across the hall.”

Arlo barked a laugh inside my head. “Finally, someone who speaks sense.”

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<Chapter 56: Debbie Was Right

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