Lethal Temptation (by Michelle Ray) novel Chapter 110

< 110 What Happened With Vander.

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She pulled back to strike again, and this time, I caught her wrist mid-air. My grip was tight, too tight, but I

didn’t let go.

Our eyes locked.

Gone was the panic. Gone was the guilt. All I saw was pride and rage in her expression. A woman backed into a corner, still refusing to own what she had done.

But this time, I wasn’t the child who cowered.

I looked her dead in the eyes and said-

“Don’t you ever do that again, Martha.”

My voice came out cold-low, but with the kind of weight that filled a room. She froze. Her body stiffened.

For the first time, I saw genuine fear in her eyes.

“Next time, I won’t care that you’re family. I will deal with you accordingly. Never raise your thieving, filthy

hand at me again.”

Darian stepped forward. “Lucian, please. Let her go. She’s sorry. She won’t do it again.”

I didn’t move. Not yet.

“And the next time you speak of my wife with disrespect,” I said, looking Martha dead in the eye, “I won’t hold back. That goes for your niece, too. Consider this your final warning.”

She began to cry, pulling against my grip.

“Monster!” she screamed. “Vander would never treat me like this!”

Lacy rushed to comfort her, but it was Darian who silenced the room.

“You asked for it, Mother,” he said flatly, and the look in his eyes made it clear-his forgiveness was gone.

There was a time I believed Darian only wanted Mara out of competition. I’d been wrong. He hadn’t been playing games. His love for her had been real-quiet, respectful, deep. If things had turned out differently, I might’ve stepped aside for his happiness.

But that choice had never belonged to us.

Mara had already stolen my heart before either of us realized what was happening.

We waited at the hospital until Father woke. Once he was alert, we accompanied him back to the mansion. I used the stop as an excuse to shower and change in my wing. When we sat down later, he told me everything-how he’d pressured Mara, how she’d held her ground, and finally, how she’d laid the truth

out without fear.

“She told me she needed someone she could hold accountable. That with Martha’s financial situation, she couldn’t trust Lacy in that role,” Father admitted. “And she has proof. Two years of offshore transfers. She didn’t lash out, Lucian. She responded to pressure. To protect your company.”

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He shook his head, eyes distant. “It wasn’t her words that broke me-it was that your stepmother never

told me any of it. Decades of secrets. That’s what hurt.”

He paused, then smiled faintly.

“She’s a tough one, your wife. I’m glad you chose her. We’ve never had a Luna like that in our pack- fearless, smart, loyal to the bone. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t beg. And even while facing me down, she never stopped loving you. You’ve done well, son. This… vacation… it’s working. All that’s left now is pups.”

Darian stood nearby, silent, his expression unreadable-but I knew him. I could see the pain buried in his

stillness. There was nothing anyone could say to fix that.

Mara was mine. And that would never change.

Later, I called Mary and instructed her to forward all of Martha’s banking records to me. I needed to see

everything for myself.

But even as I reviewed my father’s words in my mind-his pride, his praise-I was already thinking about Mara. About how I’d walk into that house and see her again. About how I’d show her just how proud I was.

But first, she needed to learn a lesson.

She didn’t mean to hurt my father, but she’d shocked him. She hadn’t considered the weight of dropping that truth without knowing how far it might shake him.

It hadn’t killed him. He was a wolf. But it had left a mark.

I considered punishing her with something simple-spanking maybe-but I wasn’t sure how she’d respond to that kind of discipline. So I chose something she did love.

Orgasms.

Mara lived for her pleasure-and that would be her undoing tonight.

Before leaving the mansion, I took time to calm myself, to prepare. I couldn’t risk finishing too early. She was too tempting. But I needed control. I needed time.

Because when I touched her next, I planned to own every second of it.

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