Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 274

274 Or Else What? 3

James’ POV

“I will be back,” Marcel said. “And you won’t like it.”

I laughed. I really did.

-Mor…

Because what else was I supposed to do with that? The performance had become too much. Too transparent. He came in here shouting about loyalty and gratitude and help, and now he was leaving with threats because I would not bow. That was all this ever was. Power. Pressure. Control. Not help.

Never help.

“I’m sure you will,” I said.

He glared at me.

I said nothing else.

I just looked at him and let him feel the fact that I was no longer afraid in the same way. Not because I had become fearless. I hadn’t. I still had things to protect. I still had a pack. I still had enemies. I still

had a fractured life and too ma

longer bent the same way unde

him as the answer.

Chapter Unlocked, Enjoy Reading! by fear had changed. It no

That was what really bothered him.

Not Maxwell.

berent. It no longer made me see

Not Lev.

Not even the Union.

It was that I no longer believed in him.

Leah turned to him, her face wet and strained.

“Daddy,” Leah said softly.

He did not even look at her at first.

That got my attention more than I wanted. Because there it was again. That little crack in his father act. The moment when she became less daughter and more failed piece on a board. He glanced at her finally, but the warmth was gone. Gone enough that even she saw it. Her expression changed. Not fully. Not enough for me to pity her the way I maybe should have. But enough. Enough to tell me she had noticed. Good. Let her notice. Let her hear the way he threatened me. Let her feel the difference

x1461

56.854

< 274 Or Else What? 3

between what he promised and what he really meant.

He turned back to me.

“This is not over,” Marcel said.

I shrugged. It was a small thing. But it made his rage spike harder.

Because men like him hated being shrugged at. Hated when their storms no longer made the room

panic.

He looked around once, like he wanted witnesses even though there were none in the office now besides Leah. Then he looked at me one last time as if he was trying to decide whether there was stur

one more thing he could say that would shake me.

There wasn’t. That was the part he hated most.

I had already been shaken. Broken, even. Humbled. Torn open. He was too late to be the biggest thing in the room now. Regret had already taken that place. Guilt had already taken that place. Arya’s absence had already taken that place. Compared to what I was already carrying, Marcel’s threats felt

smaller than they once did.

Not harmless. Just smaller.

He turned and walked to the door, stiff-backed, angry, full of the kind of wounded pride old men wore when a younger man stopped kneeling at the right moment. Leah hesitated, then followed him because of course she did. Where else would she go? She had tied herself to him and to me and to this mess, and now all three of us were choking on it in different ways.

At the door, Marcel paused. He looked over his shoulder at me.

“You are making yourself an enemy you cannot handle,” Marcel said.

I met his stare and said nothing. Because maybe that was true once. Maybe it still was partly true.

But so was this: I had already made myself the enemy I could not handle. I had already done more damage to my own life than Marcel ever could alone. He helped, yes. He poisoned, yes. But I was the fool who let him. I was the fool who kept listening. I was the fool who turned that poison inward and let it touch Arya.

So no, his final words did not hit the way he wanted them to. He left. The door shut behind him. And

suddenly it was quiet again.

Leave a comment

56.85%

< Luna Forsaken