Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 249

Chapter 249

OLLIE

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My head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. The pounding behind my eyes was so intense that even the dim light

filtering through the broken windows made me want to throw up. I tried to sit up, but the movement sent waves of nausea crashing over

me, and I had to lie still for several long moments before I could manage to open my eyes properly.

When I finally did, I immediately wished I hadn’t.

Blood was everywhere. Splattered across the concrete floor in dark, sticky pools that reflected what little light there was. The metallic smell filled my nostrils and made my stomach lurch again. I scrambled backward, pressing myself against the nearest wall as I tried to

make sense of what I was seeing.

“Riley?” I called out weakly, my voice barely more than a whisper. “Riley, where are you?”

Silence answered me. The kind of heavy, oppressive silence that made every shadow look threatening and every sound seem amplified. I was alone, and that realization hit me like a physical blow.

Despite the blood and the obvious signs of violence, I didn’t seem to be hurt anywhere except for my aching head. I ran my hands over my arms and legs, checking for injuries, but found nothing more than some scrapes and bruises. Whatever had happened here, I’d

somehow escaped the worst of it.

But where was Riley? Where was that man with the gun who had been chasing us?

Tears started flowing down my cheeks before I could stop them. I wiped at them frantically, trying to be brave like Riley always was, but it was no use. I wasn’t brave. I wasn’t scary or smart or good at making plans. Riley was all those things, and now he was gone.

I wanted to go home. I wanted Mama Lumina to hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay. I wanted to be back in our safe house where the scariest thing I had to worry about was whether I’d finished my homework. Instead, I was trapped in this nightmare with blood on the floor and no idea how to get out.

The memories came back in fragments, like pieces of a broken mirror that cut me every time I tried to put them together. We’d been running through the building, trying to stay ahead of the men who were hunting us. Riley had led us up to the roof, thinking we could escape by jumping to the next building. But when we’d gotten there, that man – Bullet – had been waiting for us.

“End of the line, Riley,” he’d said, raising his gun with that cold smile that made my skin crawl.

We’d been trapped with nowhere to run, standing on that rooftop with the street far below us and a killer blocking our only way out. I remembered being so scared I could barely breathe, looking to Riley for some miracle plan that would save us both.

That’s when everything had gotten really bad.

Bullet had pointed his gun right at us, and for a horrible moment I thought he was just going to shoot us both right there. But then

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Chapter 249

he’d started talking, saying something about how he only needed one of us dead, and maybe there was a way we could work something

out.

“Give me the boy,” Bullet had said, gesturing toward me with his weapon. “Hand him over, and maybe we can make a different

arrangement.”

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I remembered the way Riley had gone completely still, his body positioning itself between me and the gun in a way that made me feel

both protected and terrified.

“What’s my reward for doing that?” Riley had asked, his voice sounding strange and flat.

“You get to see your mama Sophia again,” Bullet had replied with that same cruel smile. “She’s been asking about you, wondering if

you’ve learned to be a good boy yet.”

The change in Riley had been immediate and terrible. His whole body had stiffened like he’d been struck by lightning, and I could see

the war playing out behind his eyes. Fear, hope, desperation, and something else I couldn’t identify all mixed together in an expression

that made him look much older than his years.

“Riley?” I’d whispered, suddenly terrified that he might actually consider Bullet’s offer. “You’re not going to leave me, are you?”

He’d turned to look at me then, and the pain in his eyes had been almost unbearable to see. “I’m sorry, Ollie, he’d said quietly. “I’m

so, so sorry.”

For one horrible moment, I’d thought he was going to hand me over to that monster. My own brother, the person I’d trusted more than anyone, was going to sacrifice me to save himself. The betrayal had felt like being stabbed in the heart.

But then Riley had moved, faster than I’d ever seen him move before. Instead of pushing me toward Bullet, he’d grabbed me and spun

me around, positioning me behind him so that he was the one facing the gun.

“Actually, he’d said to Bullet, “I’ve got a better idea.”

That’s when he’d hit me. Hard enough to knock me unconscious, hard enough that I’d dropped to the ground like a stone. The last things I remembered were the sound of gunshots three of them, fired in rapid succession – followed by a sound that might have been a

wolf snarling and men screaming in pain and terror.

Now I was awake, alone, and surrounded by evidence that something terrible had happened after I’d been knocked out. Beside me, scrawled in what looked like blood, were two words that made my chest tight with grief: “I’m sorry.”

Riley had written that. My brother had used his own blood to apologize to me before… before what? Before he died? Before he ran away? I didn’t know, and the not knowing was almost worse than any answer could have been.

I forced myself to stand up, even though my legs felt like they were made of jelly. I had to find help. I had to find someone who could tell me what had happened to Riley and get me back to Mama Lumina and Alpha Zade.

That’s when I saw the body.

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Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart