Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 279

Chapter 279

LUMINA

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“I’m saying that by tiptoeing around his trauma, we’re essentially abandoning him to fight this battle alone. And I’m saying that I’ve been so caught up in wishing Riley could be like Ollie – innocent and trusting and easy to love that I’ve missed who he actually is.”

The words hung in the air, heavy with implications none of us wanted to examine too closely.

“Riley isn’t like Ollie,” I continued, my voice growing stronger with each word. “He never will be. He’s been through things that would break most adults, and yet he’s still fighting to protect the people he loves. He worried about everyone else’s wellbeing even while Sophia was conditioning him to be a weapon. He protected Ollie before he even knew they were brothers. He saved Ollie’s life during the city invasion, put himself in harm’s way without hesitation. He freaking threw himself off a roof twice, to give Ollie a chance of survival.”

I began pacing the room, my thoughts racing as pieces clicked into place.

“Riley knows fifty ways to kill someone with his bare hands, can survive indefinitely in the wilderness, has been trained to withstand torture and interrogation. Those aren’t skills Ollie will ever need, thank God. But they’re skills Riley needed to survive his childhood, and

they’re part of who he is now.”

Silvia leaned forward, her eyes bright with understanding. “You’re saying we need to accept him as he is, not try to change him into

who we think he should be.”

“I’m saying more than that,” I replied, stopping in front of the window where I could see the first hints of dawn creeping across the sky. “I’m saying that Riley’s love for Sophia and Andy isn’t something we can logic away or wait out. It’s real, it’s powerful, and it’s killing

him.”

The silence that followed was profound. Everyone in the room was grappling with the same horrible truth that our rescued child still

loved his captors more than us.

“He was willing to die to make Sophia happy,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “That level of devotion, that desperate need to please her even at the cost of his own wellbeing – that’s not going away just because we tell him she was evil. The more we force him to deny those feelings, the deeper he’ll bury them, and the more power they’ll have over him.”

Zade shifted uncomfortably on the couch. “So what do you suggest? That we validate his attachment to the woman who abused him?”

“I suggest we stop pretending that love is logical,” I said firmly. “Riley loves Sophia because she was his mother in every way that mattered to a child. She fed him, sheltered him, taught him how to survive. Yes, she also abused him and conditioned him and used him as a weapon, but children don’t stop loving their parents because of abuse. If anything, they love harder, trying desperately to earn the

affection they crave.”

Lynn made a sound of frustrated understanding. “Like Stockholm syndrome, but deeper. More primal.”

“Exactly. And every time we tell Riley that Sophia was a monster, every time we minimize the bond they shared, we’re essentially

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Chapter 279

telling him that his deepest feelings are wrong. That his capacity for love is fundamentally flawed.”

I turned to face Xenois, knowing that what I was about to propose would terrify him as much as it terrified me.

“We need to bring him home,” I said simply. “Not to the hospital where he can hide in Lake’s room and avoid dealing with reality. Home, where he belongs, whether he wants to be there or not.”

“Lumina, if we force him- Xenois started.

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“We’re not forcing him,” I corrected. “We’re parenting him. There’s a difference. Riley is a traumatized child who’s been conditioned to

believe that love is conditional, that he has to earn his place in our family through perfect behavior and constant self-sacrifice. By giving

him space and respecting his boundaries, we’re inadvertently confirming those beliefs.”

Samuel nodded slowly, his weathered face creased with understanding.

“You’re saying that unconditional love sometimes means making decisions the child won’t initially appreciate.”

“I’m saying that Riley needs to know that no matter how hard he pushes us away, no matter how much he hurts us or rejects us or

makes us feel like failures, we’re not going anywhere,” I said, my voice growing fierce with maternal determination.

“He needs to know that our love for him isn’t dependent on his behavior or his feelings about us. It just is, permanent and

unshakeable, whether he wants it or not.”

Ollie looked up from his toys, his small face bright with hope. “Does that mean Riley’s coming home? Can I see him?”

“Yes, sweetheart,” I said, kneeling down to meet his eyes. “Riley’s coming home. But you need to understand that he’s very hurt right now, and he might not be ready to play or talk like he used to. Can you be patient with him?”

Ollie nodded solemnly. “I can wait. I’m good at waiting.”

Standing back up, I faced the room full of adults who’d been trying so hard to do right by Riley that we’d lost sight of what he

actually needed.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” I warned them. “Riley’s going to fight us every step of the way. He’s going to try to leave, try to go back to Lake, try to convince us that he doesn’t belong here. Andy’s poison is going to make him see us as his enemies, and the trauma she’s inflicted is going to make him lash out in ways that will test every limit we have.”

“But?” Xenois prompted, reading the determination in my voice.

“But he’s our son,” I said simply. “Our child, our responsibility, our family. And families don’t abandon each other, no matter how

difficult things get.”

I looked around the room one more time, seeing the mixture of fear and hope in their faces.

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Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart