Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 282

Chapter 282

XENOIS

93

The sound of medical equipment crashing to the floor echoed through Lake’s hospital room as I ducked another projectile – this time a plastic water pitcher that Riley had hurled with surprising accuracy given his deteriorated state. Behind me, Lumina pressed herself against the wall, her face a mask of determination despite the obvious pain Riley’s rejection was causing her.

‘Riley, please, she said, her voice steady despite the chaos. “We just want to talk to you. We want to help.”

“Get out!” Riley’s voice was raw from days of minimal use, cracking on the words as he reached for another item to throw. His

movements were sluggish, uncoordinated in a way that spoke to serious physical deterioration. “I don’t want your help! I don’t want

anything from you!”

The three days since Andy’s revelations had taken a visible toll on our son. His clothes hung loose on his increasingly gaunt frame,

dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his skin had taken on an unhealthy pallor that made him look more like a ghost than a living boy. The

medical staff had been growing increasingly concerned about his refusal to eat or leave Lake’s bedside, but Riley had threatened violence

against anyone who tried to force the issue.

“You need to eat something,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and non-threatening as I took a cautious step closer to his chair

beside Lake’s bed. “When’s the last time you had a real meal?”

Riley’s laugh was bitter and broken. “Why? So I can have the strength to watch you burn someone else I love alive? So I can be

healthy enough to witness your next act of mercy?”

The words hit like physical blows, each one carrying the weight of Andy’s psychological poison. I could see the trauma eating him alive from the inside, could watch him spiraling deeper into a darkness we seemed powerless to penetrate.

“Riley, Lumina said softly, “we know you’re hurting. We know Andy showed you things that were difficult to see. But starving yourself isn’t going to bring Sophia back. It’s just going to hurt the people who love you now.”

“The people who love me?” Riley’s voice rose to a near-shriek, his control finally snapping completely.

“You mean the people who murdered my mother while I was helpless to save her? You mean the family that stood by and watched her

burn?*

He reached for Lake’s water glass, his movements becoming increasingly erratic as emotion overwhelmed whatever little composure

he’d been clinging to.

“She called my name,” he continued, tears streaming down his face as he hurled the glass at the wall where it shattered in a spray of water and fragments. “In her final moments, she called for me. She thought I would save her. She died believing I had abandoned her.”

The raw agony in his voice was devastating to hear. This wasn’t just grief or anger – this was the sound of a child’s heart breaking under the weight of survivor’s guilt and manufactured trauma.

1/3

12:50 Thu, Jan 29 M…

Chapter 282

A

93

“Andy made you see that to hurt you,” I said, moving closer despite the risk of another projectile. “She planted those images in your mind to drive a wedge between us. Don’t let her win, Riley. Don’t let her destroy our family with lies.”

“Lies?” Riley spun toward me, and I was shocked by the hollow fury in his green eyes. “Are you saying Sophia didn’t die screaming my

name? Are you saying you didn’t stand by and watch her burn alive?”

I opened my mouth to respond, then closed it again as the terrible truth settled between us. We had killed Sophia. We had watched her burn. The method might have been more merciful than what Riley believed, but the fundamental facts couldn’t be denied.

“She was a monster,” Lumina said quietly. “She kidnapped you, tortured you, conditioned you to be a weapon. She would have done

the same thing to Ollie if we’d let her live.”

“She was my mother!” Riley screamed, his voice breaking completely. “The only mother I ever knew! And you burned her like she was

nothing!”

He reached for a medical instrument tray, his hands shaking with exhaustion and emotion, but as he lifted it above his head, something went wrong. His face contorted in sudden pain, and he doubled over, coughing violently.

Blood splattered across the white hospital linens as Riley’s coughing fit intensified. Dark red droplets stained his lips and chin, and his eyes went wide with shock and terror as he realized what was happening.

“Riley!” Lumina was moving before I could react, crossing the room in three quick strides to reach our collapsing son.

Riley tried to push her away, tried to hide the evidence of his physical collapse, but his body was betraying him. His knees buckled, sending him crashing to the floor beside Lake’s bed as more blood spilled from his mouth.

“Get a doctor!” I shouted to the nurses I could see gathering in the hallway, drawn by the sounds of conflict and crash of medical

equipment.

Riley’s eyes rolled back in his head as consciousness fled, his body going limp in Lumina’s arms as she knelt beside him on the sterile hospital floor. Blood continued to seep from his mouth, staining her shirt as she held him close.

“He’s burning up,” she said, her hand pressed to his forehead. “Xenois, he has a fever. How long has he been like this?”

Dr. Sloane burst through the door with a team of medical staff, immediately taking charge of the situation with the kind of calm efficiency that came from years of emergency medicine.

“What happened?” she asked, kneeling beside us as her team began checking Riley’s vital signs.

“He was throwing things, shouting at us,” I explained quickly. “Then he started coughing up blood and collapsed.”

Dr. Sloane lifted Riley’s eyelids, checking his pupil response with a small flashlight. “When’s the last time he ate? Slept? Had any

fluids?’

2/3

12:50 Thu, Jan 29 M…

Chapter 282

A 93.

“We don’t know,” Lumina admitted, her voice thick with guilt. “He’s been in here for three days straight. We thought he was taking

care of himself, but…”

“But he wasn’t,” Dr. Sloane finished grimly. “This is severe exhaustion complicated by dehydration and malnutrition. His body is

shutting down.”

They lifted Riley onto a gurney, his unconscious form looking impossibly small and fragile under the harsh fluorescent lights. As they wheeled him toward the door, Lake’s monitors began beeping frantically.

“What’s happening to Lake?” Lumina asked, her attention torn between our unconscious boys.

Comments

LIKE

Write Comments

SHARE

12:50 Thu, Jan 29 M…

Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart