Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 312

Chapter 312

LYN

93

Evening came too quickly. I’d spent the intervening hours trying to prepare myself mentally for the conversation ahead, but nothing could really prepare you for facing your torturer. The memories were too vivid, too visceral-the feeling of restraints cutting into my wrists, the clinical detachment in Lake’s young face as he worked, the pain that had seemed endless.

When Rivers knocked on the study door, I was as ready as I’d ever be.

“He’s here,” Rivers said, his expression carefully neutral. “Riley tried to follow, but I convinced him to stay in his room. That

conversation was… not pleasant.”

I could imagine. Riley’s protective instincts where Lake was concerned were legendary at this point. Separating them must have required every ounce of Rivers’ authority as Zade’s second.

“Send him in,” I said, pleased that my voice didn’t shake.

The door opened, and Lake walked through.

He looked smaller than I remembered, more fragile. The coma had left him pale and unsteady, and I could see the tremor in his hands as he shoved them into his pockets. But his eyes-those eyes that had watched me scream without flinching-those were the same.

We stared at each other for a long moment, the weight of history pressing down between us. I was acutely aware of everyone else in the room-Zade by the fireplace, Lynn near the desk, Thorne and Rivers flanking the door-but they felt distant, like background noise.

This moment was between Lake and me.

“Sit,” I said, gesturing to the chair across from mine.

Lake moved with careful precision, each step measured like he was conserving energy. When he settled into the chair, I saw him wince slightly, probably from residual muscle weakness.

Good. Let him be uncomfortable. Let him feel even a fraction of the vulnerability I’d felt strapped to that table.

“You wanted to talk to me,” Lake said, his voice quiet but steady. Not apologetic, just… neutral.

“I wanted to see if you were the same person who tortured me,” I replied honestly. “Or if waking up from the coma changed you

somehow.”

‘I’m the same person,” Lake said without hesitation. “Weaker physically, but still me.”

The casual admission sent a chill through me. No denial, no attempt to distance himself from what he’d done. Just acknowledgment.

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Chapter 312

“Then you remember what you did to me,” I said, making it a statement rather than a question.

“Every detail,” Lake confirmed, and I saw something flicker in his eyes-not quite remorse, but not quite indifference either.

“I remember how you screamed. How your healing factor meant I could keep going longer than I normally would have. How you

begged me to stop.”

My hands clenched on the arms of my chair, the memories flooding back in vivid detail. “And you didn’t stop.”

“No,” Lake agreed. “I didn’t.”

“Why?” The question burst out of me, desperate and raw. “Why did you do it? Was it Andy’s orders? Were you compelled somehow?

Give me something to understand.”

93

Lake was quiet for a moment, his gaze distant. “Andy’s orders were part of it,” he said finally. “But that’s not the whole truth, and you

deserve the whole truth.”

“Then give it to me,” I demanded.

“I did it because Riley needed me to,” Lake said, and his voice took on an intensity that hadn’t been there before. “Andy told me that if I couldn’t perfect the technique, if I couldn’t learn to control and direct pain precisely, then Riley would be in danger. That the she would hunt him down and punish him using methods I couldn’t protect him from. So I practiced. On you.”

The clinical way he described it-like I’d been a training dummy rather than a living person-made my stomach turn. “I was a person,” I said, my voice shaking with anger. “Not a tool for you to learn on.”

“I know,” Lake said, and for the first time I heard something like regret in his tone. “I knew it then too. But I had to make a choice,

and I chose Riley.”

“Always Riley,” I said bitterly.

“Always Riley,” Lake agreed without shame.

I wanted to hate him for that admission, for the complete lack of apology in his posture. But there was something almost admirable about his honesty, about the way he owned his choices without trying to justify them or make himself look better.

“The scalpel through my hands,” I continued, watching his face carefully.

“When I tried to convince Riley not to leave with you. That was personal, wasn’t it? That wasn’t about Andy’s orders.”

Lake’s expression hardened. “That was about you trying to take him away from me. You were telling him to stay, to leave me behind. I

couldn’t let that happen.”

“So you stabbed me,” I said flatly.

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Chapter 312

“So I stabbed you,” Lake confirmed. “And I’d do it again. Every single time, I’d make the same choice.”

The certainty in his voice was chilling. This wasn’t a boy who’d been brainwashed or compelled. This was someone who’d made

conscious decisions and stood by them, no matter how terrible they were.

“You’re not sorry,” I said, and it wasn’t a question.

“I’m sorry you were hurt,” Lake said carefully. “I’m sorry the situation required what it did. But I’m not sorry for protecting Riley. I’ll

never be sorry for that.”

93

The distinction was important, I realized. Lake could acknowledge that what happened to me was unfortunate while still maintaining that he’d make the same choices again. It was a kind of moral framework that allowed him to function without drowning in guilt.

“Are you loyal to Andy?” I asked, changing tactics. This was the question everyone wanted answered, the one that would determine how much of a threat Lake posed going forward.

“No,” Lake said immediately, and I felt some of the tension in the room ease slightly. “Andy’s dead. My loyalty died with her.”

“Then who are you loyal to?” Lynn asked from her position near the desk, speaking up for the first time.

Lake turned to look at her, his expression unreadable. “I’m loyal to whoever has Riley,” he said simply.

“Or whoever poses the biggest threat to Riley. Whoever that is, they have my submission until they’re no longer relevant.”

The room went very quiet as everyone processed that statement. It was simultaneously reassuring and terrifying-reassuring because it meant Lake wouldn’t be actively working against us, terrifying because it revealed just how conditional his cooperation was.

“So if Riley were to be threatened,” Zade said slowly, “you’d protect him. No matter the cost.”

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Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart