Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169 Smile For The Camera

Natalie’s POV

I stood there, watching Quincy Summers stare at me with eyes that were hollow and haunted.

I almost felt bad for her… Almost.

Lucy, the housekeeper, was visibly agitated.

She gripped Quincy’s arm, her fingers digging into the older woman’s sleeve.

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“Luna, please,” Lucy hissed, her voice a sharp contrast to the soft music playing in the shop. “This is embarrassing. You’re confused. Let’s go.

Lucy tried to forcefully pull Quincy away, her movements bordering on violent.

But Quincy shook her off with a sudden burst of frantic strength.

She stepped back into my path, her breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps.

“Miss,” Quincy whispered, her voice trembling. “Could I… could I take a picture with you? Just one? On my phone?”

I froze.

Nyx let out a low, suspicious hum.

‘Careful, Natalie,‘ she warned.

I saw the regret gnawing at Quincy’s features.

I knew the history.

I knew that when Sharon had first returned, she had been a whirlwind of jealousy and spite.

Sharon couldn’t stand even the faintest trace of my existence in the Summers household.

To appease her biological daughter, Quincy had personally gathered every photograph of me… our little family of three and burned them.

She had turned my entire history with them into ash to prove her loyalty to Sharon.

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Chapter 169 Smile For The Camera

Now, Quincy couldn’t find a single image of the girl she had raised.

Just as I was puzzling over how to refuse her without making a scene, Lucy yanked at Quincy’s arm again, her face contorted with a strange, panicked fury.

“Luna, stop this nonsense!” Lucy screamed.

But Quincy didn’t answer.

Her eyes widened, her hands flying to her mouth.

A sickening, wet splatter hit the polished marble floor between us.

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Quincy coughed up a mouthful of blood, the deep crimson startlingly bright against the white tile.

Her knees buckled, and with a heavy, sickening thud, she collapsed unconscious.

For a second, no one moved.

Quincy’s body jerked violently as another cough tore through her, her fingers clawing weakly

at the air as if she were trying to hold onto something that wasn’t there.

Her eyes…

They found mine.

My chest tightened.

Then her strength gave out.

Her body

crumpled in on itself, collapsing onto the marble with a hollow sound.

The boutique fell silent.

“Luna!” Lucy shrieked.

She lunged forward, but instead of focusing solely on Quincy, she used her shoulder to shove me aside with surprising force.

I felt a sharp, powdery sensation brush against my sleeve.

If I hadn’t been paying attention. I might have missed it entirely.

“What did you do to her?” Lucy screamed, her finger pointing at me as she crouched over

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Chapter 169 Smile For The Camera

Quincy. “You! You were the last one talking to her! You’ve done something!”

The brazenness of the accusation was so absurd it almost made me laugh.

I looked down at my sleeve, catching the faint shimmer of a white residue.

Nyx snarled in my mind, her hackles rising. ‘She’s marking you, Natalie. A frame–up.

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“If your eyes are failing, you should get them checked,” I said, my voice cutting through Lucy’s hysterics.

“If you’re trying to pin something on me, this shop has surveillance cameras in every corner. But I’d suggest you call an ambulance for your Luna instead of performing. She’s coughing blood, and you still have the time and energy to stage a scam?

I shook my head, I wanted nothing more than to avoid any further entanglement with the Summers family, yet somehow, even a simple trip to buy my children’s clothes had turned

into this.

I didn’t miss the flicker of shock and fear in Lucy’s eyes when she looked up at me.

My face wasn’t exactly the same as it had been; but those who had lived with me for years would hardly be fooled by a different hair color or a colder gaze.

I was certain Lucy recognized me.

Her hands were trembling with the realization that a ghost was standing over her.

She couldn’t believe it but the evidence – me – was standing right in front of her.

Yet even with her doubts, Lucy chose to frame me.

“Is anyone calling an ambulance?” Lucy wailed to the gathered onlookers, ignoring me. “And the enforcement division! Her color is all wrong! That woman in front of us…

poisoned her! I saw

er touch my Luna’s hand!”

A murmur spread through the boutique.

she must have

Eyes shifted toward me.

My brow furrowed.

Poison?

I looked down at Quincy.

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Chapter 169 Smile For The Camera

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Her skin was turning a ghastly shade of gray, and her lips were deepening into a bruised purple.

Nyx’s senses flared. ‘The scent of aconite and foxglove,‘ she whispered.

‘Slow–acting, but reaching a peak.’

So, Lucy had been poisoning Quincy herself.

She had likely been weakening her for weeks, and my sudden appearance had/provided the perfect opportunity to offload the blame.

My trip to the mall had been a spur–of–the–moment decision; no one could have planned for me to be here.

Which meant Lucy was improvising. She saw my face, recognized the threat I posed to Sharon, and decided to kill two birds with one stone: eliminate the sickly mother–in–law and frame me for murder.

I didn’t flee.

I simply pulled out my phone.

Lucy froze, her eyes darting to my hands.

She expected me to panic.

She expected me to scramble to explain myself, to be terrified of the blood and the accusations.

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