The Broken Luna, Now His Regret novel Chapter 24

24 Chapter 24 GLASS HOUSES

24 Chapter 24 GLASS HOUSES

**Mira’s POV***

The therapy session lasted two hours.

Dr. Hartley’s office was deliberately warm–soft lighting, plush carpets, a miniature sandbox where Brielle could express what words couldn’t contain. For the first forty minutes, Brielle refused to acknowledge either parent existed, burying small figurines deep in the sand with furious, deliberate strokes.

Mira sat on one side of the room. Kieran on the other. The distance between them felt

like miles.

“Brielle,” Dr. Hartley said gently, settling cross–legged on the carpet. “Can you show us what’s happening in the sandbox?”

Brielle pointed without looking up. Two figurines–a tiny mother, a tiny father–buried on opposite sides. Between them, a single small figure stood alone.

“That’s me,” Brielle whispered. “Nobody’s on my side.”

The room went silent.

Mira pressed her fist against her mouth. Across the room, she heard Kieran’s sharp intake of breath, felt his devastation crash through the mate bond like a wave breaking against rock.

Dr. Hartley nodded slowly. “What would happen if Mommy and Daddy moved their figurines a little closer together? Not touching. Just… closer?”

Brielle considered this, her small face creased with suspicion. “Why?”

“Because sometimes, when grown–ups are fighting, the people caught in the middle feel the most lost. And sometimes, when they stop fighting—even a little–the person in the middle starts to feel safer.”

Brielle looked at Mira first. Then Kieran. Then back at the sandbox.

She picked up the mother figurine and moved it three inches toward center.

Then the father figurine. Two inches.

The single figure between them was still alone. But the distance had narrowed.

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It wasn’t much. But Dr. Hartley smiled like it was everything.

By the time they left the clinic, night had fallen completely. Brielle was asleep in her car seat–emotionally wrung dry, her small face finally peaceful in unconsciousness.

Mira and Kieran stood in the parking lot, the cold air sharp between them. Neither moved toward their cars.

“She needs consistency,” Kieran said finally, his voice stripped of all aggression. What remained was raw, aching. “Dr. Hartley was clear. Supervised visitation twice a week isn’t enough. She needs to see both of us. Regularly. Without conflict.”

“I know.”

“So what does that look like, Mira?” He turned to face her, and in the dim streetlight, he looked exhausted. Hollowed out. Nothing like the powerful Alpha who’d slammed Valeblack against a wall hours ago. “Because right now, every time she sees me, she has to go back to you. Every time she’s with you, she’s crying for me. We’re tearing her

apart.”

The guilt was a physical weight on Mira’s chest. “Patricia can file for modified custody. More visitation days-”

“I don’t want more visitation days.” Kieran’s voice cracked. “I want my daughter to stop feeling like she has to choose between us.”

Mira closed her eyes. The mate bond hummed between them–painful, persistent, impossible to ignore. She could feel his sincerity, his desperation, his love for Brielle burning so fiercely it almost made her believe he was capable of being different.

Almost.

“Thursday,” she said quietly. “Unsupervised. Two hours. At Callum Mansion, with my parents there.”

Kieran’s eyes widened. “You’d allow that?”

“For Brielle. Not for you.” She met his gaze steadily. “And Kieran? If you use this time to talk about Valeblack, about me, about anything other than our daughter–it won’t happen again.”

He nodded immediately. “Understood. Thank you, Mira.”

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She turned away before he could see the tears threatening. Loaded Brielle into her car. Started the engine.

As she pulled out of the parking lot, she glanced in the rearview mirror. Kieran stood exactly where she’d left him, watching her drive away, his hands hanging at his sides.

For once, he didn’t chase.

**Valeblack’s POV – Same Evening**

Valeblack Silverstone sat in the Millbrook hotel bar, bourbon untouched before him,

Astrid’s message replaying on his phone.

He’d received it forty minutes ago–forwarded anonymously through a burner account. Just Astrid’s text to Mira, no context. No explanation.

But Valeblack understood immediately what it meant.

Someone was watching. Someone connected to the Ravencrest family. Someone who knew about the kiss, about his interest in Mira, about everything happening in real

time.

He set down his phone and considered his options with the calm precision that had earned him six generations of Council authority.

Kieran Ravencrest’s confrontation today had been crude but not unexpected. The Alpha was desperate, protective, and dangerously volatile. His intel on Valeblack’s past relationships was accurate–but also incomplete. Deliberately so.

Morgana Pierce had ended things with him because she’d been offered a better position in Europe. Not because he’d discarded her.

The second person had left because she’d fallen in love with someone else–Valeblack had wished her nothing but happiness.

And Isabelle Monroe… Isabelle had been the one to break his heart, actually. She’d simply decided she didn’t want a relationship that came with Council politics.

The pattern Cassian had constructed was real only if you looked at the surface. Beneath it, each relationship had been genuine. Each woman had entered freely. Each departure had been mutual.

But surface was all Kieran needed to destroy him in Mira’s eyes.

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Valeblack pulled out his phone and scrolled to Mira’s number. He’d meant every word of his text earlier–she deserved someone who recognized her value from the beginning, not someone who only noticed when she was gone.

But he also needed to be honest with her. About his past. About what Kieran would inevitably reveal. About the fact that he was falling for a woman who was still supernaturally bound to another man.

He typed carefully:

*Mira. I know today was overwhelming. I also know Kieran will share what he’s found about my history. Before he does, I want you to hear it from me. Not as a defense–just the truth. When you’re ready. No pressure, No timeline. Just know that everything I feel for you is real. — V*

He sent it before he could second–guess himself.

Then he finished his bourbon, left cash on the bar, and walked out into the cold Millbrook night.

He had Council business in Crystalfall tomorrow. Reports to file. Decisions to make.

But the only decision that truly mattered was three hours away, sleeping in a car seat, dreaming dreams no four–year–old should have to dream.

And Valeblack was beginning to understand that winning Mira meant more than winning her heart.

It meant helping her heal her daughter.

**Kieran’s POV – Ravencrest Estate, 1:00 AM**

Sleep wouldn’t come.

Kieran sat in the study where it had all unraveled–where he had found the divorce papers, where the pregnancy test had waited, where everything had begun its irreversible descent.

His phone lay on the desk. Cassian’s full dossier on Valeblack spread before him. The evidence was there–the pattern, the women, the recruitment tactics. All he had to do was send it to Mira.

But something stopped him.

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He picked up the file and read it again. Carefully this time. Not looking for ammunition -looking for truth.

*Dr. Morgana Pierce: Relationship ended when she accepted European fellowship. Sources indicate amicable separation. Both parties expressed mutual respect/*

*Dr. Lena: Left Silverstone’s orbit after meeting Dr. James Whitford at a Council conference. Currently married, two children. Declined interview but stated: “Valeblack was a wonderful partner. The relationship simply ran its natural course.”

*Dr. Isabelle Monroe: The only relationship with documented tension. Monroe reportedly ended things after discovering Silverstone’s emotional unavailability. However, no evidence of manipulation, coercion, or predatory behavior.*

Kieran set the file down slowly.

The pattern Cassian had identified was real–Silverstone did pursue talented, vulnerable women. But the conclusion Kieran had drawn–that he was a calculated predator–wasn’t supported by the evidence.

He was simply a man who was drawn to brilliant women.

The realization sat in Kieran’s gut like acid.

Silverstone wasn’t targeting Mira because she was vulnerable.

He was drawn to her because she was extraordinary.

And Kieran had spent five years failing to see that.

His phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.

*Alpha Ravencrest. This is Astrid. We should talk. I have information you need. About Silverstone. About your grandfather’s dealings. About pack law complications that could save your position–and your family. NYC. Tomorrow. Come alone.*

Kieran stared at the message, his wolf stirring with dangerous interest.

Astrid. Back in play after long silence.

Every instinct screamed at him to ignore it. To stay focused on Brielle, on therapy, on becoming the man Mira deserved.

But if Astrid had information about pack law complications–if there was a way to prevent Mira from leaving Oakwood entirely-

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He typed back before the better angel on his shoulder could intervene: *What kind of complications?*

The response was instant: *The kind that make divorce impossible without destroying everything. But I’ll only tell you in person. Tomorrow. The Peninsula Hotel. 3 PM. Come alone, or I disappear again.*

Kieran set down the phone and stared at the ceiling.

He’d promised Mira he wouldn’t hurt her again.

He’d promised Dr. Hartley he’d focus on Brielle.

He’d promised himself he was done making selfish choices.

But the mate bond throbbed in his chest–Mira slipping further away with every passing day, pulled toward a man who could offer her everything Kieran had stolen- and the Alpha inside him, the part that had been raised to protect what was his at all costs, whispered a single, devastating question:

*What’s one more secret, if it saves her?*

Kieran closed his eyes.

And began packing for New York.

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