The Heartbroken Luna's Choice Banish Love novel Chapter 169

Chapter 169 

Third Person’s POV 

Trista tilted her head back slightly and took a long, slow breath. 

Her chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vise, but her head had never been clearer. 

She could actually hear her own pulse–steady and rhythmic, like a high–performance engine idling in the cold. 

A few minutes later, she drifted into the toy department 

The place was a sensory overload of neon colors and sterile white lights, with shelves packed to the ceiling with everything a pup could dream of. 

She hung back behind a display rack, watching Cassian from a distance. 

He paused at a shelf, weighing two different water guns in his hands before settling on the pricier model and grabbing a matching electronic target to go with it. He moved with a practiced ease, the casual efficiency of a man who’d been playing “Daddy” for a long time. 

Trista pulled out her phone, killed the screen brightness and focused the lens. She didn’t hesitate when she hit the shutter. 

She caught a perfect shot of Cassian’s back as he carefully curated his little gift. 

Without missing a beat, she pulled up a contact in her phone and fired off that photo along with another “gift” she’d been holding onto. 

The second shot was from the kindergarten–the school’s logo was front and center, with Cassian picking up Algernon. The time, the place, the evidence–it was all there. 

Once the “Sent” notification popped up, she hit the dial button. Her voice was flat, echoing the tone of a boss giving a routine order. “I want these two shots on every front page before the sun goes down.” 

A quick “Got it” came from the other end. 

She tucked the phone back into her bag, her face a perfect, unreadable mask. 

When Cassian finally circled back to the women’s section, Trista was busy browsing the racks. 

He stepped up and smoothly traded the white parka she was holding for a sharp, deep–red tailored coat. 

He sounded like the picture of a thoughtful partner. “Red’s a better look for Ulva. It’ll bring out in her.” 

Trista shot him a brief, cold glance and gave a stiff nod. “Fine. Red it is.” 

They spent another hour playing the “happy couple” at the mall and didn’t make it back to the new villa until after seven. 

The sensor lights in the foyer flickered to life as they stepped inside and then died just as quickly. The heat was humming, but the air in the room felt heavy enough to choke someone. 

The sound of the shopping bags hitting the floor echoed through the empty living room like a gunshot. 

Cassian tossed his keys into the tray. He hadn’t even cleared his shoulders of his overcoat when the comm- stone at his waist started buzzing like a disturbed horne 

He could feel the faint, localized heat of the Ironthorn’s high–level encryption burning against his hip. 

He pressed the stone, and his beta assistant’s voice, Humphrey, immediately cut through the Mind–Link. 

“Alpha Cassian, someone just blew the lid off your private business.” 

Humphrey didn’t sugarcoat it. He shoved the images directly into Cassian’s mental periphery. 

Two photos, side–by–side: the toy store and the kindergarten. 

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