The Heartbroken Luna's Choice Banish Love novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172 

Third Person’s POV 

The knots in Trista’s nerves finally loosened a fraction. 

She reached into her bag and pulled out a voice recorder with crisp, decisive movements. “You’ve always been a man of your word. I’m recording this as proof–from this second on, no one from Ironthorn is allowed to interfere with my career or use my family to threaten me. In exchange, I will cooperate unconditionally for the sake of the pack’s interests.” 

Howard glanced at the recorder in her hand. A faint, almost imperceptible glimmer of approval flashed in his eyes. 

She knew how to turn words into evidence; she knew how to use the system to trap the system. 

Once the deal was struck, Trista and Cassian headed back to the villa. 

The drive was silent. 

The air in the car was a heavy cocktail of blood and medicinal salve. The wounds on Cassian’s back were still seeping, but he didn’t utter a word about it. 

Trista didn’t ask. Silence was the cold, hard line that kept them on opposite sides. 

The moment they stepped through the door, Cassian grabbed her arm. 

His palm was burning hot, but his grip was restrained–like he was fighting to keep his from detonating. 

“If you wanted a job or anything else, you could have just come to me,” he demanded. “There was no need to pull these stunts.” 

Trista’s face remained a blank slate. Her voice was as calm as ice water. “I don’t trust you.” 

From now on, whatever she wanted, she would take for herself using her own methods. 

She was done handing her leverage over to anyone else. 

This was the survival instinct Cassian had forced her to develop. 

They locked eyes. 

Cassian’s face darkened until it looked like a storm cloud ready to break. 

“If you don’t trust me,” he hissed, enunciating every word, “then why the hell did you come back?” 

Trista let out a sharp, mocking laugh, her tone dripping with irony. “Weren’t you the one who backed me into a corner until I had no choice?” 

They stared each other down in the heavy silence as the temperature in the room seemed to drop. 

Finally, Cassian let go of her arm. 

“Trista, don’t forget–we have an agreement,” he said. “Whether you like it or not, you’re back. And since you’re back, you follow the rules.” 

Trista remained eerily steady. “My family and my career are my final lines in the sand.” 

She looked at him, her voice clear and lucid. “If I can’t even protect those, then there’s no point in me staying alive.” 

She looked him dead in the eye and asked softly, “Your threats, your tactics, your agreements… do 

you really think they mean a damn thing to a werewolf who’s already prepared to die?” 

Cassian saw it then–the total, absolute resolve in her eyes. 

It wasn’t a temporary emotional breakdown; it was the look of a wolf who had been pushed to the edge of a cliff and had already mapped out the fall. 

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify