Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 152

Chapter 152

Ashley got home feeling jumpy, and the feeling did not leave her even after she crossed into the house. It stayed in her chest like

something crawling there. Sharp. Restless. Wrong. Her conversation with Cynthia kept replaying in her head in ugly little pieces,

each one sounding worse now than it had sounded in the moment. At the diner, she had been too flustered, too angry, too caught up in the humiliation of what Cynthia said to fully process it. But now that she was alone with her thoughts again, the whole thing

settled on her differently. More heavily. More dangerously.

She knew Cynthia might have bad intentions.

That much was no longer something she could dismiss as paranoia or jealousy. There had been something cold under Cynthia’s smile, something calculating in the way she spoke, the way she listened, the way she kept steering the conversation exactly where she wanted it. Ashley had gone there thinking she could manage the woman. Thinking she could lie, play both sides a little, enjoy the harmless thrill of being treated like she mattered more than she really did. It had felt fun at first. Slightly wicked. Slightly exciting. Something small and secret that belonged to her.

Now it did not feel like that anymore.

Now it felt like she had stepped too close to a cliff and only realised how high it was after her foot slipped.

Cynthia had told her she wanted to return to Ethan, and Ashley knew that should have been the thing that mattered most. On the surface, it was a simple enough story. A woman regretted leaving the man she loved and came back to reclaim him. That kind of thing happened. But Ashley could feel, with that nasty instinct fear gave people, that there was more to it than that. Cynthia did not sound like a woman in love. Not really. She sounded like a woman chasing something. Something she had decided belonged to her. Something she would not mind tearing other people apart to get.

And if there was one thing Ashley knew with absolute certainty, it was this: Cynthia did not seem like a woman who wanted to be

saddled with a cripple.

That thought kept turning in Ashley’s head because it made the story even less believable. Ethan was in a wheelchair. He was damaged. Bitter in ways people still whispered about. Difficult. Dangerous on bad days. If Cynthia truly wanted comfort, status, an easy return to old love, Ethan did not make sense. Not the Ethan of now. So if she said she wanted him back, there had to be another layer under it. Another reason. Ashley could not name that reason yet, and maybe that was what frightened her most. It was easier to defend against wickedness when you understood what it wanted.

She told herself not to overthink it.

That was what she always did when things got uncomfortable. Smoothed them over in her head. Rewrote them into something manageable. Convincing herself she was safe, clever, still in control. But this time she could not fully do it. This time the fear would not obey. Cynthia had made it clear, in too many ways, that if things went bad, she would not hesitate to drag Ashley down with her. Rope her in. Use her. Blame her. Whatever helped Cynthia survive, she would do it.

Ashley knew that now.

And because she knew it, she knew she needed to secure herself quickly.

1

|||

O

<

1/2

12:23 Wed, Jun 17 MO

Chapter 152

That was the thought that drove her feet down the hall toward Amber’s room. Not courage exactly. More like panic dressed up as purpose. She did not stop to think too carefully about what she would say once she got there. She only knew she needed someone

stronger than her to know something was wrong. Not Joseph. She could not go to Joseph. That thought alone made her stomach

knot. Joseph would not take this lightly. He would be furious that she had gone near Cynthia again after his warning. Furious that

she had lied. Furious that she had been careless enough to step into a mess and possibly bring danger close to the family. Ashley

did not have the nerve for that conversation. Not yet. Not when she still hoped there might be a way to fix this without Joseph

looking at her like she disgusted him.

Comments

100

D

1

Write Comments

บอด

|||

<SHARE

2/2

Underwater: The Silent Luna