Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 16

Chapter 16

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“When did you become so mean?” Ethan asked quietly, though the tremor in his voice betrayed a deeper hurt. He wasn’t angry anymore He was wounded, looking at his mother as if trying to recognise the woman she used to be.

The woman she was before the world broke her.

Amber’s gaze softened for the first time in a very long while. Her shoulders sagged. Her chin trembled. When she finally answered, her

voice was hoarse.

“When life took your father from me…” Her eyes glistened with tears that seemed to come from an old, still-festering wound. “…and almost took you and your brother from me.”

The words fell heavily between them, carrying years of agony.

“I haven’t found his murderer, Ethan. Not after all these years. Not after all the searching, all the investigating, all the questioning.” Her breath hitched. “And it is killing me.”

She pressed her fingers against her chest as though trying to hold herself together.

“Every time I look at you,” she whispered, “I see him. You look so much like your father. The pain comes back like a fresh wound.”

Her voice cracked, fragile and raw.

“Please… let me have this. Let me hold on to something good. I am not hurting anyone.”

But Ethan flinched.

Because he knew she believed that, truly believed her desperation was harmless, justified, even noble.

Yet he could see Meadow’s face in his mind.

Her tears.

Her trembling hands.

Her bowed head.

Hurt radiating from her like a silent scream.

Meadow wasn’t a broodmare. She wasn’t an object or a vessel. She was a woman, a frightened one, trapped in a loveless marriage she

never asked for. A quiet flame who had somehow remained gentle despite everything life had stolen from her.

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Chapter 16

And his mother… was about to take the last piece of her freedom.

“Mother…” Ethan exhaled heavily, trying to keep his voice steady. “You are hurting her.”

Amber stiffened. “She is mute, Ethan. She does not feel pain the way we do. She is different.”

His jaw clenched. “She is still a person. More than that, a woman with a life that is only beginning.”

Emotion flickered briefly across Amber’s face, but it hardened again, swallowed by grief and obsession.

“Okay,” Ethan said finally, lowering his voice to reason with her. “Fine. But not now. Give it time. You might change your mind.”

It was the closest thing to compromise he could offer, a plea disguised as agreement.

But Amber shook her head immediately.

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“I am not a fool, Ethan. Nothing will change between you and the mute.” She said the word with cold finality. “She goes to the doctor today. That is final.”

Ethan’s breath stilled.

Amber continued, voice rising with conviction:

“You may be Alpha, but I own Meadow. I own her future, her body, her contract, her purpose. And she will carry your pups. She will bring them into this world, and that is the end of it.”

Her declaration echoed through the office like the crack of a whip.

Ethan shut his eyes, a wave of helpless fury crashing through him. There was no reaching her. Not now. Not in this state. She was consumed, by grief, by fear, by loss, by a desperate need to cling to something she believed she could still control.

He opened his eyes slowly.

And saw the mother he once loved had vanished long ago.

Without another word, he turned and wheeled himself to the door. Amber didn’t call after him. She didn’t ask him to stay. She simply stared down at her desk, holding her grief like a shield.

Ethan rolled out of the office with disappointment curdling inside him.

When he returned to the room, Meadow was sitting on the couch, shoulders trembling, eyes swollen from crying. The moment he entered, she wiped her face quickly and sat up straight, pretending she hadn’t been sobbing.

He noticed.

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Chapter 16

He always noticed.

And he hated himself for not being able to shield her from all of this.

He wheeled closer, his expression unreadable but his tone fierce.

“Stop crying.”

She froze, startled.

He wasn’t scolding her. Not truly. It was the only way he knew how to interrupt her despair. Gentle didn’t come naturally to him, so he used structure. Authority. Order.

“Pack our bags,” he said, voice stern and sharp with urgency.

Her brows knitted in confusion.

“You won’t be going to the doctor today.”

She gasped softly, eyes widening.

He took a breath.

“I’m taking you to my cabin,” he said. “For a holiday.”

For a moment, Meadow thought she had misread his lips. Or maybe she was imagining things. A holiday? Her? Away from Amber? Away from Levi’s cold eyes and Ashley’s whispers?

His voice remained as unfriendly and flat as ever. There was no softness, no warmth, no smile.

But his decision…

His decision was the kindest thing anyone had ever done for her.

He was buying her time.

Shielding her.

Protecting her, in the only way he knew how.

Meadow rose immediately, tears welling again, not from fear, but from relief so sudden it made her knees weaken.

She bowed her head deeply to him.

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Chapter 16

Grateful.

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Beyond grateful.

Though Ethan’s expression did not change, his jaw relaxed slightly as he watched her pack, her silent movements quick and purposeful.

He could not stop the storm his mother planned.

But he could give Meadow shelter.

And for now, that was enough.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna