Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172

Ashley knew better than to push Joseph when he had that tone in his voice. There were times a man sounded angry and could still be worked on. Times his temper looked bigger than it really was, and if a woman cried enough, pleaded enough, softened herself

enough, he would bend before the day was over. Ashley knew those moments. She had relied on them before. She had survived by

reading moods and adjusting quickly. But this was not one of those times. Joseph had crossed into something colder than anger, and

Ashley felt it deep in her chest. It was there in the way he looked at her without warmth. In the way he spoke as though the

decision had already moved beyond discussion. In the way her tears no longer stirred anything in him except impatience.

So she did not push. Not then. Not after his final words had fallen between them like a door shutting. She quietly packed her bags

and left Joseph’s room. There was no dignity in the movement, not really. Her hands shook too much for that. Her chest hurt to

much for that. Even the silence around her felt humiliating. She had imagined many bad outcomes for herself over the years, but

not this. Not being sent away like someone who had lost the right to stand in the same room as the man she wanted to marry. Not

after dreaming her way into a future she thought she had almost secured.

She went to the south wing just as Luna Amber instructed her. The room the staff gave her was beautiful. That part almost made it

worse. The curtains were rich, the bed was large, the room itself soft in a way that spoke of wealth and care, and for a second

Ashley stood in the middle of it with her bags in her hands and felt something ache inside her. Amber had still considered her

comfort. Amber had not thrown her into some cramped, insulting corner to make a point. That mercy should have comforted her.

Instead it only sharpened the emptiness.

Because comfort without belonging was not comfort at all. Not really. Not when the room was lovely but the life she wanted was falling apart outside it. She set her bags down and looked around as though the walls might explain something to her. Why had she thought she could get away with it? Why had she been so stupid? She kept asking herself that over and over. What had made her so certain Joseph would not make good on his promise? He had told her clearly to stay away from Cynthia. He had not hinted. Had not joked. Had not left space for misunderstanding. He warned her, and Ashley, in her foolishness, had still gone. Still played games.

Still thought she could balance lies in one hand and Joseph’s favour in the other without one of them dropping.

Now the answer sat all around her. She had crossed all limits with him. That truth hurt because she knew it was true. And to think

Cynthia had messed with her the last time they met too. That part made the whole thing feel even uglier. Ashley had gone there

half-believing she was in control of something, only to realise later that she was the one being played. Cynthia had threatened her,

frightened her, and left her scrambling. Joseph had ended things. Amber would not interfere. The future she had been holding with

greedy hands was gone.

She had lost everything. The thought hit her hard enough that her legs gave way, and she sat on the edge of the bed and wept. Not

the small, careful crying she had been doing before. Not the dramatic pleading tears she tried to use with Joseph. This was worse.

Messier. Emptier. Her shoulders shook, and she could not even tell whether she was crying more from heartbreak, humiliation, fear,

or the sheer terror of falling back into a life she no longer wanted.

While Ashley sat in the south wing drowning in that loss, Luna Amber linked Joseph and asked him to join her in her office. Amber

wanted to get to the bottom of it. Not only because Ashley came to her in tears, though that had some effect. Amber did not

particularly like Ashley. She knew the girl was frivolous, weak in too many ways, and far too hungry for status. Still, Amber cared

because Ashley was carrying Joseph’s baby. That alone made the matter more serious than an ordinary break-up. There was a child

now. Grandchildren. A future that could not be shrugged off as easily as two young people changing their minds.

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Chapter 172

Joseph, on the other hand, wanted nothing more than sleep. He had had a rough night. Rougher than anyone in the house properly

knew. The kind of rough that hollowed a man from the inside and made his head ache behind the eyes. He should have gone

straight to bed. His body wanted that. His mind wanted that. But Amber was his mother, and even in his exhaustion Joseph still

honoured her. So he dragged himself toward her office instead.

He knocked once. Amber told him to enter. When he stepped inside, he smiled at her automatically, the way sons sometimes did out

of habit even when they had nothing in them for smiling. Amber frowned the moment she saw him properly. He looked tired in a

way she did not like. Not ordinary tired. Worn. Strained. Like the night had not ended kindly for him.

“What is wrong with you?” Amber asked.

Joseph pinched the bridge of his nose, bowed his head slightly, and sighed before answering. Even that small movement spoke of

how tired he really was.

“I had to run an errand for Ethan last night,” Joseph said.

Amber’s expression changed at once. Curiosity sharpened her.

“What happened? Does it have to do with the Ceenas take over?” Amber asked.

Joseph looked at her fully then.

“How did you find out?” Joseph asked.

Amber smiled a little at that, not smugly, just with the faint, old pride of a woman who had survived this long because she did not

move through pack life blindly.

“Levi and I still keep our ears to the ground. We do not want to be caught off guard,” Amber replied.

Joseph shook his head slightly. That sounded like them. Of course they had heard. In pack politics, bad news did not stay in one

corner for long. Still, hearing that from her now only added to the pressure in his chest. There was already too much spreading too

quickly.

He looked at her and hesitated. Everything was still speculation. That was the problem. Nothing had been proven yet in the clean,

undeniable way he wanted before he put the truth into his mother’s hands. They would not really know until Dr James carried out

the surgery. Until then it was records, timing, theory, fear, and an ugly pattern that felt too precise to ignore. Joseph knew Amber.

She was impulsive when something touched her sons. Protective in a way that could become dangerous if paired with incomplete

information. If he told her too much too soon, she might blow things out of proportion before they even had proof.

So Joseph watched what he gave her.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna