Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 210

Chapter 210

Joseph looked at her differently then, just for a moment. That had been the real reason. Not Cynthia. Not pride. Not performance. She had seen him surrounded and had jumped in because he needed a warrior. In that moment, she had not been only the woman who lied to him. She had been a warrior when he needed one. That truth did not erase the lie, but it mattered. It made the whole

thing more painful because people were rarely simple enough to hate cleanly.

He smiled a little and nodded.

“I am glad you did. It made a difference,” he said.

Ashley smiled, and for a few seconds the room softened. There had been a time when they had been easier than this. Not perfect

but easier. Before ambition poisoned the edges. Before Cynthia’s influence. Before the fake pregnancy. Before his mother moyed her

into the mansion. Before Joseph started looking at her and seeing more scheme than affection.

There was silence again. Then Joseph decided to address the elephant in the room.

“Why did you lie to me about being pregnant?” he asked.

Ashley bowed her head in shame.

“I was desperate. We had spent almost two years together, and there wasn’t any sign of commitment from your side. I knew many girls had their designs on you, and I did not want to end up heartbroken, so I decided to lie. That and the fact that I wanted to be

Luna,” she said and chuckled a bit, thinking of her actions.

The chuckle was not happy. It was bitter, small, almost disgusted with itself. Joseph listened without interrupting. He had wanted

the truth, and now she was giving it. Ugly, selfish, human, and honest.

“I tried to do many things because I wanted to be Luna. I just wanted to achieve something. Set my mind on a goal and achieved it,

and I tried, but I never even came close. Luna Amber saw right through me. I didn’t know I was that obvious until the day you broke

up with me,” she said, and tears began to fall.

Joseph’s jaw tightened, but not with anger alone. He could hear the insecurity beneath her ambition now. That did not excuse it. It

did not make it acceptable. But it explained the shape of the wound. Ashley had wanted to win at something. She had wanted a title,

a place, a future that proved she was more than a woman waiting for a man to choose her. And instead of walking away when

Joseph would not give her what she wanted, she tried to force fate with lies.

“I did the only thing I knew how to do to hold on to you, Joseph. It was low, but that was what I did. I was hoping while we were

together, I could get pregnant. That was why I became very active in bed. I was trying hard to make the lie a reality, but the moon

did not bless me,” she said.

Joseph did not know what to tell her because he knew she was honest. That might have been the worst part. He could feel the truth

in her words now, and the truth was not pretty. She had not lied because of one sudden moment of panic. She had planned it, hoped

to turn it real, used intimacy to try to cover deception. It made him feel used in a way he did not want to examine too deeply.

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Chapter 210

“I meant what I said about not wanting anything anymore, but I said it a little too late,” she said, wiping away her tears.

Joseph remained quiet.

“I shouldn’t have defied you the way I did. I did not know what got into me. I guess I wanted to rub it in Cynthia’s face so I could

get the one thing she couldn’t get,” she said, wiping away more tears.

That sounded painfully believable. Cynthia had always carried influence like poison wrapped in perfume. Ashley had looked up to

the wrong woman, learned the wrong lessons, and tried to become someone sharp enough to win. Now she had seen where that

path led.

“I really wanted to win for once, but I was stupid. I thought I was having fun; I did not know she had major plans. You were right to

tell me I had the wrong mentor. Seeing what she did to her pack because of her greed made me realise the kind of person I would

have turned out to be if I continued walking her path,” she said.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna