Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Ethan had never spoken to his mother like that, sharp, commanding, unyielding. Amber blinked as if someone had slapped her. Then

her glare slid to Meadow, venomous and accusing.

“So this is what you came here to do? To cause problems between my sons and me?” she hissed. “To turn them against me?”

Meadow’s stomach twisted into knots. Her hands trembled at her sides. She bowed her head quickly, submissively, ferrified to make

eye contact. She wanted to sign, No, please, I didn’t, but she kept still, knowing Amber would twist even that against her.

“Do not speak to her, Mother,” Ethan warned sharply. “If you have anything to say, say it to me. Stop picking on the girl.”

Amber laughed, a brittle, mocking sound that scraped the air like metal.

“She isn’t yours, Ethan,” she snapped.

He shook his head slowly.

“The contract was between her and me,” Amber continued, lifting her chin triumphantly. “So you need to back off. I got her for you, so she can take care of you and give me grandchildren. And that is exactly what she will do.”

Meadow stiffened, her heartbeat hammering painfully. Every time Amber said it, give me grandchildren, she felt less like a person

and more like a commodity. A thing. A womb. A tool.

And worst of all?

Amber wasn’t lying.

Her parents had signed away her future without a thought.

Ethan knew it too. Knew Meadow had been trapped long before she stepped into his room the night of their wedding. Her parents hadn’t even read the agreement. They had sold their daughter into servitude, ignorance or desperation, he couldn’t tell which.

Either way, it enraged him.

He had to think fast. Amber was already furious; whatever Joseph told her had clearly made everything worse. Logic wouldn’t dissuade her. Pleading wouldn’t move her. Threatening her had limits, he needed her cooperation for the treaty trip.

So Ethan went with the one thing she would never expect.

A lie big enough to buy Meadow time.

“She is my wife,” Ethan said firmly, lifting his chin. “And I am willing to try with her. There will be no need for your artificial bullshit. If there is any conception, it will happen naturally. Am I clear?

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Chapter 29

Meadow’s world tilted.

Her breath caught.

Her eyes widened, stunned, confused, soft with something like gratitude and fear tangled together.

Amber froze.

Joy, pure, sharp, dizzying, crept into her face. For the first time in years she looked almost… hopeful. As though Ethan’s words Had

flicked on a light inside her.

If he was willing to try, then maybe, just maybe, her son’s heart was opening again.

Maybe he wasn’t as dead inside as she feared.

She glanced at Meadow and forced herself to soften her expression.

Perhaps the girl could be a stepping stone.

Perhaps she could help Ethan remember what it meant to feel.

But deep inside Amber’s mind, another truth simmered:

She would never allow Ethan’s future to be tied forever to a mute woman.

Never.

He deserved better.

He deserved someone who would choose him willingly, not a girl pushed into marriage because she had no voice.

Amber had seen it in Meadow’s face the day of the wedding. The shock. The hesitation. The fear.

If Meadow had known the groom was Ethan, she never would have signed anything.

Just like the dozens of beautiful, talented women Amber had tried to place in Ethan’s path.

Just like Cynthia.

Just like all the others who left him more broken than the accident ever did.

Amber carried those failures like stones in her chest.

She only wanted the best for him, someone who wanted Ethan for Ethan… not because they had no other choice.

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Chapter 29

“Are you sure?” Amber asked blandly, masking her turmoil behind a cold neutrality.

Ethan didn’t bother answering. His silence was enough.

Amber finally exhaled.

“If that is the case,” she said slowly, “I will let her be.”

Meadow felt a momentary wave of relief.

Then Amber added, with icy calm:

“But I will only regard her as your wife when and if she gets pregnant.”

Meadow’s relief shattered.

Amber turned and walked away, her heels echoing through the hallway like ticking clocks.

As she headed toward her office, her thoughts churned.

Hope.

Fear.

Suspicion.

She prayed Ethan meant what he said, that this wasn’t another attempt to pacify her, to keep her at bay.

Since the accident, all she had wanted was for Ethan to reclaim his life, not bury himself in the ashes of his misfortune. But heartbreak after heartbreak, rejection after rejection, had pushed him into isolation, shrinking his world until it was smaller than

his wheelchair.

Maybe, just maybe, Meadow could help him open up again.

But the thought of Ethan tied permanently to a mute girl, unable to converse or share meaningful time the way she imagined for

her son…

Amber shuddered.

Her fear returned, stronger than ever.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna