Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 39

Chapter 39

After the raw, awkward conversation with Ethan, one that left her heart tangled in hope and uncertainty, Meadow slipped quietly away and retreated into the bathroom. She shut the door gently, leaning against it for a moment as she exhaled a shaky breath.

Her mind replayed Ethan’s words.

His fear.

His pain.

His stubborn attempts to push her away even while protecting her.

She touched her chest lightly, trying to steady the ache there.

Dinner loomed ahead, and the thought of sitting at that long dining table, surrounded by people who watched her like she was out of place, made her stomach twist. But at least Ethan had her back. He had proven it more than once.

He had proven she had nothing to fear as long as he was beside her.

But he wouldn’t stay beside her forever.

The thought stabbed sharply.

Her only real fear now was Amber.

That woman’s eyes were full of calculated cruelty. The kind of wickedness that hid behind smiles and polite tones. Ethan being present was the only thing that kept Amber on a leash. Once he left… Meadow dreaded what the woman would do.

Victoria’s presence might soften the blow, but even Victoria couldn’t shield her completely. Some people enjoyed being cruel behind

closed doors.

She stepped into the shower and let the warm water cascade over her, washing off tension, but not fear. Droplets slid down her skin

like tiny beads of comfort, but her chest remained tight.

She closed her eyes, letting the rhythm of the water become her anchor.

While they were at the lake earlier, Ethan had done something Meadow still didn’t know.

He had bought her a phone.

Not just any phone, a new, sleek device so she could contact him whenever he was away. So she wouldn’t feel stranded. So she

wouldn’t feel like a prisoner in her own home again.

He had asked Beatrix to hide it in the nightstand drawer.

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Chapter 39

He wanted her to find it later.

He wanted the smile.

The surprise.

The joy.

He knew how excited she had been borrowing his phone that day, her eyes glowing as if she had held a piece of freedom in her hands. And he still remembered the sting of humiliation she suffered when his mother spoke to her like she owned her.

His jaw clenched at the memory.

That would change.

When he returned, things in this home would be very different.

While Meadow showered, Ethan sat quietly in the bedroom, hands resting on the wheels of his chair. The room was silent except for the faint echo of running water. He let the moment settle before his thoughts drifted once more to her.

Everything she had said replayed in his mind.

Words he never expected from her.

Words that pierced him in ways nothing else had.

She doesn’t want to be free of me.

His chest tightened.

She had exceeded every expectation.

He had prepared himself for a timid woman who bowed her head and barely spoke. Instead, he had gotten someone courageous in her own quiet way, someone who stood trembling yet still choosing him.

He hoped… deeply, foolishly hoped… that her feelings wouldn’t change with time.

But then his gaze dropped to his legs.

The familiar heaviness returned, the kind that felt like shame wrapped in unmovable chains. He reached down and grabbed his thigh, squeezing hard, willing himself to feel something.

Nothing.

Just as always.

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Chapter 39

He closed his eyes sharply, cursing under his breath.

How could he ask Meadow to build confidence when he couldn’t take his own advice? When he still allowed his condition to shred

his self-worth?

He hit his thigh again. Harder.

Still nothing.

He cursed the doctors who gave him diagrams, useless stretches, daily routines, promises that didn’t materialise. Every sheet of false hope had chipped away at him, and each day he was reminded of what he had lost.

That accident…

It replayed in his mind far too often.

The twisted metal.

The smoke.

The chaos.

The car had been totalled, leaving nothing for investigators. But Ethan never believed the brake failure was random. He wasn’t an expert in mechanics, and he wasn’t desperate for drama…

But too much misfortune had touched his family.

Every one of them had faced a life-threatening situation. Even his stepfather.

Subtle.

Infrequent.

Spread out.

But real.

He always felt there was something, some pattern, some hand behind it, but he refused to burden himself. It had been long since the last incident. Maybe the goddess had finally intervened. Maybe things had calmed.

He tried to bury the suspicion and breathe.

But another sadness crept in, the one he rarely admitted aloud.

His disability was in the way of everything.

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Chapter 39

He would have taken Meadow on adventures. He would have shown her the world outside these walls. He would have let her feel

laughter echoing across mountains and valleys. He would have lifted her, spun her, kissed her under open skies.

Instead… he sat here, unable to offer her more than this.

He clenched his hands on the wheels of his chair.

He cursed the accident.

He cursed the doctors.

He cursed the false hope that ruined his relationship with Cynthia.

Cynthia might have stayed, might have coped better, had the doctors not fed them lies. Had they not painted a picture of “spon,”

“maybe,” “with discipline.”

But none of it had worked.

And in the end, Cynthia left.

She walked away from him and his broken body.

A part of Ethan always feared Meadow would, too.

And yet… the water kept running in the bathroom, and for the first time in years, he let himself hope that maybe, just maybe, a

different future was trying to find him.

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Underwater: The Silent Luna