His Lost Luna

While I Was Bleeding Out, He Lit Lanterns For Her

Katie Oettgen

As I lay on the floor of our manor, bleeding out from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, I used my last ounce of strength to call my husband, Cole. I begged him for help, my vision blurring. But the only thing I heard was the clinking of champagne glasses and his mistress's giggle in the background. "Stop the drama, June," Cole snapped, his voice cold. "We're about to go on stage. Don't call again." He hung up, leaving me to die alone on the Persian rug while he accepted an award with another woman on his arm. I woke up in the hospital days later. My baby was gone. They had removed my fallopian tube. Cole finally arrived, smelling of expensive scotch and his mistress's perfume. He didn't hug me. He didn't cry. Instead, he leaned over my hospital bed, pressing his knee into the mattress until my fresh stitches tore open and bled. "You embarrassed me by calling an ambulance," he hissed. "My mistress, Alycia, says you're faking it. Clean yourself up." He left me bleeding again to go announce a $10 million donation to Alycia's "groundbreaking" medical research. I stared at the TV screen, numb. The research Alycia was taking credit for? It was mine. I wrote that patent years ago under a pseudonym. They thought I was just a poor, orphan housewife who needed Cole's money to survive. They had no idea I was actually a billionaire scientist hiding my identity. I pulled the IV needle out of my arm. A drop of blood fell onto the divorce papers I had been hiding. I didn't wipe it off. I signed my name right over it. Then I walked into the bank, reactivated my dormant account with $128 million, and bought the penthouse directly overlooking Cole's house. The mourning widow is dead. The avenger is born.

Romance Crime Revenge Pregnancy Enemies to Lovers Pregnancy Personal Growth

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"Mom, I'm home!" Hazel called out into the empty living room before glancing into the kitchen, where her mother would usually be by this time, preparing dinner-but she wasn't there.

"But her and Dad's car is packed outside," she muttered, helping herself to a cup of cold orange juice.

She placed the cup into the dishwasher and walked upstairs in search of her parents. She was about to climb the stairs when she heard her father's voice coming from the study.

"Dad, I'm home, did you leave something behind? Where is Mom?..." she asked, opening the door to see that her parents had a visitor.

"Oops, sorry," she apologized, backtracking out the door as she noticed her parents' nervous stares from her to the man opposite them.

The man looked up from the documents he was reading, his brown eyes meeting Hazel's onyx ones. His lips stretched into a warm smile as their eyes met. His smile sent Hazel's heart racing.

'Handsome!' she gasped in surprise as his brown eyes flickered gold, filled with several emotions: excitement, lust, and attraction.

He cleared his throat and beckoned her in.

"Why don't you join us, miss? Your parents and I were just completing a deal," he asked in his heavy Italian accent, sending butterflies deep into Hazel's stomach as he patted the space beside him for her to take.

Hazel took a step forward, trying to get closer to the handsome man but was stopped by her mother's shaky voice.

"No, no, she just returned from school and needs to get cleaned," her mom argued nervously, earning a raised eyebrow from the handsome man.

Getting the hint, Hazel clasped her hands together and bowed toward the stranger.

"Excuse me, sir, I'm sorry I disrupted your meeting. I need to clean up as I'm sweaty all over."

"That's fine. What's your name?" he asked, bringing out a pen from his jacket pocket to sign the document he had been reading.

"Hazel."

"You have a lovely name, Hazel. Let's not be strangers when we next meet, alright?"

As Hazel disappeared behind the door toward her room, the atmosphere in the study grew more tense.

"Lorenzo, I mean Alpha Lorenzo, is there a reason your Pack moved all the way here from Italy?" Mr. Eric Halton, Hazel's father, asked.

A smirk and a mischievous glint appeared in Lorenzo's eyes as he maintained deep and unshaken eye contact with the man sitting in front of him.

"Oh, I thought it would take some time, but I found what I have been looking for, Halton. Why have I never heard you had another beautiful daughter apart from the one-what was her name again?"

"Ruby," Eric provided.

"Ah, yes, Ruby. Fierce one, that one was, don't you think?" Lorenzo complimented, adjusting his suit as he stood up to leave, placing the document on the table separating them.

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