She hadn’t changed much, Luna thought to herself. There were a few added lines at the corner of her mouth, and her parlor looked more harsh and withered than they did those years ago. All those observations told Luna one thing; the years had not been kind to Moira Lake.Luna didn’t bother to temper the thread of satisfaction that wound through her at that thought. She would be lying to herself if she said she’d wished Moira well all these years, and there was no reason to lie to herself. No one had control over her own thoughts, they were hers, and she could think whatever she damned well pleased with them.Moira was a woman of average height, just like Luna herself. The two women stood at exactly the same height, and always have. But in the past years, Luna had always somehow felt Moira was taller than her. Probably because of the power Moira had wielded, and always exercised, over her. But now, Luna could see that they were at the same height. Nothing more, nothing less.Her blac

Luna just stared at him. Jake’s betrayal had hurt all those years ago, and it had hurt because she had considered him a friend. And he, her too. She knew that. She just didn’t understand how he could betray a friend the way he had did to her.But put next to the feelings she felt towards each member of the Lake family, the hurt from Jake’s betrayal dulled in comparison. He was the least of her worries, but that didn’t mean she had to make it easier on him. So she just stared and waited for him to continue.“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me,” he did continue. “When you needed a friend. I just, I was trying to protect my position in the company, and Moira had me under her command.”“Yeah, well, guess it worked,” Luna said. “Last I heard, you’re now CFO of Lake Corporation. Congratulations.”A flash of guilt passed through Jake’s golden-brown eyes. He bowed his head in shame for a second before bringing it back up to look at Luna again.“Yeah, well, if something f

“I was wondering when I was going to run into you.”Luna watched Justin walk towards her. That magnetic force, that aura of power that some men seem to only acquire when they’ve worked hard at it, why did it come so easily to Justin? The thought sent a frustrating feeling through Luna’s body, alongside the little thrill that ran up her spine as Justin’s black eyes locked on hers. If he didn’t have that dangerous power that made her drawn to him no matter how hard she tried to stop it, maybe she would be able to resist him.Damn him.“Hello, Luna,” Justin replied. His eyes were still locked on hers, not letting her go.Determined to not be the one to back down, Luna stared right back at him.“This is your company’s party, Justin, it’s rude to keep your guests waiting.”“I hardly kept them waiting.” Justin flicked his wrist, a waiter appeared out of nowhere. “The party has been going on fine without me, as I hear. And, I was in a meeting.”Justin picked up the sole glass on the

Present“You had such hatred for me even right from the start,” Luna said to Justin.They were still facing each other other, the table between them.“All you heard was my name,” she continued, “and your voice changed. Did you think I don’t hear the change in your voice the moment you heard my name, Justin?”Even now, the memory hurt, Luna realized. Justin had the decency to look chagrined this time.“You don’t know why my voice changed that night,” he said, glancing away from Luna.“No, I don’t,” Luna agreed. “But what I do know is that night was not an exception, like you think it was. Sure, we were starting to vibe before I mentioned my name, but that was a brief moment. It could have been an exception, you made it not so. You, Justin, not me.”“And I said I had my reasons,” Justin said.Luna opened her mouth to reply him, but stopped when the music pulsing through the speakers was interrupted by someone on stage.“I would like to call on Miss Luna Jones, CEO of Green-ish

What the hell am I still doing here? Luna paced the empty compound behind the hall moments later as the question pounded in her head.All through the party, ninety five percent of the people she’d met had hurt her in one way or the other. There was the woman who had made her life a living hell and humiliated her family multiple times, the man who had pretended to be her friend but had actually been a spy for the same woman. The ‘friend’ who had been nothing but a manipulator who demeaned her with her cleverly constructed words presented as compliments. Luna let out a breath, she continued pacing. Or was it the man whom she had loved, carried his child in her and felt the life they’d both created, and who all he’d ever done was to repay her with hatred.What the hell was she doing here? What the hell was she doing at all, getting mixed up with Justin again. Haven’t the past taught her anything at all? Was the humiliation she went through in her marriage to Justin not enough? Was th