Chapter 7

Ethan grabbed Vivienne by the arm, his eyes red.

"Say that again."

"I couldn't see — they blindfolded me — I only heard the crying, and then the silence. I thought it was my baby. I didn't realize until three days ago that the one who died was yours. Yours and Aria's. I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid of what it would do to you. Aria's mind was already fragile — if she found out, I thought she'd completely break. That's why I —"

She hadn't finished the sentence before Ethan's hand closed around her throat.

"You kept this from me? Something like this — and you kept it from me?"

She couldn't breathe. Her face went red.

"I didn't mean to — let go — Ethan, I can't breathe —"

The baby in her arms started to cry from the strain. That sound cut through everything.

Ethan's hands kept tightening. The light in his eyes had gone somewhere else.

"Why did you tell them it was Aria who paid for it? Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't lie — it's what the men said — so I thought —"

She was nearly gone. A servant broke in: "Sir — please stop. Let go of her. Miss Vivienne is going to die. The most important thing right now is finding Mrs. Thorne."

Those words reached him.

He shoved Vivienne back and she fell. He stood there while the light in his face came back slowly.

He remembered the moment Aria had screamed at him through her tears that their son was dead. He'd told her she was crazy. He'd said she had a mental illness. He'd planned to have her locked away.

Ethan laughed. It wasn't a happy sound.

He hadn't believed her.

He'd been so desperate to have this child. He knew Aria had been even more desperate — she'd carried the pregnancy through every wave of nausea, through back pain, through everything. She'd never complained.

She'd given him a son. And he'd spent that day confessing to his affair. He'd brought his mistress to the infirmary. He'd used his son's life as a threat against his own mate.

He wasn't human.

Ethan's fists clenched at his sides.

"Someone come here."

"Yes, Alpha."

"You have three days. Find the people who were hired the day Vivienne claimed she was taken. Bring them to me."

A guard looked uncertain. "Sir, you said before that you weren't pursuing that anymore."

"I said that because I thought Aria was responsible. But now I think someone lied to me." His gaze settled on Vivienne on the floor. "If I find out who that was, I won't go easy on her."

Vivienne flinched.

She looked down. She didn't meet his eyes.

But she told herself to stay calm. She'd already paid those men off after everything happened. They were gone. Ethan wouldn't find them that easily.

"And no matter what it takes. Find Aria."

"Yes, Alpha."

The guards left. A servant approached, hesitant.

"Sir. The day Mrs. Thorne left — she left something for you."

Ethan looked up. "What?"

"It looked like a Bond Dissolution Record."

A Bond Dissolution Record.

When Vivienne heard those words, something in her chest lifted. If the bond was already severed — didn't that mean she was one step closer to becoming Luna?

The servant held out the documents. Ethan didn't take them.

"Aria wouldn't dissolve our bond. She loves me. She'd never do that."

"It's real," Eleanor Thorne said from the doorway. "I had my lawyer deliver it to Aria personally. The bond dissolution form has your signature on it."

"Mother."

Ethan looked up, his eyes raw.

"I didn't sign anything. I would never agree to dissolving our bond. I love Aria. I'd never —"

"Half a month ago," Eleanor said, "I came to your office."

That stopped him cold.

"Why? Why would you do that? I told you how I felt about Aria. Why would you have me sign those papers? Why did you force her out?"

"I didn't force her. She made up her mind the moment she found out about your affair." Eleanor's gaze moved to Vivienne, taking her in from head to foot. Neither her looks nor her build matched Aria's. But what struck Eleanor most was the calculation she saw in Vivienne's eyes. It made her uncomfortable just to look at.

Vivienne had assumed Eleanor came to take her side. She walked forward with a smile, holding out her son. "Come say hello."

"Hold on."

Eleanor didn't reach for the boy. Her voice was flat. "Whether or not this child belongs to the Thorne bloodline is still an open question."

Vivienne's face changed. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what you heard."

Eleanor moved to the sofa and sat. "Son. Tomorrow, have the boy tested. If the results say he's Thorne blood, the Pack will raise him. If he's not —" She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to. Vivienne understood.

She looked at Ethan, expecting him to push back on her behalf. But Ethan was sunk somewhere inside his own grief, unreachable.

"Besides," Eleanor continued, "however this paternity test turns out, there's one thing that won't change. The kind of woman it takes to become a Thorne Luna — Aria didn't meet my standards, and this one meets them even less." She paused. "Ethan. Since you and Aria have dissolved the bond, I'll arrange for you to meet someone. The Whitmore family has a daughter. I'll set it up for tomorrow."

"I'm not meeting anyone."

Ethan looked up. His voice was rough.

"My mate is Aria. Only Aria. Mother — tell me where she went."