Refuse to Be Your Luna’s Shadow Chapter 03

Refuse to Be Your Luna’s Shadow Chapter 03

“Trash,” I lied. “I was gonna throw it out.”

“Then you should climb into it yourself,” Bryce said with a laugh.

Pearl gave a sweet little giggle, big doe eyes shining with fake innocence. “Freya, you have to come to my welcome ball this weekend! You are my family too!” A sliver of cunning cruelty flashed in her eyes.

I had not even answered before Bryce’s voice sliced through the air, thick with malice. “Invite that bastard stray? She will only bring shame and bad luck to Pearl.”

The happy atmosphere vanished in an instant. Pearl tugged on his sleeve, pretending to concern me. “Bryce, don’t say that about Freya…” Her tone was pleading, but her eyes glittered with undisguised delight.

Faced with Bryce’s insults and my parents’ and Cassian’s cold silence, I felt nothing at all. Let him bark. I would not be here much longer anyway.

I simply nodded. “Fine. I will be there.”

My easy agreement clearly caught them off guard. Cassian’s expression shifted, complicated and unreadable.

Pearl’s lips curved in smugness. “Then it is settled! I will pick out the prettiest dress for you!”

“Speaking of Pearl,” my father cut in, his tone turning hard, “that night at the strip club, she tried to earn money to buy us gifts and almost got assaulted by rogues, Some reporter caught it on camera, but her face is not visible in the photos. This could have serious consequences. For the sake of Pearl’s reputation and future, we have to control the story.”

My stomach tightened. I already knew where this was going.

“I have decided that you will take her place in that story.” he continued, his voice glacial. “The official statement will say you were the one there. You were the one mingling with those… animals.”

For a moment, it felt like the air was being sucked from my lungs. They wanted to bury my name completely.

My mother came forward and grabbed my hand, wearing a mask of guilty tenderness that made my skin crawl. “Freya, please, Pearl… she has been through so much. If this comes out, her life will be ruined! You are her sister. Just once, take the blame for her, all right? Afterward… afterward I will buy you anything you want.”

I almost laughed. They actually thought something that cheap could buy me. I pulled my hand back calmly, my face indifferent.

My father went on. “It is decided. Public relations is drafting the statement. You have to admit that it was you in those photos. We will pay you for your cooperation.”

I looked at them one by one—my father, the cold and ruthless strategist Alpha; my mother, the pleading accomplice Luna; my brother, the sneering bully; my ex-fiancé, the silent spectator; and Pearl, the smiling puppeteer behind it all.

“I understand,” I said quietly. Then I turned and walked away, leaving them in an unexpected silence.

For someone who was planning to kill herself, a clean reputation did not matter at all.