The Luna Who Owed Them Nothing Chapter 07

The Luna Who Owed Them Nothing Chapter 07

I do not know how much time passes before I finally wake up.

When I open my eyes, my vision slowly comes into focus, eventually settling on a painfully bright white ceiling.

Mom almost throws herself at my bedside and grabs my hand, tears falling onto the back of it.

“Aria, you’re finally awake. You almost gave me a heart attack!”

I am not used to this kind of affectionate touch, so I instinctively pull my hand away.

Her hand freezes in midair. Her voice trembles, but she still forces a smile.

“Aria, how do you feel? Is there anything you want to eat? I’ll make it for you.”

“Oh, right. The pack doctor says you can’t eat anything yet. Once you’re feeling better, I’ll make you something, okay?”

My throat feels like it has been scraped raw with sandpaper, and every word hurts, but I still interrupt her, “I DIDN’T steal it.”

Those three words are the biggest obsession I have carried all these years.

Mom’s tears immediately fall harder, “I know. I know… Mom was wrong. I know everything now.”

“That $5… Eden told me to take it.”

I struggle to swallow, but I force myself to finish, “She told me we could take the money from the jar whenever we wanted. I hadn’t eaten all day. I really… couldn’t help myself.”

Mom suddenly turns to look at Eden.

Eden’s face turns pale, and she instinctively takes a step back. She opens her mouth, but nothing

comes out.

I look at her, my voice weak but strangely calm.

“Every time you called me a thief all these years, I remembered it.”

Mom’s body trembles slightly, “Aria, I’m sorry…”

I do not respond. I simply continue.

“Gamma Luke is a good man. I was never his mistress. The $20,000 tuition money was counterfeit.

I didn’t spend a single bill.”

When I finish, I close my eyes, pull the blanket up to my chin, and turn my back to them.

“Please leave. I want to be alone.”

Mom stands there, reaching out before slowly letting her hand fall.

Dad takes a step forward, as if he wants to say something.

His lips move, but in the end, he only manages to say, “Get some rest. I’ll come see you tomorrow.”

No one answers.

The door closes softly. I keep my back to it.

A long time passes, so long that the gray light outside the window slowly turns bright, before I finally bury my face in the pillow.

My shoulders tremble again and again, but I never let out a single sob.

Outside the door, Mom sits on a bench in the hallway, covering her face with both hands as her

entire body shakes with tears.

Dad stands by the window, his eyes already red.

Damon leans against the wall with his head lowered, silent and lost in thought.

Only Eden stands at the end of the hallway, gripping the hem of her clothes so tightly that she can no longer hide the panic on her face.

An hour later, the pack doctor comes in for a routine examination.

He looks at the age listed on my chart, then at my painfully thin body, and his expression visibly

darkens.

“She’s five-five and barely eighty pounds?”

The pack doctor keeps his tone as controlled as possible, but the anger in his voice is unmistakable.

“She has been severely malnourished for a long time, and her hemoglobin is already dangerously close to the level where she needs a blood transfusion.”

He looks up at the Alpha and Luna standing beside my bed, “As her parents, do you even know what condition your daughter is in?”

Mom’s face turns deathly pale.

The pack doctor flips through my medical chart and continues.

“She’s at an age when her body is still developing. There are recommended daily amounts of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and other nutrients for someone her age.”

He closes the chart, his voice becoming openly accusatory, “Did you not feed her, or did you stop

her from eating?”

“No…”

Mom’s lips tremble as she hurriedly explains, “We… we gave her an allowance every month.”

I suddenly feel like laughing, and added, “Fifty dollars.”

The room falls silent.

I stare at the ceiling, my voice barely audible, “Fifty dollars a month. From the time I was eight

until now.”

The pack doctor freezes.

He looks at Mom in disbelief, then at Dad and Damon standing behind her.

“My own daughter is in high school. She spends more than $50 a day just on food, and you only gave

her $50 a month?”

No one answers.

The only sound in the room is the steady beeping of the heart monitor.

Mom lowers her head and looks at the designer coat she is wearing, worth more than a thousand

dollars. Her lips tremble, but she cannot say a word.

The pack doctor is silent for a moment before sighing and placing his chart on the bedside table.

Before leaving, he still cannot help himself.

“I’ve been a pack doctor for more than ten years. I’ve seen families so poor they could barely afford food. I’ve seen parents willing to sell their own blood to pay for their child’s treatment.”

“But I’ve never seen biological parents starve their own child to this point.”

He stops at the door and looks back at them.

“You are her biological parents, right?”