The Luna Who Owed Them Nothing Chapter 04

The Luna Who Owed Them Nothing Chapter 04

Luke’s entire face turns red with anger. His lips tremble for a long time, but because he is a Gamma, he cannot bring himself to say a word.

His daughter, Mia, clings tightly to his hand, crying her heart out.

I quickly push through the crowd and step in front of them, my voice trembling with panic.

“Mom! What are you doing?”

Mom raises her hand and slaps me hard across the face in front of everyone.

“I should be asking you what you’re doing! You’re so young, yet instead of learning to behave, you steal, and now you’re out here playing mistress to a man?”

My cheek burns instantly.

I stare at her in disbelief. I never imagine that she could humiliate her own daughter with words this cruel.

“I’m not! I just…”

Before I can finish, Eden cuts in.

“Mom, I heard everything she told Dad yesterday. It’s this diner! Don’t listen to her excuses!”

She pauses, rolls her eyes, and casually starts lying, “And a bunch of my classmates have seen her getting all touchy with this man. They all say she’s his mistress!”

“Shut up!”

I finally lose control and yell at her.

She has slandered me like this more than once throughout my life. And every single time, Mom and Dad choose to believe her without hesitation. They never even give me a chance to explain.

I turn around and rush into the diner, pulling up the security footage to prove my innocence.

But before I can show anyone, Mom suddenly clutches her chest.

Her body goes limp, and her eyes roll back as she collapses.

“Mom!”

Damon catches her in a panic, his face turning deathly pale. As he pulls out his phone to call for help, he points at me and screams, “You’re a curse on this family! I’m begging you, just leave!”

Then he pulls a thick stack of promissory notes from inside his coat.

They are the same ones I picked up one by one that day.

All 108 of them.

Smack!

The thick stack hits me hard in the face.

“You don’t have to pay any of this back. From today on, I’ll pretend I only have one sister, Eden!”

He grits his teeth and says every word slowly, “And don’t you dare come back to that house!”

Before long, the pack doctor and ambulance arrive.

Damon and Eden help Mom into the ambulance without looking at me once.

The crowd slowly disperses, but the owners of several nearby shops remain at a distance, pointing at me and whispering among themselves.

I have already bitten my lips until they bleed. All I can do is swallow the metallic taste of blood in my mouth.

Luke looks miserable as he cleans up the mess outside the diner.

I walk over and bow deeply, “Luke, I’m sorry.”

His hands stop for a moment, but he does not look up.

“You should leave. We don’t need you to tutor Mia anymore.”

Mia runs over holding a toy water gun and sprays me repeatedly, “Bad! It’s all your fault my dad got yelled at!”

The cold water instantly soaks through my clothes. Droplets run down my chin and fall onto the ground one by one, but I can no longer tell whether what is running down my face is water or tears.

When I return to the pack house, it is already completely empty.

I numb myself as I pack my things.

A few faded old clothes, several books, and the acceptance letter I carefully keep tucked between the pages of a book.

Everything I own cannot even fill a backpack.

Before leaving, I turn back and look at the family portrait on the table.

There are four people in the picture: Dad, Mom, Damon, and Eden.

There is no me.

I pick up a pen and draw a tiny stick figure beside them.

It is crooked, clumsy, and ridiculous.

Then I put on my backpack, take the $20,000 Dad gave me, and head to the bank to deposit it.

But when the teller takes the cash, her expression suddenly turns strange.

She examines the bills carefully before looking up at me, “Hey, miss, using counterfeit bills is illegal.”

I freeze, “What?”

The teller hands the money back, and only then do I realize that aside from one real bill on top and one on the bottom, every single bill in the two stacks is counterfeit.

I am completely stunned.

The $20,000 Dad gave me is not my college tuition at all. It is nothing but a stack of worthless paper.

I stumble out of the bank and stand among the crowds on the street, my mind completely blank.

Just then, a car suddenly speeds toward me from the left.

I don’t even have time to react before it hits me.

Bang!

The impact sends me flying through the air before I crash heavily onto the ground.

Pain tears through my entire body. I lie in a pool of blood, my phone landing conveniently beside my hand.

With trembling fingers, I pick it up and open the family group chat. Then I send a screenshot of my Royal Fang Academy acceptance letter along with the diner’s security footage.

[Mom, Dad, I got into Royal Fang Academy.]

[I didn’t steal anything.]

I stare at the screen as the world around me grows increasingly blurry.

The sending icon beside my messages is still spinning in a gray circle.

And finally, it changes to “SENT.”

…

At the pack Hospital, Mom slowly regains consciousness.

Dad immediately calls a pack doctor to check on her. Damon adjusts her hospital bed, while Eden thoughtfully hands her a glass of water.

Mom looks at Eden beside her and affectionately strokes her head, “Good girl. Thank goodness I still have you.”

The next second, her phone suddenly rings. The caller ID shows Beta.

Mom answers.

“Luna!”

The Beta’s panicked voice comes through the phone.

“Aria has been in a car accident! She’s being treated here at the pack Hospital!”

“Where are you?”

At the same time, all four phones in the hospital room vibrate.

The four of them instinctively look down.

The moment they see the two messages in the family group chat, their pupils suddenly contract.