Chapter 21: Confrontation

Luna stood by the large window of Killian's office, arms crossed, her body rigid with the emotions she was struggling to contain. The city skyline stretched before her, but she barely saw it. Her mind was trapped in the moment, replaying Elijah's accusations over and over.

She turned sharply. "You didn't correct him."

Killian, who had been standing behind his desk, looking at a document but clearly not reading it, lifted his gaze to hers. "What are you talking about?"

Luna took a step forward, her heels clicking sharply against the polished marble floor, each step deliberate, fueled by a growing sense of injustice. "Elijah," she said, her voice laced with a dangerous calm, her eyes flashing with a mix of anger and betrayal. "He thinks I married you for your money, Killian's money. That I used you, that I manipulated you for my own gain. And you just let him believe it. I mean, that is true, right? This marriage is, at its core, a business transaction, an arrangement driven by money. I get that. I don't get to be mad about his assumptions about my purpose here, I understand the nature of our agreement. But for him to think I left you, that I abandoned you after all these years, that I'm the one who caused all the pain?"

Killian exhaled sharply through his nose, a sign of his growing agitation, setting the papers he was holding down on the desk with a decisive thud. "It doesn't matter what Elijah thinks, Luna. His opinions are irrelevant," he stated, his voice firm, but with a hint of defensiveness.

Her eyes flashed with frustration, her composure cracking under the weight of his indifference. "It matters to me, Killian! It matters a great deal! I spent years picking up the broken pieces of myself, trying to rebuild my life, trying to heal after you walked away, after you left me without a word, and now I have to stand there, in your company, and be treated like some opportunistic gold-digger, some heartless manipulator? You let him believe that I was the one who destroyed us, that I was the villain in our story," she accused, her voice rising with each word.

Killian's jaw tightened, the muscles in his face clenching, his fingers curling into a fist at his side, a clear indication of his own inner turmoil. "What was I supposed to say, Luna? That I left because I was afraid? That I ran because you were the only person who ever made me feel something real, something intense, something that terrified me? That I was too weak to handle the depth of my feelings for you?" he countered, his voice low and strained, his gaze locked with hers.

Luna sucked in a sharp breath, her chest heaving, the air thick with unspoken words and unresolved emotions. "Yes, Killian. Because that's the truth, isn't it? That's the real reason you left," Her voice wavered, betraying a hint of the vulnerability she tried so hard to conceal, but she held his gaze, refusing to back down. "You didn't fight for me, Killian. You didn't even try. You left without a word, disappearing from my life as if I was nothing to you. And now, after all these years of silence, after all the pain and confusion, you let your best friend, someone you trust implicitly, think it was me who walked away, that I was the one who betrayed you?"

Killian didn't speak for a long moment. He turned away, running a hand through his hair, as if the weight of her words pressed against him. "It's not that simple."

Luna laughed bitterly. "It is that simple, Killian. You made a choice. And the least you can do is own up to it."

He turned back to her, his expression unreadable. "Elijah has been with me through everything. He watched me shut myself off after you were gone. I didn't want to relive it by explaining."

Luna shook her head, incredulous. "So you let him hate me instead? You let him think I was the villain?"

A muscle in Killian's jaw twitched. "I never asked him to hate you."

"But you never stopped him either," she whispered, the anger in her voice now mixed with something more painful. "Do you know what that felt like? To be abandoned and then blamed for it?"

Killian took a slow step forward. "Luna—"

"No." She lifted a hand, stopping him. "You don't get to do that. Not after everything."

Silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating, a heavy blanket of unspoken accusations and unresolved pain. Killian's eyes held something she couldn't decipher, a complex mix of emotions swirling beneath the surface. Regret? Guilt? Something deeper, something more vulnerable?

Luna swallowed hard, blinking back the sting of tears, refusing to let them fall, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her break. She had promised herself she wouldn't let him affect her like this again, that she would remain detached, unaffected by his presence. But standing here, in his office, surrounded by the symbols of his power and success, with all their unspoken history hanging heavy between them, it was impossible to pretend that the wounds had fully healed, that the past had no hold on her.

Killian let out a slow breath, a sigh that seemed to carry the weight of his own regrets. "I'll talk to Elijah," he conceded, his voice low, his gaze still locked with hers.

Luna huffed out a bitter laugh, the sound devoid of any humor. "And what will you say, Killian? What version of the truth will you tell him? That you were a coward, that you ran from your feelings, that you left me because you were scared of the intensity of what we had?" she challenged, her voice laced with a bitter edge.

His gaze darkened, a flicker of anger or perhaps a flash of pain in their depths. "Yes"

That single word knocked the air from her lungs.

He stepped closer, his voice quieter now. "I should have told him the truth a long time ago. But I didn't know how to admit it to myself, let alone to anyone else."

Luna clenched her jaw, hating how much his words affected her. "And now?"

"Now?" His voice was raw, unguarded. "I can't change the past. But I won't let it keep hurting you."

She searched his face, looking for deception, for anything that might make this easier. But all she saw was honesty.

For the first time in years, Killian Blackwell was admitting his mistakes.

And for the first time, Luna didn't know what to do with it.