Underwater: The Silent Luna novel Chapter 148

Chapter 148

Because even with the wheelchair, even with the bitterness, even with the years gone, she still wanted him.

That was what made it all so messy. Ethan was not as simple as he used to be. The idea of him had stayed warm in her mind for a long time, stuck there in a shape memory made softer and easier to hunger for. But now that she had returned and stood close enough to the reality of him again, she could see he would be more complicated than she expected. There was more resistance there now. More structure around him. More hardness. Even Joseph’s threat had shown her that clearly. The family was guarding Ethan in a way she had not fully anticipated, and Ethan himself was no longer the same easy wound she could step back into and own.

That bothered her.

It also challenged her.

And Cynthia, for all her flaws, had never been a woman who took challenge lightly.

She had answered Joseph’s summons that morning partly because she wanted to size him up. To see what sort of man he was beneath the calm face and Alpha tone. To understand how much of him was bark and how much was bite. What she found had unsettled her more than she liked to admit. Joseph was not Ethan. Not at all. Ethan had always held hurt in a way a woman could work around if she knew where to touch. Joseph was cleaner than that. Harsher. Less sentimental. Hard to mislead once he had decided what he thought of you. Cynthia understood now that getting through Joseph would require more precision than she had planned.

And still, the thought nagged her.

How had Ashley managed it?

That, more than once, passed through her mind with genuine disbelief. How had someone as silly and transparent as Ashley gotten into Joseph’s life deeply enough to stand there claiming importance? It irritated Cynthia in a way she could not explain. Ashley was not subtle. Not bright enough to be subtle. Not smooth enough to truly deceive anyone with sense. Cynthia had seen through her almost at once. So how had Joseph not? Or had he, and simply tolerated her for reasons of his own?

Maybe Cynthia had lost her touch.

The thought came and sat with her longer than she liked. Maybe the years had changed something. Maybe her time with Sabastien had dulled her. Made her less appealing. Less sharp. Less dangerous. There had been a time when she could walk into a room and know exactly how to bend the attention in it toward herself. There had been a time when men were easier to read, easier to shift with one look, one softness, one well-timed retreat. Now Joseph had looked at her and seen only threat and disgust. Not weakness. Not temptation. Not possibility. Just something to cast out if she crossed the wrong line.

The memory of it made her clench her jaw.

She had been sitting with all of that, going over every detail of the morning in her head, when her phone rang. The sound pulled her from her thoughts sharply. She got off the bed with irritation already rising because she did not feel like hearing from anybody. The day had been too ugly already. She glanced at the screen and frowned harder when she saw who it was.

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Chapter 148

Ashley.

Of course.

Cynthia was not happy to see the name, but she still answered. Useful people did not have to be likable. Ashley was irritating. dishonest, and weak, but she was still useful. Cynthia was not foolish enough to throw away usefulness just because she disliked the

package it came in. Ashley was, at present, the only eye Cynthia had in the house of the McClouds. That alone made her worth

tolerating.

So Cynthia smoothed her voice before answering.

“Hello.”

She tried to sound warm. Casual. Pleasant enough to keep the other woman easy. On the other end Ashley sounded excited, far too

bright for Cynthia’s mood.

“Hey, Cynthia. How about some Luna treatment today? I am going to the other side of town; care to join me?”

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Underwater: The Silent Luna