Chapter 43 Marcus's Suspicion

Chapter 43 Marcus's Suspicion
Luna's POV
I stood in the kitchen at dawn holding my phone and debating whether to call Marcus back.
Part of me wanted to let him suffer in ignorance, wanted him to feel the same betrayal and confusion I'd felt finding him with Sarah in our bed five years ago.
But another part, the part that remembered loving him once before everything went wrong, felt sick thinking about him being used so completely without knowing it.
Damien was already up making coffee, giving me space to think but staying close enough if I needed him.
"I'm going to call him back," I said.
Damien nodded without arguing. "Do you want privacy?"
"No. You'll hear it anyway with your supernatural hearing so you might as well stay."
I hit redial on Marcus's number before I could change my mind.
He answered on the first ring, his voice rough like he hadn't slept. "Luna. Finally."
"You said something was wrong with Sarah's pregnancy."
"Cut the games. Do you know something?" His usual arrogance was gone, replaced by something that sounded like real fear. "The doctors are running tests and they won't tell me results. Sarah keeps lying about appointments and gets hostile when I ask questions."
I stayed quiet, letting him talk.
"Her scent changed," he continued. "I thought it was just pregnancy hormones but it's more than that. She doesn't smell like my mate anymore. And the baby..." He stopped, took a breath. "My wolf doesn't recognize the pregnancy as mine. The pack bonds that should be forming aren't there."
My chest tightened listening to him unravel in real time.
"How long have you suspected?" I asked.
"Weeks maybe. But I kept telling myself I was being paranoid." His voice cracked. "Luna, what's happening? Do you know? Please, if you know something, tell me."
I'd never heard Marcus sound this desperate, this scared, this vulnerable.
He was a narcissist and a coward and he'd destroyed our marriage with his cruelty, but he was also being used as completely as I'd been used.
Vivienne had found his weaknesses and exploited them perfectly.
"I can't tell you over the phone," I said finally. "Meet me tomorrow. Alone. Don't tell Sarah you're coming and don't bring anyone from your pack."
"Why? What's going on?"
"I'll explain everything when I see you. But Marcus, you need to trust me completely on this." I paused. "Can you do that?"
He was quiet for a long moment. "You really know what's wrong?"
"Yes."
"And it's bad?"
"Yes."
Another pause. "Okay. Where and when?"
"I'll text you the location. Come alone or I won't tell you anything." I hung up before he could ask more questions.
Damien handed me a coffee cup. "That was kind of you."
"Was it? I'm about to destroy whatever's left of his world."
"You're giving him truth instead of letting him stumble around in manipulation." He leaned against the counter. "Most people wouldn't show that compassion to someone who hurt them the way he hurt you."
"He's still Theo's father. And he's being used just like I was." I took a drink of coffee. "Vivienne played us both."
"She played him worse. At least you recognized the attacks eventually. Marcus still thinks Sarah loves him."
I thought about that, about Marcus believing he'd found someone better than me, someone stronger and more worthy of an Alpha.
The whole thing had been a lie from the beginning.
Sarah never loved him, never wanted his pack, never cared about Theo beyond using him as a weapon against me.
"When are you meeting him?" Damien asked.
"Tomorrow afternoon. Neutral location." I looked at him. "You're not going to try to stop me?"
"Why would I?"
"Because he's my ex-husband who made my life hell for years."
"And you're choosing to help him anyway." Damien's expression was unreadable. "That shows strength, not weakness. It's one of the things that makes you different."
"Different how?"
"Most people in your position would want revenge. Would enjoy watching Marcus suffer." He moved closer. "But you're thinking about Theo growing up without a father if Marcus does something stupid when he learns the truth. You're thinking about the bigger picture."
"Or I'm being weak again. Letting someone who hurt me back into my life."
"No." His voice was firm. "Weakness is avoiding hard conversations. Strength is facing them even when it hurts." He paused. "You'd make a good Lycan Queen, though you don't see it yet."
The comment caught me off guard. "I'm not trying to be anyone's queen."
"I know. That's what makes you qualified." He took his coffee and left the kitchen, giving me space to think.
I stood there processing everything, from Theo's prophetic dream to Vivienne's trap to Marcus's desperate phone calls.
Everything was moving too fast and I felt like I was constantly reacting instead of planning.
The doorbell rang at noon.
Catherine answered it, then brought me a package that had been delivered to the penthouse address.
"Who's it from?" I asked.
"No return address. But it passed security screening."
I opened it carefully and found expensive tissue paper wrapped around something soft.
A baby blanket.
Cream colored and luxurious, probably cashmere or something equally expensive. It had Theo's initials monogrammed in the corner in elegant script.
My hands went numb holding it.
There was a card tucked inside. I pulled it out with shaking fingers.
The handwriting was familiar from Vivienne's previous note, elegant and precise.
For when you need to remember what you're really fighting for.
V
I dropped the blanket like it burned.
Damien appeared immediately, alerted by my reaction. "What is it?"
I showed him the card and the blanket.
His eyes went pure gold and the air in the room felt electric with his rage. "She sent this to my address."
"She knows where Theo is." My voice came out hollow. "She knows he's here, knows he's sleeping two floors down, knows exactly where to find him."
The implications crashed over me like ice water.
Vivienne wasn't just attacking my career or my relationship with Damien or even just me personally.
She was making it clear that Theo was a target too, that she could reach him whenever she wanted, that nothing was off limits in her campaign to destroy me.
The baby blanket with his initials was a message.
She knew where m
y son was and there was nothing I could do to keep him completely safe.