The True Luna's Forbidden Temptation - Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Analise.
“Our insurance doesn’t cover this type of facility,” Tyler says. “I am not going to pay for this! What the hell were you thinking spending so much on a hotel room that we could not afford?”
Obviously, he’s upset. I know that Tyler can be stingy. He’s probably thinking that I’m staying in this luxurious hospital room at his expense.
He heaves a frustrated sigh. “You don’t show up for work. You fail to submit what you’re asked to submit. You deliberately refused to follow my orders, and passed on your responsibility to a coworker. And now, you spend my money on a hospital suite? Just because you had a dizzy spell?” He looks at me as if it’s the first time he’s seeing me. “I don’t know who you are anymore.”
I stare at Tyler, unable to believe what I’m hearing from him. I begin to wonder if this is still the same man I married, the same man I gave up everything for.
“Sir, with all due respect,” the nurse interrupts. “This suite and all her medical expenses have been paid for already.”
Tyler freezes, his eyes narrowing as the nurse's words sink in. The atmosphere in the room shifts, thickens with tension as his gaze lands on me again, disbelief looming behind his gaze. My heart pounds loudly inside my ribcage as I watch his reaction.
"Already paid for?" His voice is laced with surprise and suspicion. "By whom?"
The nurse glances between us, sensing the sudden voltage in the air. "I should give you two some privacy," she murmurs, slipping out the door with practiced efficiency.
Tyler doesn't wait for her to fully exit before turning back to me. "Well? Who paid for this?" He gestures broadly at the luxury surrounding us. It might have been out of the ordinary for Tyler, but this is something I grew up to. This is the life I left so I could be with him.
I swallow hard, my throat still uncomfortably dry. "My brother," I say, the words feeling strange on my tongue.
His eyebrows shoot up, then furrow. "Your brother?" A bitter laugh escapes him. "That's weird. I know you don’t have a brother.”
"Stepbrother," I correct myself.
"A stepbrother." He repeats the words slowly, testing them for lies. "In all our years together, you've never once mentioned a stepbrother. Not once."
I look down at my hands, at the IV still taped to my skin. "We're... estranged."
"Estranged," he echoes, pacing now, his expensive shoes clicking against the marble floor. "How convenient. And this estranged stepbrother just happened to be there when you fainted? Just happened to have enough money to pay for the most expensive suite in the best hospital in the city?"
"Well, I wasn’t expecting that, too. He—”
"If you really have family," he cuts me off, his voice rising with each word, "especially family with this kind of money, why the hell have I never met them? Why have you been working two jobs? Why did you struggle to pay your university fees? Why were you living in that small apartment when I met you?"
Each question hits me like a slap. The monitor beside me beeps faster. His questions just remind me how difficult life had been since I left home.
"You told me you were alone in the world," he continues relentlessly. "You said your father disowned you. You never mentioned any siblings, step or otherwise."
I look up at him, studying his face—the face I've woken up next to for years now. Something inside me shifts. I wonder how he will react when he finds out just exactly who he is married to.
"Let me ask you something, Tyler," I say, my voice soft. "Just hypothetically. How would you react if I told you I was actually a secret heiress? That I was banished by my rich father because I refused to marry the man he wanted me to marry? That I walked away from wealth and privilege because I wanted to forge my own destiny?”
He stops pacing. His eyes lock onto mine, searching, calculating. The silence stretches between us for a few seconds. For a moment—just a moment—I see something raw in his expression, something naked and revealing.
And then he laughs.
It starts as a chuckle, builds into a full-blown laughter that bounces off the walls of the luxury suite. He laughs as if I've told the funniest joke he's heard all year, as if the very idea is so absurd it can only be met with hilarity.
"You?" he says between laughs, wiping at his eyes. "A secret heiress? Jesus, Analise. I didn't know you had such a wild imagination.”
The laughter continues for a few more seconds before tapering off. He shakes his head, all amusement draining from his face, replaced with something colder.
"Look," he says, reaching into my bag for my wallet. He removes a black credit card—the company card—and holds it up. "I'm taking this back. Clearly, you can't be trusted with company finances if you're going to spin fairy tales about secret fortunes and mysterious rich relatives."
"I didn't use the company card," I say, my voice flat. "I told you, my stepbrother paid for everything."
"Right. Your stepbrother." He tucks the card away. "When can you come back to the office? You seem well enough to me."
His dismissal of my health stings, but I keep my face neutral. "I'm taking my leave as stated in the email. Pia can handle the Symphony series."
Tyler's jaw tightens visibly. "You're the senior design manager. This is your responsibility."
"That was before you hired Pia," I counter, feeling a strange, liberating feeling enveloping me. "Now, as VP, this falls under her responsibilities. Isn't that why you chose her as VP instead of promoting me? So she would take over these challenges?”
His eyes narrow to slits. "Okay. I get it. You’re acting like an ordinary employee, instead of the wife of the CEO.”
“You act as if being the wife of the CEO came with perks,” I snort.
Well, it is true. As his wife, I've made just as many sacrifices as he has.
“Alright. I won’t give you any special treatment.” He straightens his tie with quick, agitated movements. "You want to act like just another employee? Fine. I'll be just your boss."
I cannot believe this man. Did he start treating me like this because he thought I could not give him a child? Then perhaps he will change his attitude when he learns that I’m pregnant.
My hand moves instinctively to my stomach, and the words rise to my lips. "Tyler, there's something else you should know. I'm—"
But he's already turning away, striding toward the door, ignoring me. "I have a meeting with SB Capitals in an hour. I need to smooth things over since my Senior Designer decided to abandon her responsibilities."
"Tyler, wait—"
The door closes behind him with a soft click that somehow feels more like a slam.
I stare at the closed door, tears welling up hot and fast. The first sob catches me by surprise, wrenching from my chest with unexpected force. Then another. And another, until I'm crying openly, letting all the tears fall.
The nurse returns, her face softening with sympathy. She hands me a tissue box from the bedside table. "Try not to stress too much," she says gently. "It's not good for you and the baby.”
I nod, unable to speak, pressing the tissue against my eyes.
"Would you like me to call someone for you?" she asks. "Your stepbrother, perhaps? Do you have his number?"
I look up at her, hope flickering briefly. "Did he come back? After yesterday?"
She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. He hasn't returned since he left."
Of course. Sebastian disappeared from my life years ago, and that was clearly his intention. He came because I needed immediate help—a life-or-death situation. But that's it. He won't return, won't check on me, won't suddenly reappear in my life with explanations and apologies.
"He won't come back," I say aloud, the realization solidifying like ice in my veins. "Not unless I'm dying."
The nurse squeezes my shoulder gently. "I'm sure he cares. He went to great lengths to ensure you received the best care."
I nod, not having the energy to explain the complexity of my relationship with Sebastian.
How do I explain a connection that was both everything and nothing?
How do I describe someone who was both a protector and a ghost?
Instead, I let the tears come, mourning not just Sebastian's absence, but the death of something else—the illusion that my husband still loves me the way he used to.
The hospital discharges me around sunset. I clutch my small bag, my phone pressed to my ear as Tyler's voicemail greeting plays for the fifth time in thirty minutes.
"Tyler, I'm being discharged. Please call me back. I need a ride home." I hang up, knowing it's futile. He's punishing me with his silence.
After another half an hour, I decide to take a cab home.
As soon as I enter the house, the sound of soft music, and the smell of food greets me. The house feels different. It pulses with an energy that feels foreign. I hear voices coming from the dining room.
I realize that he’s ignoring my calls because he’s hosting a dinner party.
‘Seriously?’
I step into the dining room, and the conversation instantly dies.
Three faces turn toward me. Tyler sits at the head of the table, fork paused halfway to his mouth. Beside him, his sister, Tanya, stares with poorly disguised contempt. Vivian, my mother-in-law, wears a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
They have a guest. A woman with sleek, dark hair pulled into a perfect chignon, who doesn’t even turn around to look at me.
"Analise," Tyler says, his voice uneasy, as if I caught him doing something he isn’t supposed to do. "I didn’t know you’d be home tonight.”
I ignore her, focusing on Tyler. "I tried calling you."
He dabs his lips with a napkin, unhurried. "I didn’t have my phone with me. Besides, I was busy preparing for our guest." He clears his throat. "Well, you're here now. We've just started dinner." He gestures to the empty chair across from the unknown guest. "Join us. We just recently discovered a… family connection we never knew about.”
I raise a brow at him.
“Turns out we have a cousin we never knew about.”
“Cousin?” I echo.
"Distant cousins, really," he continues. "On my mother's side. Isn't that right, Mother?"
Vivian nods enthusiastically. "Yes, once I saw the resemblance, I simply had to trace the family tree. The connections were there all along."
My skin prickles with unease.
Tyler turns to the woman whose face I still cannot see. "Perhaps you recognize her. She is quite popular, after all. Analise, say hello to our cousin."
The woman turns, and time seems to stop.
Familiar green eyes meet mine. The same face that stared down at me from the LED screen outside Luxe Emerald. The face that belongs to the woman who tormented me when I was living with her in my father’s house.
Lorraine McGregor. My stepsister.