187 Curtain Call For A Queen

Mara

What we walked into was… a lot.

Martha stood in the hallway wearing a ck silk robe-untied, gaping open to reveal lingerie that left nothing to the imagination. Thece clung to her curves, deliberate and desperate. Darian stepped forward to help her tie the robe shut, but the damage was already done.

We’d seen it all.

Say what you want about Martha-she knew how to use what she had. But the fact Vander hadn’t caved said everything. The man was finished. She’d yed her final card, and it flopped.

“Darian, tell your mother to move to the seventh room down the hall,” Vander said, his voice t and exhausted. His shirt was rumpled, buttons misaligned. I didn’t want to guess what exactly had happened in that room-but whatever it was, Vander had rejected her.

“No!” Martha cried, reaching for him. “We can talk this out, Vander. Please.”

He didn’t even look at her.

“I wanted you out of my life,” he said. “Lucian asked me to reconsider. That’s the only reason you’re still here. Go to the seventh room. I would’ve sent you to the left wing, but you’d only stir up trouble with my children.”

I should’ve walked away. It would’ve been the decent thing to do. But I stayed. She’d earned every bit of this public unravelling.

“I’ve done nothing wrong,” she said through tears. “I never cheated on you. I loved you for so many years-before you even saw me. I loved Lucian, too. From the moment I saw him, I-”

“If you truly loved me,” Vander interrupted, “you would’ve loved my son. You would’ve told me the truth.”

Her face twisted, and she shook her head.

“I tried, Vander. But I couldn’t win. I was never enough. Competing with a ghost for your heart ruined me. I watched you call her name in your sleep. I felt it when you touched me-like you were somewhere else with her. How was I supposed to live with that?”

“You weren’t supposed to lie and poison my son against me,” he said sharply.

“I wasn’t Natasha!” she snapped, tears streaming down her cheeks. “She was everything. Educated. Sophisticated. An Alpha of Driftwake. And me? I’m just a street girl from Goldenpeak you helped out. You gave me shelter, and then you handed me a mirror I couldn’tpete with.”

She took a breath, shaky and bitter.

“So yes, Vander. I have aplex. You gave it to me. And now you want to throw me away like I never mattered.”

Her voice broke, and for the first time, I didn’t hear venom-I heard emptiness.

But it was toote for sympathy. The truth she’d buried for decades was finally choking her, and there was no one left to save her from herself.

“I do not want you around me anymore, Martha, Vander said coldly, his voice stripped of warmth. “Look at my home-it’s a mess. My children left because of you. Lucian. Darian. Their mates. Everyone. And why? Because you turned this house into a battlefield.”

Martha shook her head, mouth trembling, but Vander didn’t stop.

“Breakfast was sacred to this family. It’s where we connected, where generations of Nighthorns built unity. You turned it into a warzone. You used it to humiliate, to stir tension, to cut down anyone you didn’t like. That ends now. Once Darian is

married, you’re out.”

“Please, Vander. Please,” she begged, but he let out a bitter, hollowugh.

“You really thought you could screw your way out of this?” His tone sliced through the hallway.

Her face crumpled.

“That’s all I know how to do, Vander,” she whispered. “You told me that once. That it was all I was good for.”

She didn’t wipe the tears now. She let them fall.

“Twenty-three years,” she went on. “I stayed through your grief. Through your cold silences. Through your moods. I was

your nanny before I was your wife. I told you I wasn’t cut out for motherhood, but you said Lucian needed a mother. Then

you gave me no room to actually be one.”

They stared at each other-two people with too much history and not enough love between them.

“ric told me I was nothing. Just a street girl. That you’d dump me eventually. And now…” she trailed off. “I guess he was

right.”

Sheughed bitterly.

“Natasha still wins, doesn’t she? Even dead, she wins. You’d never throw her out. But me? I’m receable. Disposable.

Once I’m gone, the women will line up again-just like I once did.”

“Martha,” Vander said sharply, “go to the seventh room. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

She started tough-quiet at first, then louder. Unhinged.

“I’ve always been an embarrassment, Vander. Since day one. You never loved me enough to protect me from that. You

never shielded me. Not from your son. Not from your grief. Not even from myself.”

“Enough, Martha.” Vander’s voice was low but thunderous. “I’ve had it.”

She flinched. He didn’t shout. He didn’t need to.

“Don’t lecture me about my feelings. I didn’t have to marry you. I chose to, because somewhere along the line, I fell for

you. I gave you everything-my name, my home, my protection. I fought for you when no one else would. But you took my

love and weaponised it.”

Martha stood frozen, her lip trembling.

“You never cheated-fine. But you lied. You twisted truth into knots until I didn’t recognise my own family anymore. You

poisoned my rtionship with my son. You turned my home into a warzone. And through all that, I still tried to hold onto

you.”

He shook his head.

“You say I’m not over Natasha? How could I be, when you kept throwing fuel on the fire? I never had to defend myself with her. Never had to endure shame or public humiliation. Natasha brought me peace. You bring chaos. Still, I carried you.”

His words cracked like a whip.

“You ndered Lucian. You nearly destroyed his marriage. You fed lies to try and keep Tiffany close, all because you were afraid Northwood would cut you off. You promised that man his daughter would marry Darian and he’d get a slice of Steel Corp. You took his money. You made backroom deals behind my back-about mypany, my legacy. And I still looked

Martha covered her mouth with her hand, but Vander wasn’t done.

“You stole from Steel Corp. You conspired with Daniel Northwood to drain it dry. You’ve lied, manipted, bribed, and ckmailed. And you’re not in prison. Do you know why? Because I loved you. Blindly. Stupidly.”

He took a breath and straightened.

“That’s over now. Move to the seventh room. That’s as much of this house as you’ll ever see again.”

She broke down in tears, but he didn’t flinch.

“You better tell Darian the truth about ric-everything. Because Lucian and I? We’re done trying to help you. We have bigger problems than cleaning up your messes. No one’s going to pay off ric for you again.”

With that, Vander turned and walked away.

Martha stood in the hallway, shaking, eyes on Darian.

“Will you let him do this to me?” she pleaded.

Darian said nothing. He just turned and walked away.

Lucian took my hand, and we followed.

I nced back just once. She was still standing there, lost in the ruins she created.

This wasn’t the end. It felt too unfinished. There were still too many lies. Too many shadows clinging to the edges of this

family.

But for now, at least, one chapter had mmed shut.

Lucian

My father was serious. He wanted Martha gone.

And while I couldn’t me him, I couldn’t ignore the ache in my chest either. The man was too young to live alone. Too bound to a woman he no longer loved. As long as she lived, he couldn’t bond with anyone else. That was the curse of the mate link-it tethered you to someone, even when love was long dead.

Martha had wrecked everything. She thought seduction could patch the hole she tore through our lives. She dressed up ince and silk like it still held power. But her problem wasn’t in her looks-it was her poison personality. If her heart matched her face, my father would have hit the jackpot. Instead, he ended up with a woman who burned everything she touched.

I hoped she would finally give Darian the truth about ric. We needed to close that chapter before it swallowed us all.

Back in the room, I copsed onto the couch. Mara sat beside me, silent. There was nothing to celebrate. I’d wanted Martha gone for a long time-but not like this. Not with my father left picking up the pieces of twenty-three wasted years.

He was only letting her go because of me. Because of Darian. That truth sat heavy in my gut.

I wrapped an arm around Mara and held her close. She didn’t need to speak for me to hear her heart. I looked at her and wondered-if she ever became bitter, if sheshed out like Martha, would I let her go?

The answer was no. I’d take her away from it all before I ever gave her up. We’d disappear if we had to. Start again far from anyone who made her feel less than.

Martha said my father’s love for my mother broke her. Maybe it did. But she let the bitterness grow. Sheshed out at everyone but him, and now it was toote.

Mara shifted beside me. “Lucian, is everything alright?”

I ced my hand on her belly. Our future. Our peace.

“I don’t think it’s wise they separate. It’ll break them both,” I said.

She shifted in her seat, thoughtful. “What do you want him to do? Stay and be miserable? Keep living in a cage of guilt?”

“If Martha gives up ric and helps us end this, maybe they could get away for a while. Let us handle everything. Maybe they can start over.” I suggested.

Mara shook her head gently. “Your father’s done, Lucian. He’s been done for a long time. He just didn’t know how to walk away.”

She looked at me with clear eyes. “If she loved him like she says, she would’ve done everything she could to make him happy-even if that meant letting go of her pride. But she didn’t. She won’t even give us ric. She’s still holding on to

secrets.”

I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. She was right. Still, it hurt.

“I’d settle for a temporary separation,” I said, voice low. “Let them breathe. Let them miss each other. But this… permanent exile? It feels final.”

Mara leaned her head on my shoulder. “Some things need to end so better things can begin.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed that. But right now, I just needed to hold on to her. Everything else could wait.

Mara’s phone rang. She answered, murmured a few words, then turned to face me.