Chapter 47

Agnes

For a few moments, Olivia and the other women just stared up at me. I couldn’t tell if they were astonished by my sudden appearance or silently mocking me, but it didn’t take long for me to find out.

They laughed. Right in my face. Olivia’s laughter was the loudest.

My breath hitched, and for a moment, I just stood there utterly frozen with my fists balled up at my sides.

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself, Agnes,” Olivia said, her voice dripping with condescension. “Not everything is about you, you know. We were having a completely unrelated discussion.”

I blinked at her, stunned at how easily the lie slipped from her lips. “I heard you talking,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “You were clearly talking about me.”

She rolled her eyes and gestured vaguely toward the women surrounding her, all of whom looked between us with varying degrees of amusement. “You heard snippets of a conversation that you weren’t a part of and immediately assumed it was about you. Typical.”

“It was about me,” I insisted, my pulse pounding in my ears. “I heard you say that I was undeserving, unfit to be Elijah’s Luna.”

“I never said your name or Elijah’s name, though, did I?” she shot back, folding her slender arms. “Goddess, you really do think you’re the center of the universe, don’t you, Agnes?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but she wasn’t done.

“Honestly, you’re like some kind of spoiled princess,” she cut me off, laughing in my face again. “Everything has to revolve around Agnes. Poor, misunderstood Agnes. Why don’t you go back to playing in the pool and let the adults have their conversation?”

The women around her giggled, their laughter blending in with hers. It felt like high school all over again, when my sister and her gaggle of friends would mock me for every little thing I did. My chest tightened as the sting of humiliation spread like wildfire through me.

“I’m not imagining things,” I said, my voice shaking now. “I know you were talking about me.”

Olivia leaned forward slightly, her expression shifting into something almost pitying. “Then you’re just a paranoid freak.”

The laughter around her swelled, and my face burned. Every nerve in my body screamed at me to walk away, but my feet stayed rooted to the ground. I couldn’t leave, not like this.

“Agnes.”

Elijah’s voice, low and firm, broke through the noise. I turned toward him, relief washing over me even as my anger bubbled beneath the surface.

“What’s going on here?” he asked, his gaze moving from me to Olivia and back again.

Before I could answer him, Olivia straightened her posture, her expression instantly morphing into one of feigned innocence. “Nothing at all,” she said sweetly. “These lovely ladies and I were just having a little chat, but Agnes seems to think it’s all about her.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Elijah didn’t wait for an explanation. His hand closed gently around my arm, and he gave it a small tug.

“Let’s go,” he said, his voice soft but leaving no room for argument.

“Elijah—”

“Now, Agnes,” he said, his gaze sharpening slightly.

With no other choice but to obey, I let him lead me away, his hand never leaving my arm as we made our way back to the pool where Thea was playing. She looked up as we approached, her face squished beneath a pair of large swimming goggles.

“Daddy! Mommy! Look what I can do!” she called, splashing water into the air as she twirled in the shallow end.

Elijah crouched beside her, his voice warm as he said, “That’s amazing, sweetheart. But Mommy and I need to head back to the room for a bit, okay? How about we drop you off at the kids’ playroom so you can hang out with your new friends? We can come back to the pool later.”

Thea’s pout only lasted a moment before she nodded eagerly. “Okay!”

Once Thea was safely settled in the playroom, we returned to our hotel suite. By now, my buzz from the alcohol was beginning to wear off and the shame was setting in. The air inside the hotel room felt cold against my damp skin, and I shivered beneath my bathing suit coverup.

Elijah closed the door behind us and turned to face me with his hands on his hips.

“What happened out there?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, not meeting his gaze. “You saw what happened,” I muttered.

“I saw Olivia saying something, but I didn’t hear what started it. And you…” He trailed off, his brows furrowing. “You’re more upset than usual. And drunk.”

I flinched at the word, heat rising to my cheeks. “I’m not drunk,” I said defensively, even though I could still hear the slight slur in my words.

“Agnes,” he said, his tone softening ever so slightly. “Talk to me.”

I took a shaky breath, the frustration and humiliation from earlier crashing over me all at once. “Do you have any idea how hard this is for me?” I asked, my voice trembling.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

I gestured vaguely toward him, my hand shaking. “This. All of it. Being here with you, pretending to be your wife, when every time I look at you, I see that damn… mark.”

His brows furrowed further. “My mating mark?”

My face went hot, but I nodded stiffly. “Do you know what it feels like to have everyone look at me like I’m some kind of imposter?” I continued, my voice rising a little. “To have Olivia constantly reminding me of exactly where I stand? To have everyone rooting for you two like I’m just a fill-in? I’m your wife right now, Elijah. But it’s fake. And it’s humiliating.”

The room was silent for a long moment, the weight of my words hanging heavy in the air. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, whether he saw me as a drunken mess of a woman or if my words actually meant something to him.

Finally, Elijah let out a slow breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “Agnes,” he said quietly, “I think you’ve misunderstood something.”

My heart sank, but I forced myself to meet his gaze. “What are you talking about?”

“This arrangement,” he said. “It’s for Thea. That’s all it’s ever been. I thought you knew that.”

“I do know that,” I said quickly, my chest tightening.

“Do you?” he asked quietly. “Because the way you’re talking… It sounds like you think there’s more to this than there is.”

His words hit me like a punch to the gut, and I looked away, my hands trembling at my sides.

“I like you, Agnes,” he continued, his voice softening. “I respect you. I think you’re a wonderful mother to Thea. But this… whatever you’re feeling, it’s not real. We’re not in a… romantic relationship. We’re two adults in a partnership for the sake of a little girl we both care for deeply.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, but I blinked them away, refusing to let them fall. “I see,” I said, my voice hardly more than a whisper.

Elijah sighed and looked away. “I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I never meant to hurt you. But in the spirit of honesty, I think we should be on the same page about this.”

I nodded wordlessly, staring down at the carpet as I fought to keep my composure.

After a moment, he stepped toward the door. “I’ll give you some space,” he said quietly.

And then, just like that, he was gone.

The moment the door clicked shut behind him, the tears I had been holding back in his presence finally spilled over. I sank onto the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands as the sobs overtook me.