Where Moonlight Leads

After my half sister, Serena Hawke, transferred to Ashmere University, she bet me she could steal Damian Cross from me within a month. I dismissed her. From that day on, Damian became a permanent second-place finisher. The first time Serena beat him, he frowned and said, "One point. I only lost by one point." After that, he calculated their scores every day. Over meals, he muttered, "How did she solve it?" Before bed, he stared at the rankings and said, "I'll beat her next time." He praised her clear reasoning, quick reactions, and even her handwriting. In the laboratory, he chose the seat beside her and responded only to her during group discussions. When I asked him to see a movie with me, he waved me off. "Serena sent me a new problem. I need to work it out." His phone was full of screenshots of her notes. Her class schedule hung beside his bed. Even in his sleep, he murmured about surpassing her. I watched the attention that had once belonged entirely to me shift toward my sister, inch by inch. Then my birthday came. Damian never showed up. I called thirty-seven times. He rejected every call. When he finally answered, he lowered his voice. "Rena asked me to watch the game with her. Wait a little longer." He hung up, and Serena immediately sent me her location: the third-floor lounge at the arena. When I opened the door, her arms were wrapped around his neck. The thread I had held taut inside my chest for half a year finally snapped. All that remained was a deep, aching exhaustion that seeped into my bones. Damian reached toward me in panic. "Rowan..." I stepped back. Anyone who could be taken from me was no longer someone I wanted. Chapter 1 Rowan's POV The air went still. Damian instinctively moved Serena behind him and hurriedly straightened the collar their kiss had left twisted. My nails dug into my palms. "Rowan, listen to me..." He stepped forward, shielding Serena with his body. "This was my fault. I lost control. Blame me, not Rena." I gave a quiet laugh. "Rena?" His throat worked as his gaze slipped away, guilt flashing in his eyes. "Don't do this. Serena is... she's genuinely a good person. She's smart, hardworking, and has earned everything herself. Whatever happened between our parents wasn't her fault. Don't judge her for it." "Judge her?" I bit my lower lip until I tasted blood. "Damian, have you forgotten what you said?" One month earlier, on the day Serena transferred to Ashmere University, Damian had draped an arm around my shoulders and scoffed. "Your father's illegitimate daughter? Incredible. Don't worry. I avoid people like that on sight. I won't even look at her." He had lowered his head and brushed his cheek against my hair. "You're the only one in my heart. No one can take me from you." Later, when Serena tried to sit with us for a group assignment, Damian immediately gathered his books and moved to the back row. He wouldn't touch the papers she offered him. He pushed them back with the cap of his pen and whispered to me, "Stay away from her. Trouble follows people like that." Back then, I had tightened my hold on his hand and felt completely secure. Only thirty days later, Serena had become "a genuinely good person." My eyes burned. I tipped my head back and forced the tears down. "Damian." I stared at him, my nails cutting deeper into my skin. "Her mother had an affair with my father and helped destroy my mother. Now you're protecting her?" Damian froze for a beat, then frowned. "Rowan, stop being unreasonable. This is different." "Different?" A laugh escaped me even as the tears fell. I raised my hand and slapped Serena across the face. The crack rang through the room. Her head snapped to the side, but she said nothing. Damian's eyes reddened. He seized my wrist. "Rowan Hawke, have you lost your mind?" I twisted free and slapped him too. "And what about you? You're helping the other woman's daughter humiliate me." He didn't dodge. Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth, and his gaze turned cold. He released me, stepped back, and laughed through clenched teeth. "Rowan, your father is arranging a business marriage. He has only two daughters to offer: you and Serena." He wiped the blood from his lip and sneered. "The man is fifty-two. Marry him and you'll spend your life trapped with someone old enough to be your father. Keep acting like this, and I'll cancel our engagement right now and marry Serena instead." The pressure around my wrist vanished. I looked at his reddened eyes, and every bit of strength drained from my body. "Cancel it." His pupils tightened. "What did you say?" My mouth curved into a bitter smile. "You think threatening to marry her will frighten me?" I wiped my face. "Wonderful. Now I don't have to end the engagement myself." His lips parted, but Serena lightly tugged his sleeve from behind him. He immediately turned his head and murmured, "Don't be afraid." I backed up until the doorframe pressed into my shoulders. "Protect her all you like from now on." Then I turned and left. As the door closed, I heard Serena say softly, "My sister is angry." Damian answered, "This isn't your fault. I handled it badly." I leaned against the hallway wall, and the tears finally fell. Chapter 2 Late that night, I called my grandfather, Charles Watney — my mother's father. My voice was still hoarse when he answered. "Grandpa, I'm coming to see you in a few days." He paused, then broke into a delighted laugh. "Good. Good! I'll have your room prepared again." His voice softened. "Did someone hurt you? Come home, sweetheart. Whitmore Holdings will be yours one day. Your grandfather will stand behind you." I tightened my grip on the phone as tears returned, but warmth slowly spread through my chest. Someone was still waiting for me. Someone still treated me like a treasure. "Okay. I'm coming home." I sniffed. "And this time, I'm staying." The next day, I returned to Hawke Estate to pack. When I opened my bedroom door, Serena was wearing my silk pajamas. She stepped aside. My closet stood open, with her dresses filling half the space. My clothes and textbooks had been dumped onto the floor and kicked against the wall like trash. I rushed in and tore through the pile with shaking hands. It wasn't there. I couldn't find it anywhere. The brown wooden frame held the only photograph I had with my mother. "Where is the picture frame?" I turned toward Serena, my voice raw. She leaned against the door and answered innocently, "I don't know. The house staff cleaned the room." I reached for my phone. "Emergency dispatch? I need to report—" Pain shot through my wrist as the phone was snatched away. Damian twisted my arm behind my back while using his other arm to move Serena behind him. "Rowan, you've gone too far!" His jaw tightened. "Serena is a Hawke too. She has every right to live here." "You failed to take care of your own things. Why are you creating a scene?" He forced me down onto one knee, and it struck the sharp corner of a book. I searched the room with my eyes. The missing frame filled me with growing terror. "Where is it?" I looked up at him as tears struck the floor. "Damian, where is the picture of my mother?" He went still, and his grip loosened. He turned toward Serena. "Where is the frame? It had a photograph of her mother. Why did you touch it?" Serena's face went white. Her lips trembled. "I... I didn't. When the staff cleaned—" "Who gave you permission to move that?" Damian's voice dropped. "They may have mistaken it for garbage. It went into the collection bin downstairs, so the truck has probably taken it to the county landfill by now." Serena clutched the hem of her shirt, her voice fading with every word. I scrambled upright and ran. I heard Damian's footsteps following me down the stairs. But the moment I reached the front entrance, Serena gasped behind us. "Damian... my chest hurts..." His footsteps stopped. I looked back once. Damian stood at the top of the stairs, his body angled toward me while his face turned toward Serena. She leaned against the wall, so pale that the pain didn't look entirely feigned. He clenched his hands, conflict filling the eyes I knew so well. Then he turned around and went to support Serena. I ran in the direction the garbage truck had taken. Cold air tore through my throat. No footsteps followed me. Fine. I would find it alone. My mother was waiting for me to bring her home. ... The stench of the county landfill sank into my bones. I searched for an entire day and night until my nails split and blisters opened across my palms. Just before dawn, I pulled the wooden frame from beneath a heap of broken glass. I held it against my chest and started back. Rain caught me halfway home, leaving mud and water streaming from my clothes. Damian was sitting on the living room couch. Relief crossed his face when he saw me. He stood. "You're back—" "Don't come near me!" I walked straight toward the stairs. "Rowan!" He followed me two steps, his voice urgent. "Serena knows she made a mistake. She barely understood what was happening, and the staff threw the things away without asking her. She didn't know. Are you really going to punish her forever for something she didn't intend?" I stopped. Chapter 3 "She felt so guilty she cried until morning. She even made you soup to apologize. Can't you at least—" I turned, picked up the bowl, and poured it onto the floor in front of him. The dark liquid flowed over the toes of his shoes. Damian looked up sharply, his eyes bloodshot. "When did you become like this, Rowan? Cold, cruel, and completely without compassion." "This is my home." I gave him a faint smile. "Damian, get out." He stared at me, lips moving soundlessly, as if I had struck him. A cane cut through the air behind me. A heavy blow landed across my back, and pain burst through my bones. My father's voice came from above me. "Who gave you permission to speak to Damian that way? Get on your knees." I gritted my teeth and tried to rise, but a large hand pressed down on the back of my neck. My rain-soaked body shook with cold. I barely had enough strength left to form a fist. My father looked down at me. "Look at yourself. Covered in mud and behaving like a lunatic. Is that how a Hawke heiress carries herself? Serena has a hundred times more sense than you." I lay on the floor with the picture frame locked against my chest. "You're just as tiresome as your dead mother." His voice was ice. "No judgment. No restraint. All either of you knew how to do was cry and make scenes." The door opened. A woman slipped her arm through my father's and said gently, "Vincent, don't be so hard on the child." Vivian Cole looked down at me with false apology. "I could never compare to Rowan's mother. She came from an old family, while I'm nobody. Serena cannot compare to Rowan either. At least I understand that much." Damian frowned and suddenly said, "Don't belittle yourself. Serena is intelligent, considerate, and knows how to behave. That's more than can be said for people who only know how to cause trouble." I lay there feeling as if a hand had crushed my heart. Once, when I broke my father's vase, Damian had stepped in front of me and said, "I knocked it over." When Serena humiliated me in public, he had gripped my hand and challenged everyone around us. "I'll protect her exactly as she is. None of you get a vote." When relatives mocked me to my face, he had shielded me and smiled lazily. "I spoiled her. Take your complaints to me." Now he protected someone else and called me troublesome. "Get up." My father gave the order coldly. "Apologize to Serena. She is your sister. If you cannot show basic decency toward her, you do not deserve to call yourself a Hawke." I slowly lifted my head, a smile pulling at my mouth. "You cheated before your wedding and conned your way into Mom's family." I met his eyes and spoke each word clearly. "You were never worthy to stand beside her." The cane rose, and his open hand came down with it. My vision went black. Fire exploded across one side of my face, and my ears rang. Damian's hand lifted instinctively, then stopped before reaching me. "This is my fault. I never should have come here." Serena suddenly burst into tears. "I'm only an illegitimate daughter. Maybe I should die. I never belonged here, and everyone hates me..." She turned and ran from the room. Damian immediately chased her. "Rena, wait!" Silence settled over the living room. My father struck the floor with his cane. "Handle her according to the family rules." He looked at Vivian. "Stay and supervise. Teach her that Hawke Estate is not a place where she can do whatever she wants." Vivian answered softly, "Of course," and sat beside the couch. By the time the twentieth strike landed, I could no longer feel my legs. Blood from my back glued my clothes to my skin, and every movement tore the wounds open again. Fever blurred my thoughts into a thick haze. Through it, I saw my mother reaching toward me. Chapter 4 I crawled an inch toward her. Behind me, Vivian said calmly, "That's enough for today." She rose and smoothed her skirt. "There will be more rules tomorrow." My thoughts dissolved, and I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes, Damian was sitting beside the bed with a bowl in his hands. He scooped up a spoonful of medicine, blew on it, and held it to my lips. I stared at him, then swallowed without thinking. Bitterness spread across my tongue, followed by enough heat to tighten my throat. He sighed. "If you had listened from the start, none of this would have happened. You brought all this pain on yourself. Don't worry about the marriage arrangement. I'll step in and settle it." "I don't need you to." I turned my face away. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?" He set the bowl on the nightstand. "Without me, who do you have left?" I said nothing and stared at the ceiling. I was leaving tomorrow anyway. Grandpa would arrange everything. "Rowan." Damian frowned. "Are you still throwing a tantrum?" I rolled onto my side and turned my back to him. The movement pulled at the wounds across my back, but the pain felt strangely cleansing. After a long silence, he said, "I'm going to announce an engagement to Serena." My body went rigid. "Don't misunderstand. She's being pushed into a business match too, with a man nearly sixty. This is temporary. It will keep her safe. Everyone already knows you're my fiancee, so no one will dare touch you. Once I straighten this out in a few days, I'll come back for you." I slowly pushed myself upright against the bedframe. A scab split across my back, and I bit down against the pain. I turned to face him. My lips curved, but my eyes were cold. "Damian, take your precious Rena and get out." He shot to his feet. "You—" "Was I unclear?" I forced out every word. "Take her and leave." He stood there staring at me, emotions I could no longer read moving through his eyes. At last, he turned and walked away. ... Late that night, I stood at the window and watched Damian open a car door for Serena. My mouth twisted. Go. All of you. My bedroom door suddenly crashed open. Gordon Barrett loosened his tie and looked me over through narrowed eyes. I grabbed the brass fireplace poker beside the bed. "Get out." He laughed and took a step closer. I swung at him, but my arm abruptly lost its strength. My vision blurred, and my thoughts felt packed with cotton. The medicine Damian had fed me. Something had been in it. "Don't waste your energy." Gordon approached at an easy pace and reached for my face. "Damian doesn't want you, and your father promised you to me. They agreed to it together. Save your strength. Behave, and you'll live comfortably as my wife." Hatred exploded through my bones. I bit my tongue until the taste of blood sharpened my mind. When he lunged, I drove my knee between his legs. As he folded over, I snatched the lighter that had fallen from his pocket. The curtains caught immediately. Gordon cursed while clutching himself. I spun and ran through the open door. The house manager charged upstairs toward the fire, and I slipped past him into the night. I called my grandfather, my voice barely more than a rasp. "Grandpa, I'm behind Hawke Estate..." "Hold on, sweetheart. I'm sending someone now." I collapsed in the grass as consciousness began slipping away. Through my blurred vision, I saw one figure running toward me against the light.