Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Luca’s POV
The next morning, my blissful sleep—perhaps the most peaceful I’d had in years—was cut short by the buzz of my phone.
Irritated, I reached for it and hit the answer button. “What, Charles?” My voice was still thick with sleep.
“Luca, you wouldn’t believe this, but…your mother is back.”
And just like that, any trace of sleep vanished from my eyes.
Your mother is back.
The words wouldn’t stop echoing in my head, no matter how much I tried to shut them out.
I told myself I didn’t care. She was dead to me—and had been for twenty-one years. Still, I wondered. Why now? Why suddenly crawl out from whatever hole she’d been hiding in?
It didn’t matter. She was a ghost, and that’s all she’d ever be to me. And I refused to be bothered by the presence of a ghost.
The soft sound of Leila shifting against me pulled me out of the spiral. I dropped my phone on the nightstand and turned toward the sight that had once been the best part of every morning.
Five years ago, waking up to her was a privilege I never took for granted. How she would lie sprawled across my sheets, blonde hair a wild halo across the pillows in a mess I’d made from fisting it while she screamed my name. Naked.
Beautiful didn’t begin to cover it.
One look at her and my cock was already straining, my wolf clawing at the edges, urging me to take her again. To claim what was ours.
I leaned in, pressing my lips to her temple. She let out a sleepy moan that went straight to my gut.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, my lips drifting lower. “Did I wake you?”
She chuckled, her voice thick with sleep. “You know you did.”
The blanket became an unnecessary obstacle. I pulled it away and covered the soft peak of her right nipple without hesitation. Leila gasped, threading her fingers into my hair as a low moan escaped her lips.
I bit down lightly, sucking before rolling the sensitive bud between my teeth. My free hand teased her other nipple, circling it until her breath caught.
“Luca…” Her voice was barely a whisper, but it carried that edge I knew too well—half plea, half surrender.
I switched sides, giving her left breast the same attention while my hand slid lower, between her thighs.
To her already wet pussy. Dripping for me.
“Fuck, Leila,” I growled, the sound rumbling from deep in my chest.
But that moment was interrupted by the buzzing of my phone. Yet again. Fury slammed into me. I lifted my eyes to see the caller ID. Charles.
Pressing a finger to my lips, I commanded her silence as my other hand continued working her pussy, slow and deliberate. Then I answered without looking away from her. “Charles, I’ll fire your ass if this isn’t important.”
Her breath hitched when I slid two fingers deep into her. She clamped a hand over her mouth, but the sound of her slick wetness still filled the room. I was sure Charles heard, but he didn’t dare say anything.
“Board members just called an emergency meeting,” he said.
“What time?” I asked, curling my fingers inside her, drawing another muffled moan.
“Now.”
“Now?” I dragged the phone from my ear long enough to glance at the clock. Nine-twenty a.m.
Shit.
She was close—too close. I could feel her pussy walls tightening around my finger, her breath hitching.
“But before that,” Charles’s voice grated through the phone, “your father and Alpha Moreau are here.”
“Get me a suit. And that document from legal,” I said, my tone clipped. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
I ended the call and slowly withdrew my fingers from Leila’s pussy. She almost cried at the loss, her hips instinctively chasing the contact.
“Luca…” she whined, teetering on the edge I’d just denied her.
I smirked. “Now you have something to look forward to.”
She threw her head back with a groan while I pressed my lips to her neck, savoring her frustration.
“I’d love nothing more than to stay in bed with you all day,” I murmured against her skin, “but I’ve got some damage control to handle.”
When I pulled back, the look on her face made my jaw tighten—guilt, faint but unmistakable.
“Don’t, Leila,” I chided, my voice firm. “This was my decision. I knew there’d be repercussions. But don’t, for one second, think this is your fault. Understand?”
She nodded, though there was something in her eyes—something she was holding back.
“What, Leila?” I pressed.
“I overheard your phone call with Charles.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I imagine my father’s losing his mind right now.”
“Not about the board meeting,” she said quietly. “About your mother.”
I sighed and let myself fall back against the bed, eyes tracing the ceiling. I hadn’t even begun to consider that mess. But one thing was certain—I wasn’t going to deal with her today. I already had enough on my plate.
I turned my head toward Leila. “I don’t know. She was a ghost until today, and she’s going to stay that way.”
Her lips curved into a small, almost hesitant smile, but she said nothing. And for that, I was grateful.
Leaning in, I brushed my mouth against her cheek. “Next time, my place?”
She chuckled. “We’ll see about that.”
By the time I arrived at Vaughn Industries, the whole place was buzzing. News of me calling off the wedding was everywhere, and the evidence was plastered across the reception’s display screen.
The volume was muted, but the headline was bold enough to punch me in the face. Luca Vaughn, Alpha Heir of Manhattan Pack, Calls Off Wedding to The Bronx Princess, Elena Moreau.
My gaze shifted from the TV to Jasmine, and the scowl on my face told her all she needed to know.
She muttered an apology, fear flickering across her features as she scrambled for the remote. She switched to another channel, but nearly all of them were running the same story. Defeated, she turned the TV off entirely.
Charles strode into the lobby with a garment bag in one hand and a brown folder in the other.
“Here’s your suit, and the documents from legal.”
Weeks ago, I’d told Charles to have Legal draft a contract for the Moreau deal that wasn’t tied to my marriage to his daughter. A part of me had always known—since the moment I set eyes on Leila again—that I wouldn’t go through with the wedding. Not when my Mate was right there.
It might have taken weeks to get here, but this felt like the best decision I could have made.
Shame it came with a hell of a lot of damage control—because the fallout was already hitting, and I was about to take the full force of it.
“Is my father here already?” I asked, taking the brown folder from Charles as we headed toward the elevator.
“He’s here—and he’s seething,” Charles replied. “I’ve seen him angry plenty of times. Mad, even. But this? This trumps it, Luca. He’s beyond enraged.”
I chuckled. “I’d be worried if he wasn’t.”
Charles’s tone shifted, becoming more measured. “Is it worth it though, Luca? Is she worth it? I mean, it’s the same woman who stole—”
“She didn’t.” My voice came out rough as I cut him off. “I was wrong. We were all wrong about Leila. She could never have done what she was accused of.”
Charles lowered his eyes. “But the evidence—the photos—”
“Are fake. All of them. I can’t explain right now—Grant’s working on it.
But I know one thing: Leila is innocent.
Somebody set her up, and they succeeded.
Once I find out who that son of a bitch is—the one who robbed me of five good years with Leila, with my son—I’ll tear them apart. Limb from limb.”
The elevator dinged, and we stepped out.
“Pay off the media to shut up about this,” I told Charles as I headed for my office. “And let my father know I’ll be joining them soon.”
I got changed into the suit Charles had brought for me in my office bathroom and headed to the conference room.
Inside were Alpha Sterling Moreau, my father, and Victor.
Two-thirds of that party were seething. I could feel the weight of their anger before I even crossed the threshold.
Victor, on the other hand, lounged back with a smug tilt to his mouth, like he’d already won something.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting—”
“Don’t waste your breath,” Alpha Moreau cut in, voice dripping with venom. “You really thought you could humiliate my daughter in public and still walk in here to talk to my face?”
My jaw tightened, but I kept my tone even. “I came to have a civil conversation—”
“Civil?” Alpha Moreau barked, surging up from his seat so fast the chair screeched against the floor. “You have the gall to stand there and talk about civility after what you pulled?”
I gripped the edge of the table, grounding myself. “If you’re going to throw words around like a drunken brawler, Sterling, I suggest you get the hell out of my company.”
His nostrils flared, rage flaring in his eyes before he turned to my father for backup. My father didn’t so much as blink in his direction.
I stepped forward, sliding a folder onto the table. “I had Legal draft out a new contract—something that could sustain our deal. Let’s be honest, it benefits both our packs massively. Walking away would be foolish.”
I pushed the contract toward him. “And I’ve stepped up our offer. In addition to the original terms, I’m adding—”
He didn’t so much as glance at it. “You humiliated my family,” he growled. “My daughter is afraid to step outside because of you.”
“No one’s going to offer you what I’m offering,” I said evenly.
He slammed a hand on the table. “To hell with your offer, Vaughn! You think money fixes this? My daughter hasn’t stopped crying since the night you threw her aside like she was nothing.”
“Would you rather she stayed in a loveless marriage?” I shot back. He froze, shock flickering over his face before it twisted into deeper fury.
I let out a dry, humorless laugh. “You knew I wasn’t in love with her. You were just using her to leverage the best deal out of LUNA-tech. Now I’m offering something better.”