Plus Size Luna Obsession

Chapter10

Aurora’s POV

For a few seconds, nobody said anything.

The room had suddenly become too quiet as I stared at Marcus and waited for him to explain what I had just heard.

“Who is looking for my daughter?” My voice came out quieter than I expected.

Marcus didn't answer. That was enough to make something inside me snap.

I pushed myself higher against the pillows despite the protest that shot through my injured body, ignoring the way Smith immediately stepped forward as if he expected me to collapse.

“Don't,” I warned him, holding up a hand. He stopped andI looked between all three of them.

Rio had his arms crossed over his chest, his jaw tight as he stared at Marcus. Smith looked like he was seconds away from demanding an explanation himself, while Marcus stood there with that infuriatingly calm expression he wore whenever he thought he could keep something from us.

Except this wasn't his secret to keep, It was about my daughter.

“I'm asking again,” I said, my voice rising. “Who is looking for her?”

Marcus finally exhaled. “We don't know exactly who.”

I laughed once, but there was nothing funny about it. “You don't know exactly who?” I stared at him in utter disbelief. “What do you mean you don't know who?”

“We know someone has been asking questions about you.”

“About me?”

“And your daughter.” His answer made my stomach twist.

I glanced toward the doorway where my little girl had disappeared with one of the healers a few minutes earlier, and the fear that had been sitting quietly beneath my ribs suddenly climbed into my throat.

“What kind of questions?”

Marcus rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Where you were taken after the safehouse attack. Who your contacts are. Whether your daughter was with you.”

My blood ran cold at the fact that someone knew about her existence well enough that they were asking questions. I had spent so much time protecting my daughter that sometimes I forgot there was a world outside the small circle I'd created around her, a world filled with people who didn't care about the reasons behind my choices or whether she was innocent.

They would simply see her as a weakness and as a way to get to me.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

Marcus looked at me. “Because you had just survived an attack.”

“That isn't an answer.”

“You were injured.”

“And?”

“And I didn't want to put more fear into your head while you were recovering.”

I stared at him. “Congratulations,” I muttered. “You failed.”

Rio's lips twitched, but Marcus shot him a look.

Rio shrugged. “What?” he said. “She's right.”

Marcus turned toward him. “This doesn't concern you.”

Rio's expression changed immediately.

“Oh, it concerns me.”

The atmosphere shifted and I looked between them as Rio stepped forward.

“You don't get to decide what concerns me anymore, Marcus.”

“I've already told you—”

“No.” Rio's voice was sharper this time. “You've been making decisions for everyone since we got here. You disappear to take phone calls, you come back acting like everything is fine, and every time Aurora asks a question, you give her half an answer.”

Marcus's jaw clenched. “Watch yourself.”

“Or what?” he asked. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Enough.” Smith's voice cut between them making both men look at him. Smith rarely raised his voice, which somehow made it more intimidating when he did.

He looked at Marcus first. “Rio is right.” Marcus's eyebrows lifted but Smith continued, “Whatever is happening, Aurora needs to know. She's the mother of that child.”

My heart squeezed at the word mother. other. I looked down at my hands. I had spent months convincing myself that keeping my daughter away from danger was enough but now danger had found us anyway.

“What aren't you telling me?” I asked.

Marcus didn't answer. I looked at Rio who was hesitant to give a reply.

“You know something.”

His eyes met mine. “Aurora—”

“You know something.”

Rio looked at Marcus, then back at me. “We found something at the safehouse.”

My heartbeat quickened. “What?”

“A photograph.”

I frowned. “A photograph of what?”

“Your daughter.”

For a second, I couldn't breathe. “What?”

Rio's expression hardened. “It was taken before the attack.”

The room seemed to tilt. “No.”

“We don't know who took it.”

My head shook before I even realized I was doing it. “My daughter wasn't there.”

“I know.” Marcus nodded.

“Then how could someone have a photograph of her?”

“That,” Rio said quietly, “is what we're trying to figure out.”

I pushed the blanket away. Smith immediately caught my arm.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To my daughter.”

“You need to rest.”

“I don't care.”

“Aurora.” he tried to get me to sit but I snapped. I'd had enough already.

“I said I don't care!” My voice cracked across the room and everyone went silent.

Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “I almost lost her once,” I whispered. “I'm not going to stand here while all of you tell me to rest when someone out there already knows what she looks like.”

Marcus moved toward me.“You're right,” he said. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out his phone.

“We found this on one of the men who attacked the safehouse.”

He turned the screen toward me and my entire world stopped when I saw the picture of my daughter in her carrier. She was smiling at whoever had taken the picture, completely unaware that someone had been watching her.

My fingers began trembling. “When was this taken?”

Marcus didn't answer immediately. “Three days before the attack.”

I looked at him. Three days? Someone had been watching us for three days.

They hadn't just stumbled across us, they had been studying us.

My stomach twisted violently. “Who took it?”

“We don't know.” They answered in unison.

I stared at the photograph again then something caught my attention. In the reflection of the window behind my daughter, there was a figure.

There was a tall man standing across the street, watching her.

My breath caught. “Zoom in.”

Marcus did and the image became blurry, but the figure became clearer. I leaned closer because something about him felt familiar. It was not his face but something felt off. The black jacket and the silver ring. I'd seen that ring before but where?

My eyes widened. “I know him!”