My Cold-Hearted Husband Wants Me Back
Chapter 99: The Betrayal

Chapter 99: The Betrayal

Lunara stormed up the staircase without a word, her feet hitting each step with force. Her fury trailed behind her like a cloak, thick and heavy. Eryx followed a few steps behind, unhurried, assuming she just needed a moment.

He was wrong.

By the time he reached the top floor, the bedroom door had already slammed shut. The sharp click of the lock echoed down the hallway.

He stopped, staring at the door for a second. Then, knocked.

"Lunara?" His voice was calm. Too calm for what she felt.

Another knock. Still no answer.

He tried the handle. Locked.

A frown formed on his face. He knocked again, this time harder. "Lunara, open the door."

Still nothing.

Footsteps padded softly behind him. Naomi rounded the corner, carrying Mila in one arm and a smug expression in the other.

She leaned against the wall, bouncing the child slightly. "You shouldn’t have done that," she said simply, eyes on him. "That’s not how you trained her to depend on you."

Eryx turned, jaw tight. "I didn’t do anything."

Naomi raised a brow. "Exactly."

"Shut up," he muttered, shooting her a side-eye glare before continuing to knock on the door.

"Up to you." Naomi shrugged and looked down at Mila with a smile. "Let’s go, Mila. Let your proudly ignorant daddy stand out here all night."

She walked past him, heading to her room. "I’ve known her longer than you, just so you know. She can handle people like that in her own way. But once she decided to call you..." She paused, glancing over her shoulder. "That means she already believed you’d protect her. You just proved her wrong."

Eryx stood there, the words hitting harder than the locked door in front of him. His hand rested against the knob, unmoving. He wasn’t used to this, and he didn’t know how to handle it.

He let out a low breath and turned to go down the stairs, making his way toward the spare key drawer. He grabbed the spare keys, his fingers lingering over the cold metal for a moment, but it wasn’t just the keys that felt heavy, it was the weight of his own thoughts.

"Am I wrong?" he mumbled to himself.

The question hung in the air, unanswered, as he stared at the keys in his hand. He wasn’t used to questioning himself, not like this. He had always been sure of his actions, his decisions. But now, standing there in the quiet hallway, the uncertainty gnawed at him.

Earlier, he had thought that leaving her to manage on her own was the best way for her to learn. Since she was already entering his world, she needed to be tough and know how to handle situations like that. But now, as he stood there, his mind raced, realizing how wrong he might have been.

He had watched her handle herself with strength, but he had failed to see the moment when she needed him. He had thought she was so capable at that time but he hadn’t realized that in the moment she reached out to him, it wasn’t just about needing protection. It was about believing in him to be there when it counted the most.

He turned back and headed upstairs. With a deep breath, he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Lunara was sitting on the edge of the bed, her back straight, her expression hard to read. She didn’t even glance up when he entered.

Eryx stepped in, closed the door behind him gently, and lingered there. "Lunara."

She didn’t turn.

He walked closer, cautiously, like she might shatter if he moved too fast. "I just wanted you to handle it... I thought—"

"You thought it was some kind of test?" Her voice cracked like glass, sharp and cold. "That if I could stand there and smile while someone dragged me through the mud, that somehow I’d be stronger for it?"

He winced. "That’s not what I—"

"You are wrong, Eryx!" she snapped, finally turning to face him, eyes bright with unshed tears. "You stood there and watched. Do you have any idea what that felt like?"

His hands curled into fists at his sides. "I didn’t step in because I thought you could handle it."

She laughed bitterly. "Wow. That’s your excuse? That you believed in me?" She shook her head, standing up now, her voice rising. "You know what’s funny? I did handle it. I could have handled it. I’ve done it my whole life! But this time, I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to protect myself! I wanted you to protect me! I’m tired of always having to protect myself alone!"

Eryx stood still, her words slicing through the air, through him. He had faced pressure before from media storms, from boardroom politics, and above all, from the one person who never thought he was good enough. His grandmother. She raised him to be unshakable, to lead without feeling, to never need or be needed.

But nothing, nothing had ever made him feel as shaken as this.

His voice came out low, almost unsure. "I didn’t know... you felt that way."

Lunara let out a soft, breathless laugh. There was no humor in it, only exhaustion and disappointment.

"Yeah," she said, her voice tinged with sarcasm, "how could you know?"

She turned away from him, arms crossed tightly as if holding herself together.

"I tried. I told myself you’d come. That I wasn’t alone this time." Her voice trembled, but she didn’t stop. "And when I knew that you were there, just watching... Do you know what that felt like?"

She didn’t wait for him to answer. "It felt like betrayal."

Eryx’s mouth parted, but no words came. His feet felt rooted to the floor, the keys still cold in his hand.

She gave a small, hollow nod. "I tried to understand your intention," she said, softer now, her gaze fixed on the wall like it held every shard of her pain. "But I’m sorry. At that moment, I needed you. And you chose not to be there."