Rain lashed against the Grey family mansion's leaded windows as Luna slipped through the service entrance, the pendant cold against her collarbone. The security system Chloe had disabled left the kitchen dark save for the glow of a microwave clock - 2:17 AM. Her sneakers left damp prints on the marble as she moved toward the study, past family photos where she stood always slightly apart, never quite meeting Mrs. Grey's perfectly posed smile.
The study door creaked. Mr. Grey looked up from his wheelchair, the IV line trailing from his arm to a half-empty bag of saline. The Lassa fever had hollowed his cheeks, but his eyes brightened when he saw her.
"You came." His voice was raspy but warm. "I've been trying to—"
"Tell me about this." Luna held up the pendant, its crescent shape catching the lamplight. "Chloe found records. It belonged to your daughter."
Mr. Grey's breath hitched. He wheeled closer, his slippers whispering across the Persian rug. "Not just my daughter. You, I never had a kid, she knew this was bound to happen so soon as she discovered she was going to have a child, she informed me about it through our secret communication system."
" who is she and what communication system . How does it work too?" Luna questioned all at ones. Mr Grey's pale face lifted up his trembling fingers brushed the silver chain. "My sister's granddaughter. Your mother left you here because she knew I'd protect you and how the communication system works, it's still a mystery to me too. I also have no idea what my sister's granddaughter looked like all I knew was that she has a granddaughter somewhere and that she had a different last name so as to not associate her with the gray name. I was groomed to be responsible since one day you'll be brought to me and honestly I also have no idea of what's going on " he explained.
" Then why does mom hates me?" Luna asked the question that's been on her mind for the past fourteen years. " She doesn't hate you she just has some resentment. She thinks you're my child that I cheated on her to have you" he finished with a sigh.
The words landed like a physical blow. Luna's vision swam as decades of memories rearranged themselves - Mrs. Grey's constant sneers, the way she'd always called Luna "that girl" instead of her name. Not cruelty, but resentment toward her husband's bastard bloodline.
A floorboard groaned upstairs. Mrs. Grey's sleep-thick voice carried down the hall. "Charles? Who are you talking to at this hour?"
Mr. Grey moved with sudden urgency, rolling to the bookshelf. He pulled a leather-bound volume of Shakespeare, revealing a hidden safe. "Take this." He pressed a rusted key into her palm. "The old hunting lodge north of the city - it's yours now. The deed's been in your name since you turned thirteen."
Luna stared at the key. "Why?"
"Because blood matters." His eyes flicked to the doorway. "Your mother—"
The study door flew open. Mrs. Grey stood silhouetted in silk pajamas, her champagne glass dangling from manicured fingers. Her gaze darted from Luna to the open safe, to her husband's guilty face.
"You." The word dripped venom. "Even sick, you're still sneaking around about that whore's child."
Luna expected fury, but Mr. Grey just sighed. "Margaret, please. This doesn't concern you."
"Of course it concerns me!" The glass shattered against the wall, spraying crystal shards. "Twenty years of lies! First you bring home some alley brat, then I find out she's— she's ...." Mrs Grey's voice hitched. Luna watched the pain on her face and wanted to say something but Mr Grey shook his head at her.
Ari's voice crackled in Luna's earpiece. "Blackwatch SUVs just rolled up. Three minutes max." Luna nodded slowly before making a move to leave but someone held unto her.
Mr. Grey seized Luna's wrist. "They're not after the pendant - they're after you. Your mother was...special." His thumb brushed the inside of her wrist where a faint crescent birthmark matched the pendant's curve. "The lodge has everything you need. Go now." " And tell her the truth, she deserves to know it from you at least" Luna added and turned towards the door.
Mrs. Grey's laugh was shrill. "Oh, don't let me interrupt your melodrama. I'm just the wife who—"
Luna never heard the rest. She was already moving, the key biting into her palm as she vaulted through the French doors into the storm, Mrs Greys voice sound fading as she took her firm steps. She knew that this may be her last time coming to the Grey household and even though the revelation was too much for her to handle, there's nothing that's going to hold her back from finding out the truth. Also Mr Grey was wrong, she has another crescent mark on her shoulder.
Time to visit the old hunting lodge, he took her there when she was twelve and made her promise that she wouldn't mention it to Mrs Grey. At that time, they didn't go inside but this time, she has to know what's inside.
The pine forest swallowed her whole. Rain dripped from the needled branches as she followed the overgrown path to the hunting lodge, its cedar shingles gone silver with age. The key turned smoothly in the lock, revealing a single great room dominated by a stone fireplace. Dust sheets covered furniture like sleeping ghosts.
Chloe's voice came through the earpiece. "Thermals show clear. No signs of pursuit."
Ari materialized from the shadows by the fireplace. "Cute digs. Where's the panic room?"
Luna moved to the moose head mounted above the mantel. Its left antilever came away in her hand, revealing a hidden button. The entire fireplace swung inward with a groan, exposing a steel door.
"Okay," Ari breathed. "Now we're talking."
The bunker was surprisingly modern - medical supplies, a generator, and a wall of monitors showing every angle of the property. But it was the framed photo on the desk that stole Luna's breath: a younger Mr. Grey standing with a woman whose eyes and crescent birthmark mirrored Luna's own. Her eyes grew in surprise, he said he never met her mother then who is that woman in the picture?.
Lexi picked up the envelope beneath it. "Deed to the property...and a letter."
Luna unfolded the yellowed paper with trembling fingers. The first line made her throat tighten:
"If you're reading this, you've finally asked the right questions..."
Outside, the wind howled through the pines, carrying whispers of all the truths yet to be uncovered.