Luna

38 | revelation

I sniff. "It doesn't matter anymore. Everything has already happened."

Yes, because I was so stupid.

A tear drops onto my cheek, followed by another, and another. The entire world has seen my pictures, and I've ruined my parents' reputation. Even though Dad and Aiden have tried their best to control the media, the damage caused by the earlier distribution of the pictures is still there.

And even though Dad controls the biggest news media company in the country, it doesn't mean that we don't have any competitors in the media industry.

In fact, Dad's competitor is taking advantage of this situation to destroy us.

"And you didn't tell me about it?" Aiden shouts, looking like he wants to break something. "That you've been threatened? That you've been blackmailed?"

"It wasn't easy for me," I shout back, matching his angry tone although I'm crying too. "It's never easy for me to let you know about how fucked up I am." Damn, I use that forbidden word, but hell with that. "Even when I started to get bullied a year ago, I couldn't just speak up to let you know that I was an outcast."

My words make the three of them freeze.

"You've been bullied?" Aiden's voice is shaking.

My vision becomes blurry even more with all these tears filling my eyes, and when I nod, closing them, more tears fall.

When Aiden's eyes become glassy, I swallow a lump in my throat. He turns his back at me and walks a few steps away. He then lets out a shaky breath, and I notice his shoulders shaking.

Oh, God, now I've made my brother cry.

"Aiden," I whisper brokenly, but the moment he snaps his body around, facing us again, the air in my lungs feels like being sucked.

His eyes are bloodshot as he stares at me. The anger in his eyes hurts me even though I know that it isn't directed toward me, but toward all those bullies in my school.

My brother looks so angry. So very angry.

"I'm sorry," I rasp. "I'm so sorry that I've humiliated all of you. I'm so stupid. I thought that I could prevent all of this from happening, but I was wrong. That person is unstoppable." I look down, feeling ashamed of myself as I wipe my tears. "I made a mistake. I was so scared, I couldn't think clearly. All I could think about was to prevent her from spreading the pictures. I didn't want to make another move that would enrage her. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

A pair of arms wrap around me, and I sob as Mom engulfs me in a tight hug, sitting next to me. My face crushes her chest, and being in her embrace makes me cry even harder.

"Honey, how could you think like that?" Mom whispers, trying to soothe me even though her own heart is breaking. "You shouldn't have gone through all of that alone. You shouldn't have kept it all to yourself. Her threat wasn't something that you should be worrying about." Her voice breaks at the end of her sentence, and she tightens her hold on me.

I pull away and stare at Mom in disbelief. "What are you talking about?" I cry. "Are you all not devastated by the news about me? I made you all ashamed."

"Luna!" Aiden roars, making me jump as I snap my head toward him. "I can't take this anymore. Do you not know how much you mean to us?" He's panting and on the verge of exploding. "I won't allow you to be like this anymore. You're so confused, you don't even know how much you're worth and how much you mean to us."

My lips tremble. "You made it sound like it was easy for me," I shout back at him. "You don't know my struggles. You don't know how I thought that it was all my fault when everything crumbled one year ago. You don't know how they treated me like I'm the bad guy, like I deserved all those bullies--"

"Stop it," Aiden snaps, sounding like the more I speak, the more the words will kill him. "Goddammit, Luna, you made me want to break something. How could you--"

"Enough, Aiden," Dad warns, making me turn to look at him. After being silent, Dad finally speaks. His jaw tightens, and his eyes are piercing, like they can cut anyone who lands their gaze on them.

Aiden grits his teeth. "Dad, how could you allow this kind of nonsense?" he snaps again, his loud voice echoing in the room. He's completely out of control after hearing my story. "I fucking want to kill those bastards--"

"Aiden!" Dad booms while Aiden is still panting because of his rage. "Compose yourself," Dad warns.

Dad shifts his attention to me again, and I hold my breath. I've never seen him this scary, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand.

"Dad," I stutter, trying to calm my heartbeat.

"Names, Luna," Dad says.

And I'm stunned.

"Names," he repeats. "All of them. Those who made you trapped and suffer like this," he speaks through gritted teeth. "The one who set the paparazzi on fire with this bullshit. Those you met at the fashion show. Those you met at the party. I want all of them."

"But..." I falter. "Will you retract the news? Still, the pictures..." I stare at him in disbelief. "The pictures showed clearly what I was doing at the drug party. No one can't deny that. How can you make the world believe us?"

Aiden scoffs and looks at Dad proudly. My pulse quickens as silence fills the room.

Even though Dad hasn't answered my question, his eyes speak it all.

And with that, I know the answer to my question.