Chapter 207: Moon’s plight of silence.
"Go home, all of you." She ordered them.
The billionaires shifted uneasily, their men lowering their weapons. "It’s good that you defeated those damn suckers but I am sure that they will be back." Cory said his eyes locked on the watcher with the pink stripes.
He felt uneasy and looked away quickly. Suddenly he was re-thinking his reason for being out there. This whole thing could have waited until morning.
"And they can return as we speak. Or the marauders can get to you. You are not helping me or yourselves by walking around in the dark. Go home, this is the last time I am saying this. If anything happens to you all, it is your damn business." She warned them sternly. "Goodbye."
Sunshine turned and left the command center. The officers left in the room started gossiping about the billionaires and the eagles and all the other things that had happened during the day.
Meanwhile, outside the gate, the billionaires were yet to leave. They were still gathering their thoughts
"I do not like the fact that she looks down on us." Jin complained.
Jon expelled air out of his nose. "Hades is easier to deal with than her."
"I told you she is the boss." Sheldon winced. "Just my type, if Hades had not married her, I would have."
Upon hearing his words the men grumbled in disagreement as they entered their trucks. Sunshine had been a babysitter who went unnoticed. How would Sheldon know of her if Hades had not married her?
Besides, he liked damsels in distress and that woman was no damsel. She was more like the dragon the kidnapped the damsel.
Sunshine had no idea what they argued about. If she did, she would not have cared. She took her exhaustion home to an empty house. The children were at their grandmother’s and White was home but sleeping in bed, on her spot.
She took a bath, slipped into the bed, hugged the cub and closed her eyes.
****
Fortress Four was not the only base to be visited by mutant beasts. Camp Zenith had been visited by eagles too and they had survived as well, thanks to the growing number of superhumans they had.
But that was not Moon’s biggest concern. Moon’s days had quickly stretched into uncomfortable silence. Every corner of the base felt hostile ever since Leah quietly declared war against her. Even those that she once called friends were keeping a distance from her.
Rumors and whispers curled in the air like thick smoke whenever she passed. With her good hearing, Moon would hear fragments of what was said about her.
Apparently she’s trying to seduce the commander of the camp.
She is not really a superhuman, just pretending to be one.
Leah says she’s a fraud.
Even though the words were true, they stung sharper than a dagger. The only people that ever cared to ask her about the truth of the rumors were her parents and she denied everything with all her might, saying that Leah was just an insecure woman who saw her as a threat because she was more beautiful and the camp commander trusted her opinions on the camp’s future.
Leah had succeeded in turning the base against her.
It had not started all at once. At first it was just stares, then they turned subtly cold, no one wanted to sit with her in the dining area or during work.
Then came the bullies, Leah had her friends and others threatening her. Some stripped her of her belongings in the corridors when no one was watching, other tugged her hair, one even shoved her head into the wall hard enough that her head hurt badly.
Without allies, Moon could not retaliate and yet her silence made her an easier target.
Now, she spent most of her time indoors.
"Are you going to the naming ceremony of the Creighton twins tonight?" Rowena asked as she walked into the single room the family lived in.
Leah had made sure that they are transferred from the apartment to a single room.
Moon shook her head. "They are boring, I would rather stay in doors." She lied.
She wanted to attend, but the residents made sure to exclude her from such events. Besides, she was tired of hearing people talk about her.
The ache of being unwanted grew heavier by the day and it was making her more desperate.
Leah had taken it a step further. Just this morning, Aliana had been pulled from the daycare. Apparently, she would be following her mother everywhere for her own safety. Moon’s plans of using the little girl had been flashed down the drain by Leah with just one move.
She thought it could not get worse but then she was dismissed abruptly from her position in the day care center as well.
When she asked old Mrs. Tilda, for a reason, the answer was flat. "Leah thought it best that you stay away from the children. Your services are no longer needed here."
For the first time in her life, Moon felt defeated. How was she going to know what was happening at the Steward household if Aliana was not feeding her with information?
How was she going to destroy Leah? It was no longer about taking her place as Dominic’s wife, it was about revenge. Leah was going to pay for mistreating her.
Moon wiped tears from her eyes as she thought about what followed immediately after her dismissal. She had run to Dominic, thinking that he would scold his wife and help her get her job back.
He was also the base leader, surely after hearing about all the unfairness that had been done to her he would put an end to Leah’s cruelty. She prepared herself, inflicting wounds on her body. But when she explained it all, he barely lifted his eyes to look at her.
"Listen Moon," he had said dismissively, "I have so much going on and no time to deal with petty issues. I cannot make you Aliana’s nanny, I do not want to fight with my pregnant wife over you. Do not come to my office unless I send for you."
She had forced out a few tears and tried to make him see reason but he cut her off and said, "Leave before my wife finds you here."
He had been very stern, barking at her as if she was a dirty beggar on the street or a mistress meant to be kept in the dark because he was ashamed of her.
Her throat had burned as she left his quarters, her heart had pounded so loud she thought the whole camp would hear it. His words had carved through her skin like a knife.
When she reached in the room where her family lived, she had pressed her head in a pillow and screamed, crying until her chest arched. Then anger replaced the pain, swirling bitter and hot inside her.
Leah had taken everything. Her budding fame, friends, dignity, Dominic, Aliana, her status. But just like she had destroyed it, it would be her to mend it. The people only believed what Leah said, to reverse all this, Leah had to acknowledge her worth, admit that she was wrong about her.
Then...and only then would she destroy her slowly and make her regret ever crossing her.