Avenging Luna
Chapter 98: Unbelievable Truth

Chapter 98: Unbelievable Truth

Leila’s POV:

I stared out the window of the hospital room, my mind a swirling storm of anger, confusion, and hurt. The distant hum of the machines, the faint beeping—none of it registered fully. I was consumed by the whirlwind inside me.

How could Drake not believe me?

It was like a constant, painful loop playing over and over in my head. He didn’t trust me. The one person who was supposed to know me better than anyone else, the one who swore to stand by me no matter what—he didn’t trust me.

I felt weak, both physically and emotionally. I was still recovering, my body sore from the surgery, my wolf barely whispering within me. Layla was still weak too, unable to heal me fully because of the wolfbane that had ravaged my system. But none of that compared to the ache I felt from Drake’s betrayal. It cut deeper than anything physical ever could.

"Leila?" Nelly’s voice broke through my thoughts. She was sitting beside me, concern etched on her face. She’d been there for hours, refusing to leave even when I told her I needed space. Maybe deep down I needed her here, someone who believed me, someone who didn’t look at me like I was guilty.

I turned to her, my throat tightening. "What?" I croaked out, my voice hoarse from lack of use. I hadn’t said much since Drake left. It hurt too much to speak, to even think about everything that had happened.

I felt my stomach twist. She didn’t believe me either, did she? I could see it in her eyes—the doubt, the hesitation.

"I told you," I said, my voice firmer now. "I didn’t take that wolfbane willingly. I wasn’t trying to hurt my baby."

Nelly sighed, rubbing her temples. "Leila, I’m not saying you wanted to hurt your child. But Drake... he saw you, Leila. He caught you drinking from the bottle. And Lily... she said she saw you too."

My heart stopped at that. Lily? Lily saw me?

"Wait," I said, my mind racing. "Lily saw me? Since when?"

Nelly blinked, confused. "I thought you knew. She told me that she saw you with the bottle before... before Drake walked in."

I felt my blood run cold. Lily? That lying snake.

Suddenly, everything started to make a twisted kind of sense. Of course, it was her. She had been around far too often, always lurking, always trying to act like she cared. I never trusted her, not after everything. But now, knowing she was the one who claimed to have seen me, it made my skin crawl.

"I didn’t take the wolfbane," I whispered, more to myself than to Nelly. "Not willingly. I was curious, but I never—I would never try to hurt my child."

Nelly gave me a sympathetic look. "I believe you, Leila. But Drake... He’s hurt. He doesn’t understand why you were holding that bottle. From his point of view, everything pointed to you. Can you blame him for being confused?"

I stared at her, my frustration boiling over. "Yes, I can!" I snapped. "Because he should have believed me, Nelly. He should have trusted me instead of listening to Lily or jumping to conclusions. If I found him in that situation, I would have at least heard him out!"

Nelly was quiet for a moment, then sighed again. "Leila, you’re right to feel hurt, but think about what he’s been through. He nearly lost you, and he thought... he thought he was losing the baby too."

I bit my lip, fighting the tears that threatened to spill over. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what Drake had gone through. What mattered was that he didn’t believe in me when I needed him to. Instead, he had looked at me like I was guilty, like I was capable of doing something so terrible. And that hurt more than I could ever put into words.

"I don’t want to see him," I whispered, turning back to the window. "Not right now."

Nelly frowned. "Leila—"

"No," I cut her off, my voice trembling. "I can’t face him, Nelly. Not after everything. I... I need time. He needs to understand what it feels like not to be trusted. He should’ve known I would never hurt our child. He should’ve believed in me."

The silence stretched between us, heavy and suffocating. I could feel Nelly’s pity, her concern, but it didn’t make anything better. Nothing could make this better.

I sat there, feeling the weight of the truth crash down on me like a boulder. Lily. It was her all along. She had set this whole thing in motion, making me look like the villain once again. I clenched my fists, feeling my nails dig into my palms as the anger simmered inside me.

How could I have been so stupid?

I had actually started to believe that maybe, just maybe, Lily had changed. That she wasn’t the same scheming, conniving woman I had known her to be. I had even warmed up to her, allowed her near me. What a fool I had been.

But that’s exactly what she wanted, didn’t she? She wanted to slip into my life, to get close enough to strike when I least expected it. And now, just like before, she had managed to twist everything, to make me look like the guilty one while she played the role of the innocent, loving mother. A snake in sheep’s clothing.

The worst part was, if I tried to tell anyone now—if I told Drake—no one would believe me. They’d think I was delusional, trying to shift the blame to someone else because I couldn’t face my own mistakes. Who would believe that Lily, the "repentant" mother, had anything to do with this?

I laughed bitterly under my breath. Of course, no one would.

Lily had been smart. She had played her role perfectly, showing up with that damn smile, always pretending to be helpful and supportive. She must have known I’d never have been suspected of something like this before. But after everything that had happened with the wolfbane, after I’d been caught with the bottle in my hand, it didn’t matter what I said anymore. Everyone had seen what they wanted to see—me, guilty and desperate. The evidence was right there, damning and undeniable.

How could I even begin to explain myself? How could I prove that I wasn’t trying to hurt my baby, that I wasn’t the monster they thought I was?

I sighed deeply, rubbing my temples as frustration, anger, and fear warred inside me. I was trapped. Lily had set me up so perfectly, and now I was the one left looking like a fool, powerless to do anything about it.

Nelly’s words echoed in my mind: _"Lily said she saw you too."_

My chest tightened at the memory. Of course, she had seen me. She had probably been lurking around, waiting for the perfect moment to swoop in, to feed Drake that lie and drive the wedge even deeper between us. She had succeeded.

What made it worse, though, was that Drake—my mate, the father of my child—had believed her over me. He hadn’t even questioned it. The moment Lily put that idea in his head, he had believed every word without giving me a chance to explain.

I could feel the bitterness rising in my throat, my anger at him mixing with the fury I felt toward Lily. I had trusted Drake, believed that no matter what happened, he would always have my back. But instead, he had listened to Lily’s lies and turned his back on me when I needed him most, again.

How could he not believe me?

A part of me wanted to march out of this hospital room, find him, and scream until he understood what it felt like to be doubted, to be treated like a liar. But I knew that wouldn’t fix anything. It wouldn’t change the fact that in his mind, I had already betrayed him, that I had endangered our child.

I hated this. I hated that I had to defend myself against something I didn’t even do. I hated that Lily had wormed her way into my life again, poisoning everything she touched. And most of all, I hated that I felt so alone, trapped in this web of lies with no way out.

I swallowed hard, my throat tightening as the weight of it all pressed down on me. I am tired of staying strong.

But how could I fight back when the people who were supposed to be on my side had already turned against me?

Even Nelly—my only friend in all of this—if I told her my suspicions about Lily, she wouldn’t believe me. I knew it deep down. Lily had built her character so perfectly, so meticulously, that she had gained the trust of everyone around her. Everyone.

Nelly had always been fair, supportive, but she wasn’t blind. Or rather, she was blind in the way Lily had crafted things. The new "kind" and "repentant" Lily had become something of a miracle story in the pack. The once cruel and calculating woman had supposedly turned a new leaf. She was a loving mother now, and nobody would dare think she was capable of setting me up.

I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms. Everyone had been so quick to forgive her, quick to believe she had truly changed. Even I had started to soften toward her, let my guard down.