Alpha’s Vow: Reclaiming his lost Luna

At first, Aria thought they were just random pictures of her, Cyrus and Alex until she spotted another photo of her other best friend.

Her eyes widened as she recognized Rina in the photos taken from the places she visited in the past week after the gala.

"I-knight, why do you have Rina’s photos? And why are these....why was she...oh Luna! She has been following me!" Aria’s hands are shaking as she picks up one of the photos where Rina is pretending to be reading a newspaper inside a cafe in front of Aria’s workplace.

Then she saw another photo of Rina from the flower shop where she bought the red roses she bought for her angel a few days ago. 

Beside the said photo is another shot of Rina taken from the Hudson River where she went to scatter the petals.

Aria begins to tear up when she suddenly gets why Rina has been following her.

"She was there at the mall today too, am I right? Is that how you knew I was there?" Aria asked, her lips trembling because she could not believe that her two best friends betrayed her like that.

She was already starting to understand why Alex betrayed her. 

She remembered her father was into politics too but Rina? She has no idea why at all.

"I am so sorry Aria. When I confirmed that your daughter was alive, I just couldn’t sit back and let you wander around unprotected, especially now it is very clear that someone wants you out of Cyrus’s life. I asked Justin to assign someone who would watch over you. At first, we thought I was being overprotective until the bodyguard Mark noticed your other friend tailing you every single day from the moment you get out of the penthouse till the end of the day." Knight starts to explain but Aria is still clueless as to why Rina would do this. 

The alpha continues with his narration.

"So when we discovered that you're being tailed, I asked Mark to shift his focus. Instead of following you, he started to dig in deeper to check on Rina Perez. Nothing important came up about her, because she was following you. We found out that she had been reporting everything you do to Alexander Perez, her cousin" Knight informed her.

 "Knight, maybe it was a coincidence. I mean, Rin has no reason to lie to me. I don't think she would ever betray me not like this." Aria tried to reason but Knight just gave her an apologetic look.

"She doesn't have any reason to lie to you Aria but she has a lot of reason to listen to Alexander. We learned that the two aren't cousins. They coincidentally have the same surnames but they're not related by blood. In fact, they did not know each other at all until they met in college where they met you. Alexander’s father hired Rona’s parents as their house workers. And since Alexander’s father is fond of Rina, they gave her a full scholarship." Knight says 

He continued to give her all the information he gathered but Aria still refused to believe that Rina would betray her because of that.

"Ari, the year you left the country was the same year Rina’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. She has been receiving treatment from the  Hospital under Elijah Perez’s sponsorship. I guess your friend…”

"Oh my goodness!" Aria breaks down when she finally puts the pieces of the puzzle together.

"We were about to graduate that year. Rin..." Aria suddenly starts to cry because no matter how much she hates the idea of her best friend lying to her about the death of her child, she can't also deny the fact that Rina is just as much of a victim of the ugly fate given to her as she was.

It's not her friend's fault to be poor like her. And it's not her fault that she wanted to save her mother too because Aria knows if she was put in the same situation, she would probably do the same thing just to save her family too.

"Ssh it's okay now Ari. I already asked Justin to reach out to Rina. But I will still respect your decision if you tell me to stop interfering. I just wanted to help because I  feel Rina genuinely loves you." Knight said before showing Aria the photos of Rina feeding her mom in the hospital.

Aria’s heart breaks the moment she sees it. Mrs. Perez looked so frail in the hospital bed while Rina was obviously pretending to smile for her mother.

 "Knight... I want to talk to her. I at least deserve an explanation from her." Aria said while staring at her best friend's photo on the table.

Knight nods in understanding.

"Sure Ari, tomorrow I will let you meet with her," Knight said with a small smile.

Aria sighs after a while. She stares at the older pureblood beside her before she leans on his shoulder.

"Have I ever told you how lucky and blessed I am to have you in my life? I don't even know why and how Harris managed to bring you into my life when you both don't even look like you're close." Aria mumbles while playing with his fingers.

Knight’s breath stopped the moment he heard the softness in her voice. 

His heart melts even more for the younger but because he has decided not to put any more pressure on her plate he just playfully nudges her.

"Why are you suddenly being a baby now? Why don't you go and have a rest? You have had a long day, I'm sure you're  tired." Knight said while carefully pushing the younger to stand up.

Aria whines but smiles at the alpha.

"Thank you for everything, Knight. I'll talk to you again tomorrow. Goodnight." Aria says before she leans to leave a light peck on his cheeks.