All Chapters of The Moon Marked Him As Mine: Chapter 21 - Chapter 28

[Astoria’s POV]I stared at the screen until my vision blurred. My thumb hovering over the accept button. My heart had already begun to race as intrigue leapt to the forefront.My mind screamed to decline the call, but my traitorous heart wanted to hear the very man’s voice, who I should only see in the familial light.I swallowed and picked up.“Hello?” My voice came out steadier than I felt.“We need to meet and talk,” Viktor said after a brief pause.There was no warmth in his voice or any greeting.Something about that annoyed me immediately.“I’m busy,” I replied, even though my hands were clammy and I was more likely to have a sleepless night after this call.“It won’t take long,” he said, as if my refusal not worth considering.I pressed my lips together, irritation rising. “You could have just told me whatever it is on the phone.”“This isn’t a conversation for the phone.” His voice held enough gravity that I almost agreed before I remembered how he had never checked on me bef

[Viktor’s POV]I returned long after everyone had gone to bed, exhausted and in disbelief.Kai was still unhappy. He wanted Astoria to be near us, in a place where we could protect her, but I knew that pushing her further would only ruin the progress I had made so far.I slumped into the high-back couch without bothering to undress. Sleep as usual would evade me tonight. I took off the shoes and rested my legs at the edge of the coffee table.My gaze wandered to the photo frame that still sat at the top of my dresser, acting more like a reminder than a memory.Eight years ago, everything in my life had turned upside down.My mother and Avery, my chosen mate, had disappeared. I sank further back into as I was reminded of the night when I returned from a patrol and found their absence.Initially, I thought it was because they had gone for a shopping spree as they had bonded well, but…Then an hour bled into 3, and before I knew it, I was shouting orders to find them. I remembered my dad

[Astoria’s POV]I was glad that he hadn’t glanced at me yet or he would have seen the faint blush on my face.“Sit,” he said, finally looking up, so I sat stiffly across from him.“I see you’ve still haven’t run away,” he murmured, his gaze laced with mild amusement.“Why would I? It’s literally my first day,” I countered back.That earned me the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth as well.“I heard you basically made the HR hire me,” I said nonchalantly.“Did someone bother you for that?” He asked, the amusement dimming slightly.I let out a small sigh. “That’s not…exactly I want, as in…you cannot do that—”“I can, and you are part of the family, hence it is your right to be part of this company,” he interjected, sounding serious.Silence stretched briefly between us before he leaned back slightly in his chair.“What about my earlier company?” I asked tentatively. I had heard from them since morning.“My team has notified them. Don’t worry about it,” he said smoothly.I let ou

[Astoria’s POV]The first day had left me jittery and exhausted. Everything felt overwhelming, not because I was bad at my job or that I couldn’t understand a task, but because of the sheer weight of eyes that seemed to follow me everywhere.These were the eyes of many employees who looked at me, judged me, and probably even envied me. I had very quickly realized that my relation to the Romero brothers wasn’t clear to them. I didn’t want to think in what light they were seeing me in, but on the first day itself, I’d come very close to yelling at them and telling them that I was just their unfortunate half-sister.A week into the job, and apart from the thought of the salary that I would get, I dreaded going there. My colleagues had subtly but firmly made it clear that they didn’t want to be friendly. They helped, sure, but that was the end of it.I sighed softly as I worked silently, forced to keep my thoughts to myself even though I heard laughter and jokes around me.Deciding to tak