Rejected Their Broken Luna Chapter 176: Chap-176*Gather Around.*

Cynthia Dion:

"Sister! What's going on? Why are you here?" Atticus asked her, observing her angry gaze directed at me. I sensed that whatever had upset her was somehow connected to me, but I couldn't figure out what I had done that could be more devastating than Mara being with her mate.

"Ask your beloved Luna," she replied, crossing her arms while keeping her glare fixed on my face.

"What? I've been here the whole time," I said with a shrug, not hesitating to defend myself.

"Why is he here?" I didn't respond because I had no idea what was bothering her. She finally spoke up herself.

"Excuse me?" I shook my head, trying to understand what she was getting at. Was she referring to Atticus, or had someone deceived her about Zeon's presence?

"Why is he here? Why did you bring him here?" Maleeka yelled at me, but the way she spoke about someone being brought here for me made me a bit anxious.

What if someone had orchestrated this to make Atticus believe I'd been inviting people over while he wasn't at home?

"Who? Who's here for her?" Atticus intervened, firmly placing himself in front of me and clearly aggravating his sister.

It had been a while since I last saw those two together in the kitchen. I wondered how unaware she was. Why didn't she pay more attention to her mate's whereabouts?

"Oh, so now you're going to protect her?" She scoffed, shaking her head and sidestepping the original issue that had brought her here.

"Can you please explain what's going on?" Atticus sighed as he pressed her for answers once more. The moment she mentioned his name, my eyes widened, and my heart skipped a beat.

Why was he here?

"What are you saying?" I asked her again, just to confirm that she wasn't lying, even though there would be no reason for her to fabricate such a story about his arrival here.

"You heard me right. Why should we have to deal with your problems?" Maleeka yelled at me, leaving me even more puzzled. I knew she held strong resentment toward me and my family, but I hadn't expected his arrival to trigger her to this extent.

"Calm down," Atticus stepped between us to prevent her from yelling directly in my face. I still couldn't comprehend why he had come here. It seemed like she might be thinking I was relocating my entire neighborhood to her mansion.

"He is Cynthia's father. He must be in some sort of trouble to come here banging on the door at this time of night," Atticus defended my dad's arrival, which only seemed to further agitate Maleeka. She was attempting to make a point that Atticus had missed.

"Why would he bring his problems to our doorstep?" There it was; she was afraid that we were taking advantage of them.

"Because he's her father, and I'm his son-in-law," Atticus shouted all at once, and then took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves.

"But--" before she could say anything more, I interrupted her. She had been shouting at me for several minutes now, and I had no energy left to listen to her further.

"I can't deal with all of this. I'm going to greet Dad," I muttered with a furrowed brow and hurried past her to see why my father had decided to bother me.

I rushed over to meet my dad, who was waiting for us in the garden. I was swiftly approaching him when I noticed his face and the blood covering his body.

My steps slowed, and all my frustration vanished as I saw him in that condition.

"What happened to you?" Instead of inquiring about why he had come to us, I found myself consumed with concern for his well-being.

"They're going to kill me," he said, tears in his eyes.

"Dad, who's going to kill you?" He was my father, and I couldn't help but be worried for him, even though he had only just realized his concern for me too late.

"I don't know. I was sleeping peacefully when someone sneaked inside and tried to kill me," he stammered as he recalled the whole incident. He looked like he had been punched in the face and possibly harmed with silver. I couldn't grasp the fact that people hated me so much that they were now tormenting my father because he had tried to protect me that night.

"But who was he? Did you see anyone?" I asked, concerned for his safety. Atticus started heading in our direction, likely having calmed his sister down.

"I wish I had seen him. It was like he was just a shadow," my father said, squatting down on the grass to catch his breath. Atticus rushed to his side and helped him to his feet. The way he embraced my father made my heart skip a beat.

"It's okay, please calm down first, and then we can discuss what we need to do," Atticus was hugging my father like a son would. It was quite a heartwarming sight, and his embrace left me perplexed, as he embraced my father as if he were his own.

"I'll come back tomorrow and update you on everything," my father broke the hug and weakly smiled. Tears were still streaming down his face as he cried.

"Where would you go at this time of night?" Atticus had assumed control of the situation. Even though I had presented myself as the Luna to Maleeka and the mansion owner, I couldn't make a decision about who should stay and who should leave.

"Don't worry, people like us can find shelter somewhere," my father's helplessness tugged at my heart. This was the man I had only ever seen glaring at me and shouting in anger. Tonight, he was helpless because of me. The individuals who had attacked them were angry at me, but they had vented their frustration on him for taking my side the other day.

"I don't want to be a burden," my dad added, looking at me with a sad expression.