Novels by Koko miland

Alex’s POVThe email arrived at 6:47 AM, right before my alarm. The soft chime felt louder than usual, sharp in the quiet morning room. I reached for my phone slowly, trying not to wake Maya, but she already moved. Even half-asleep her hand went to her belly, as if guarding our daughter.“What is it?” she mumbled, eyes still shut.I didn’t answer right away. I read the email once. Then again. My heart sped up.Finally, I whispered, “Pemberton Industries wants to hire us.”Her eyes opened at once. “The Pemberton Industries?”“Yes,” I said, hardly believing it myself. “They want a six-month consulting deal. Fifteen thousand dollars.”Maya blinked, then slowly sat up. “Fifteen thousand?” she whispered. “That’s almost two months of income for us.”I nodded, feeling something warm rise in my chest — hope.“Roberto must have recommended us,” I said. “He worked with them before.”Fifteen thousand meant we could pay Caroline back. Finish the baby room. Cover medical bills. Breathe again.“Whe

Alex’s POVCaroline arranged the meeting in a cold, quiet law office in Hartford — neutral ground.No Stone power.No FBI control.Just sterile walls, strict neutrality, and the promise that whatever happened inside here could change everything.I woke early that morning feeling a knot in my stomach. I hadn’t slept. I kept staring at the ceiling all night, thinking about what Richard wanted to say. Thinking about David. Thinking about Maya and the baby and the life we built from ashes.Maya watched me dress slowly, her hand resting on her belly, the curve of our child’s future under her palm. She looked tired — bed rest had made her restless, anxious, trapped.“You don’t have to go,” she whispered. “Alex, please. You don’t owe him anything.”Her voice was soft, worried. There was fear in her eyes — not for herself, but for me.I brushed my hand across her cheek.“I need answers. If he knows something about David “Or he’s manipulating you again.” Her voice cracked. “That’s what he doe

Maya’s POVIf someone had told me months ago that bed rest would be one of the hardest battles of my life, I would have laughed. But here I was — sitting on the couch Caroline insisted I stay on, surrounded by pillows, wearing the loosest dress known to mankind, and feeling like both a prisoner and a ticking time bomb.Thirty-eight weeks and five days pregnant.Nine months of fear, hope, pain, terror, love — all boiling into this aching, swollen moment where everything was finally still.And I hated the stillness.The house was too quiet.My thoughts were too loud.And my body felt like it belonged to someone else — heavy, slow, unpredictable. Every time the baby shifted, I held my breath. Every time a contraction fluttered and died, frustration clawed up my throat.False alarms were cruel. You brace for battle, and then the battlefield dissolves into emptiness, leaving only adrenaline and exhaustion.Alex walked in with my lunch — again.For two weeks, he hadn’t let me lift anything

​Maya’s POVMidnight.Ninety minutes after we agreed to release my father’s evidence to the Attorney General, it began.A sharp pain hit my lower belly, then another a few minutes later. Tight, strong, real.Not like the false alarms.Not like the practice contractions.Real.I grabbed the sheets and breathed hard.“Not now,” I whispered. “Please not now.”Alex sat up instantly. “What is it? Contractions?”I nodded, teeth clenched as another hit.Three minutes apart. Fast. Too fast.He didn’t hesitate.“Hospital. Now.”“We can’t,” I gasped. “Walsh is still sending the files. We have to—”Another wave of pain bent me in half. Breath gone. Words gone.Alex grabbed my shoes, my bag, his keys.“I don’t care if the world collapses tonight. We are going.”Walsh followed us in her car, laptop open on her knees even at red lights. Every second felt like fire inside my body. My vision blurred. My breathing turned to tiny gasps.When we reached Hartford General, nurses rushed us through the do

Jake’s POVI’d never driven this far alone,two hours to Grandma’s farm through winding country roads that barely counted as roads anymore.Maya had given me explicit instructions: “Find the old barn foundation. Northwest corner. Stone cellar. Hidden compartment Dad built.”Simple. Except nothing involving my father’s secret evidence had ever been simple.The farm looked different than I remembered. Grandma had died three years ago, and the property sat abandoned. The main house was boarded up, the fields overgrown. The barn had burned down like Maya said, leaving just the stone foundation jutting out of the earth like broken teeth.I parked and pulled out my phone. No signal. Of course.The barn foundation was bigger than I expected—maybe thirty feet square, with stone walls still standing about four feet high. The interior was filled with debris from the fire: charred wood beams, melted metal, five years of weather damage.Northwest corner. I climbed carefully over rubble, testing ea

Maya’s POVThe contractions started at two AM, irregular but persistent enough to wake me.I lay still, timing them. Eight minutes apart. Then twelve. Then six. My body apparently couldn’t decide if it was ready or just practicing.“Not yet,” I whispered to my belly. “We need the insurance to clear first. We need money in the account. We need—”Another contraction cut off my thoughts. Stronger this time.By three AM, they were five minutes apart. I finally woke Alex.“Hospital or wait?” he asked immediately, already reaching for his phone.“I don’t know. They’re regular but not overwhelming.” I breathed through another one. “Maybe we wait an hour? See if they stop like last time?”“Your call. But if they get worse—”“Then we go. I know.”We sat in the dark, timing contractions, both of us silently calculating what another hospital visit would cost. Dr. Chen’s office visits were covered by insurance, but emergency room visits had a fifteen hundred dollar deductible we couldn’t afford.

Three days passed like three years. Felix didn't come back. Didn't call. Didn't send word through Vincent or Carlo. He'd simply vanished, leaving Muna to manage their crumbling empire alone.The Russians sensed weakness immediately. They hit a Castelli warehouse in Brooklyn, burned it to the ground, killed two soldiers. It was a clear challenge—without Felix actively leading, they thought the organization would fold.Muna stood in the Red Hook safe house, staring at maps and intelligence reports spread across the dining table. Carlo stood beside her, his expression carefully neutral."The men are asking what you want to do," he said quietly. "They need direction.""Where's Felix?" she asked, not for the first time."Still unreachable. Vincent says he's somewhere safe but needs time." Carlo paused. "Which means you're in charge, Mrs. Castelli. The question is—what do you want to do about the Russians?"Muna studied the maps, her mind working through options. Three days ago, she would h

Back at the safe house, the silence was deafening. Isabella sat on the couch, cleaned and bandaged, staring at nothing. Vincent coordinated security while Carlo handled communications with their remaining operations. And Felix stood at the window, refusing to look at Muna.The ride back had been torture—three hours of heavy silence, Felix sitting as far from her as possible, his jaw clenched so tight she could see the muscle ticking. Now, in the supposed safety of their temporary home, the distance between them felt like an ocean."We need to talk," Muna said quietly."Not now." His voice was ice."Felix—""I said not now!" He whirled to face her, and the fury in his eyes made her flinch. "Do you have any idea what it felt like watching you walk toward that psychopath? Knowing you'd made a deal behind my back, that you were willing to sacrifice yourself because you thought I couldn't handle the truth?""I was trying to save my mother—""By lying to me! By keeping secrets! By breaking

The warehouse loomed like a tomb in the darkness. Felix's convoy rolled to a stop three blocks away, engines cutting to silence. Twenty armed soldiers moved through shadows with lethal precision, spreading out to surround the building where Isabella was supposedly being held captive.Muna crouched beside Felix behind a rusted shipping container, her heart slamming against her ribs. But beneath the fear for her mother lived a guilt so crushing she could barely breathe.She had to tell him. Now. Before they walked into whatever trap waited inside."Felix," she whispered, grabbing his arm. "There's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you days ago.""Not now." His eyes stayed locked on the warehouse, scanning for threats. "We talk after we get your mother out.""No. Now." Her voice shook with urgency. "Because if something happens in there, if one of us doesn't make it out, I need you to know the truth."He turned to face her, his expression darkening in the dim li

The safe house was cold in the morning. Muna had not slept. The weight of her lies pressed on her chest like a stone. Felix still slept beside her, one arm thrown across her waist. He looked peaceful. She traced the line of his jaw and tried to memorize it. In a few hours, everything could change. He might never look at her the same way again.Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. She reached for it slowly, careful not to wake him. An unknown number filled the screen:TIME’S UP. TONIGHT. 8 PM. THE SAME WAREHOUSE WHERE WE MET. COME ALONE OR I TELL FELIX EVERYTHING. YOUR CHOICE.Her hands began to shake. The debt had been called in.She could run. She could pack a bag and disappear before Felix woke. But running would prove every bad thing he already suspected. It would shred whatever trust they had left.Or she could tell him. Finally. Before the enemy did.The idea of telling him made her throat close. The thought of watching his face change when he heard the truth terrified her more th

The warehouse in the Meatpacking District was cold, even with the heaters running. Muna sat wrapped in one of Felix’s shirts, watching him talk to Vincent over an encrypted call about the council meeting happening that night.“Every family will be there,” Vincent said. “The Russians, Irish, Mexicans everyone.”“Security?” Felix asked.“As tight as possible, but it’s still risky. All our enemies in one room””“That’s the point,” Felix cut in. “We either take control now or fight them one by one later.”After the call, Felix walked to Muna and pulled her close. “You sure about this?”“No,” she admitted, “but we don’t have a choice. We show strength, or we look weak. There’s no middle ground.”He kissed her. It started soft but quickly turned into something hungry and rough. They needed to feel each other to remind themselves they were alive.When it was over, they stayed pressed together, breathing hard.“I love you,” Felix whispered. “Whatever happens tonight, remember that.”“I love y

The photograph burned in Felix's hand proof that even here, in his most secure location, they were being watched. Someone had cameras recording their most intimate moments."How the fuck is this possible?" he growled, already tearing through the bedroom, checking every corner, every surface for hidden surveillance.Muna stood frozen, feeling violated in a way that made her skin crawl. "We swept this place. Multiple times.""Then we missed something. Or someone's been here since." Felix's expression turned murderous. "Vincent!"Within minutes, Vincent arrived with a security team, professional-grade detection equipment in hand. As they began another sweep, Muna found Isabella hovering in the hallway, her face pale."What's happened?" her mother asked."Someone's still watching us," Muna said coldly. "Still recording everything we do. And you're going to tell us how.""I don't know what you—""Bullshit." Muna grabbed her mother's arm, pulling her into the study and slamming the door. Fe