LOGINShare
Chapter 5
Last Updated:
2026-01-12 05:58:44Maya did not leave the hospital after walking out on Adrian because there was nowhere else to go and her mother’s shallow steady breathing anchored her to the room in a way nothing else could.
The machines hummed and beeped indifferent to her unraveling world and she sat stiffly in the chair beside the bed coat still on hands clasped tight in her lap every few minutes glancing at the door half expecting Adrian to appear again and half dreading it.
When her mother stirred late that afternoon, eyelids fluttering like they were fighting their way back from some faraway place Maya leaned forward hoping stabbing through her chest with sharp painful insistence and her mother’s eyes focused on her face just long enough for a faint fragile smile to form. It was small but it was real and it made the weight pressing on Maya’s chest feel momentarily lighter.
You look tired, her mother whispered and Maya laughed softly brushing her thumb over her mother’s knuckles as if the simple touch could anchor them both. She said she was fine because explaining everything she had just learned felt too heavy to pour onto someone else and her mother’s gaze lingered searching her face as if she could feel the turmoil Maya carried.
When a nurse arrived shortly after adjusting lines and checking vitals with calm practiced efficiency Maya nodded at the right moments but absorbed almost none of it, her attention fixed on the faint tremor of her mother’s breathing. The nurse left with a gentle reminder and her mother squeezed her hand weakly. There is something you are not telling me she said and it was not a question.
Maya swallowed heart tightening and whispered that help had come that there was a chance for better treatment though her mother frowned confusion cutting through the haze of medication. Help from where she asked and Maya hesitated only briefly before saying finally from work someone with resources.
Her mother’s eyes sharpened clarity, cutting through the fog. What did you give up? She asked quietly and Maya shook her head too fast. Nothing that matters she said but her mother’s gaze lingered as if seeing past every half-truth she tried to offer and the silence between them grew heavier.
By evening Dr Reeves returned with confirmation from Johns Hopkins that they were willing to take her mother as soon as the arrangements were finalized though he spoke cautiously and carefully not to promise too much.
Maya thanked him, a numb calm settling deeper in her chest and stepped into the hallway to breathe. The lights hummed overhead the disinfectant clinging to her clothes and she leaned against the wall closing her eyes for a moment only to hear Adrian’s voice again.
He spoke quietly with a doctor down the hall asking questions she did not fully understand, his tone measured but sharp calculating risks, contingencies and outcomes with an edge she had never noticed before.
When the doctor left Adrian turned and saw her stopping immediately the tension between them was so thick it felt like it could break at any moment.
He said her name carefully and Maya crossed her arms more to steady herself than to shut him out. She told him Gabriel had already said enough and he nodded once jaw tight.
He said Gabriel should not have told her that way. There is no good way Maya said and he accepted it with a small dip of his head. He asked if her mother was awake and when she said yes he did not ask to see her. That restraint startled her more than anything else.
They stood in silence, words stacked between them until Adrian finally said there was more she needed to know if she was going to walk away and Maya stiffened heart clenching. She told him he had already taken enough.
Adrian did not argue. He explained that the acquisition of her father’s company had not been about profit but leverage that her father had refused to sell or bend even when pressure mounted and that Charles Holt had wanted an example made someone visible and that Adrian had carried out the order because it was who he had been back then.
Maya felt cold seep into her chest. You destroyed us to scare other people, she said, voice sharp.
Adrian did not deny it. He said that was why he had recognized her name when her application crossed his desk, why he had brought her in instead of rejecting her telling himself it was a chance to fix something though he admitted now it had also been selfish.
Maya’s vision blurred not with tears but with something sharper. You knew who I was from the start, she said. Adrian nodded. He said he did not know about her mother until later and that had changed everything.
Every moment she had replayed since meeting him twisted into something darker than the coffee the internship the timing nothing felt accidental anymore. She told him she should have known and Adrian flinched slightly admitting she had every right to hate him.
She asked why he was telling her this now and he said it was because she deserved the truth before making a choice. The offer still stood unchanged but he would not chase her.
Maya turned away pressing her palm to the wall head throbbing thoughts colliding her father and mother in ICU, a future narrowing to a single impossible line.
Her phone buzzed. An unknown number. This is Daniel Blake. I need to talk to you about your father. Maya’s breath caught painfully. Daniel Blake was her uncle, her father’s estranged brother, a man who had vanished years before everything fell apart.
Another message followed. I know why Holt Industries targeted your family and it was not just about money. Maya looked up at Adrian wondering for the first time how much of the truth he even knew.
She told him someone wanted to talk about her father giving her uncle’s name and Adrian’s eyes narrowed instinctively. Something dark flickered across his face.
He admitted Daniel Blake had tried to blackmail Holt Industries years ago. Before Maya could ask more a nurse rushed toward her saying her mother’s heart rate had spiked and everything else dropped away. Maya ran.
Her mother lay awake breathing shallow eyes wide with pain. The nurse adjusted her medication efficiently as Maya took her hand whispering that she was there.
Her mother squeezed weakly. There is something I never told you she whispered. Maya leaned closer and desperate. About your father she said about why he lost the company. The room tilted. Maya told her to rest but her mother shook her head faintly.
Your uncle tried to warn him, she said. People were watching pushing him. Your father refused to play along. Her voice faded, strength draining fast machines beeping louder.
Promise me you will be careful, her mother said. Not everyone who offers help wants to save you. Maya nodded, unable to speak, tears finally spilling as her mother drifted under again. Later Maya sat alone shaking the phone clutched in her hand.
Another message appeared. Adrian is not the only one who owes your family. Call me before you trust him with your life. She looked through the glass. Adrian stood in the hallway face unreadable.
Her phone buzzed again. This time it was him. We need to talk now. Maya stared at the screen heart pounding, trapped between a man who had ruined her past and a secret that could rewrite everything.
Latest chapter
Broken by the Billionaire Chapter 11
The boutique called two days later to say Maya's dress was ready for final fitting. The woman on the phone had the kind of voice that made suggestions sound like commands, so Maya agreed to come in that afternoon even though dread sat heavy in her stomach. She told Diane she had an appointment and left Holt Industries without looking back, needing distance from Adrian's office and the questions she still could not ask.The boutique looked different in the afternoon light, less intimidating but no more welcoming. The same saleswoman appeared immediately, remembering Maya's name without being told and leading her toward the back where alterations happened behind closed doors. The dress hung on a mannequin near the windows, emerald fabric catching light and throwing it back in waves that looked like water. Maya stared at it and tried to imagine herself wearing it t
Broken by the Billionaire Chapter 10
Maya's phone buzzed again but she could not make herself look at it. The streets around her blurred into shapes without meaning as her feet carried her forward on autopilot. She walked until her legs burned and her breath came sharp and cold, until the weight in her chest felt too heavy to carry another step. When she finally stopped she found herself standing outside a coffee shop she did not remember entering before, the warm glow from inside spilling onto the sidewalk like an invitation she did not deserve.She sat on a bench across the street and stared at nothing while the world moved around her. Couples walked past holding hands, their laughter floating on the evening air like something from another life. A mother dragged a crying child toward a waiting car, her exhaustion visible in every movement. Maya watched them all and felt separated by glass she could not b
Broken by the Billionaire Chapter 9
Maya stood outside the bathroom for a long time after Victoria left, her hands gripping the counter until her knuckles went white. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, the sound drilling into her skull like a warning she could not decode. She splashed cold water on her face three times before her reflection stopped looking like a stranger. When she finally walked back to her office, Diane was waiting with a message that Adrian had left early for a meeting downtown.The relief that flooded through her felt shameful but undeniable. Maya gathered her things without looking at anyone and took the stairs down instead of the elevator, needing the burn in her legs to match what was happening inside her chest. The city outside was gray and cold, the kind of afternoon that made everything look washed out and temporary. She pulled her coat tighter and headed toward Mer
Broken by the Billionaire Chapter 8
Maya spent the weekend locked in her apartment pretending the world had stopped turning. She ignored seventeen calls from Adrian, twelve from Gabriel, and three from Elena that felt more like surveillance than concern. Her mother's nurse called once to say the treatment was working and Maya cried for twenty minutes after hanging up because even miracles felt tainted now.Monday morning arrived anyway, dragging her back to Holt Industries whether she was ready or not.Maya stood outside longer than necessary, watching her reflection in the glass doors like she was looking at a stranger. She had rehearsed what she would say to Adrian a hundred times but every version felt wrong in her mouth.The lobby felt different now that she knew what lived behind its marble floors and polished surfaces. Marcus waved at her from his desk but his smile faded when he saw her face. She d
Broken by the Billionaire Chapter 7
The pier smelled of salt rust and old water soaked deep into the wood. Maya pulled her jacket tighter as the wind slipped through the fabric and settled cold against her chest. The city lights behind her felt far away like something she had already stepped out of. Ahead there was only darkness broken by weak yellow lamps and the steady slap of water against the pier. Each step she took echoed louder than it should have.Her boots scraped against the boards as she walked farther out. The night felt stretched thin and empty like it was holding its breath. She could hear her own heartbeat louder than the water. Every instinct told her to turn back while she still could. But her feet kept moving forward anyway.She checked her phone again even though she already knew what it would say. Pier 19 come alone. The message had no name and no explanation and that made it worse.
Broken by the Billionaire Chapter 6
Maya’s hands would not stop shaking as she stood outside Holt Industries at five fifty in the morning. The glass doors reflected her back at herself, small and uncertain, like someone who had wandered into the wrong life. The building looked different this early, quiet and stripped of its power. Without people inside, it felt less impressive and more dangerous. A place that did not pretend to be kind.Her phone buzzed in her palm, Adrian asking if she planned to stand outside all morning. She looked up and saw the faint glow from his office window far above, forty two floors high. Knowing he could see her made her chest tighten and her skin prickle. She hated that he could witness her hesitation from a distance. Before fear could win, she pushed through the doors.The lobby swallowed her footsteps, empty and echoing without Marcus at his desk. The elevator ride was quiet except
You may also like
Forceful Marriage: Young Master's Mute Wife
A Lake’s Depth1.2M viewsMadam Winters’s Fight For Her Children
Summer Wine1.2M viewsMarried at First Sight
Gu Lingfei31.5M viewsMy Ex-Wife and Kids Came In Like A Wrecking Ball
Likable1.4M viewsDESTITUTE OF THE MAFIA'S VEGENANACE
Helena190 viewsOwned By The Billionaire Devil
Chelle340 viewsI Want Them All! Will They Learn To Share?
CJ Boss210 viewsThe CEO I was never meant to love
Solomon Emmanuel 154 views
