ログイン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
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
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
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
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.
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







