Share

42 One Last Request

Author: Sia Sage
last update Last Updated: 2025-12-30 03:37:47

Max

The phone felt heavier than it should have.

It lay on the table in front of me, screen dark, like it was watching. Like it knew I didn’t deserve what I was about to ask for.

I told myself I wouldn’t call.

She blocked me.

I’d already crossed enough lines.

Burned enough bridges.

But silence has a way of sharpening want until it feels like need.

I picked it up, Tyler's phone in hand, and dialed her number.

Hoping she talks to me one last time, even if just to say goodbye.

I hesitated—long enough to almost put it back down.

Then I pressed call.

It rang once.

Twice.

Each second stretched, pulling tight around my chest.

Then….

Voicemail.

I swallowed, my throat dry. I didn’t hang up.

“Sara,” I said quietly, the sound of her name landing wrong in my mouth now. Smaller. “It’s me.”

I exhaled, rubbing a hand over my face.

“I know you blocked me. I know you don’t want to hear my voice.” A pause. “I just… I need you to know I’m not calling to explain. Or defend myself.”

That wasn’t entirely tr
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • Fighting For Her Heart: The Billionaire's Obsession    A Note to the Reader

    If this ending surprised you, disappointed you, or left you wishing things had turned out differently, I want to speak to you directly for a moment. 🤍This story isn’t about choosing the right person.It’s about choosing yourself when love stops being safe.Sara and Max’s love was real. It wasn’t fake, shallow, or meaningless. But love alone doesn’t make a relationship healthy—especially when fear turns into control, and devotion turns into harm.Sara leaves twice in this story, and that matters.The first time, she leaves out of love. She believes that sacrifice is proof of devotion, that stepping away will protect Max’s career and future—even if it means shrinking herself in the process.The second time, she leaves out of self-respect. By then, she understands something she didn’t before: love cannot survive without safety, autonomy, and choice.The difference between the two is growth. 🌱Sam exists in this story not as an alternative ending, but as contrast.He represents steadin

  • Fighting For Her Heart: The Billionaire's Obsession   44 Three Years

    Three years later…Time doesn’t heal everything.But it does tell the truth.MaxThe cabin sits far enough from the road that the nights are still.No traffic.No cameras.No noise unless he makes it.Max splits wood in the early mornings, the rhythm steady, deliberate. The work is simple. Honest. It doesn’t ask him to perform. It doesn’t care who he used to be.The basketball career is a finished thing now.Not ruined.Not mourned.Just… over.He coaches part-time at a local school—kids too young to recognize his name, too busy tripping over their own feet to care about headlines from years ago. He teaches them fundamentals. Discipline. How to walk away when emotions rise too fast.He never tells them why he knows that lesson so well.Some nights, he sits on the porch with a mug of coffee gone cold, watching the sky change color. He doesn’t scroll old articles. Doesn’t search names he already knows by heart.He learned, slowly, that peace isn’t found by reaching backward.It’s built

  • Fighting For Her Heart: The Billionaire's Obsession   43 The Apology

    SaraThe café is quiet in the way public places get when they’re pretending to be neutral.Midday. Sunlight through glass. People around, but not close enough to listen. Exactly how I asked for it.I arrive first.Not because I’m eager, but because I don’t want to walk in and see him already waiting, already watching.I choose a table near the window. I sit with my back straight, hands folded around a cup I haven’t touched. I tell myself I’m calm.I am calm.When Max walks in, I don’t look up right away.I know it’s him anyway.Some things don’t need eyes.He stops a few steps away. Doesn’t pull out the chair. Doesn’t sit until I nod.Good.He looks different.Not softer. Not redeemed.Smaller.He doesn’t reach for me. Doesn’t lean in. He keeps his hands where I can see them—on the table, open, empty.“Thank you for coming,” he says.I meet his eyes now. “I didn’t come for you.”He nods once. “I know.”Silence settles between us. Not awkward. Not charged.Honest.“I’ll say this once,”

  • Fighting For Her Heart: The Billionaire's Obsession   42 One Last Request

    MaxThe phone felt heavier than it should have.It lay on the table in front of me, screen dark, like it was watching. Like it knew I didn’t deserve what I was about to ask for.I told myself I wouldn’t call.She blocked me.I’d already crossed enough lines.Burned enough bridges.But silence has a way of sharpening want until it feels like need.I picked it up, Tyler's phone in hand, and dialed her number.Hoping she talks to me one last time, even if just to say goodbye.I hesitated—long enough to almost put it back down.Then I pressed call.It rang once.Twice.Each second stretched, pulling tight around my chest.Then….Voicemail.I swallowed, my throat dry. I didn’t hang up.“Sara,” I said quietly, the sound of her name landing wrong in my mouth now. Smaller. “It’s me.”I exhaled, rubbing a hand over my face.“I know you blocked me. I know you don’t want to hear my voice.” A pause. “I just… I need you to know I’m not calling to explain. Or defend myself.”That wasn’t entirely tr

  • Fighting For Her Heart: The Billionaire's Obsession   41 Silence

    MaxSilence followed him home.Not immediately.It waited.It sat in the car as he drove, radio off, hands tight on the wheel. The city blurred past in streaks of light and shadow, familiar streets suddenly foreign. Every red light felt like a pause meant for something to happen.Nothing did.When he unlocked the door, the house greeted him the same way the hospital room had.With nothing.No footsteps upstairs.No voice asking if he was okay.No sound except the click of the door locking behind him.He stood there longer than necessary, keys still in his hand, like he was waiting for someone to tell him where to put them. Eventually, he dropped them on the counter. The sound echoed too loudly in the empty space.Silence absorbed it.He walked through the house slowly.Living room. Kitchen. Hallway.Everything was exactly where he’d left it. The couch still held the shape of his body. The fridge hummed softly, indifferent. A jacket hung over the back of a chair—hers, once. He stared a

  • Fighting For Her Heart: The Billionaire's Obsession   40 Fallout

    MaxThe first thing I heard when I woke up was silence. “Who brought me here?” he thinks to himself. But there is no one here to answer his question.Only Silence.Not the calm kind.The kind that presses against your ears until you realize something is missing.No crowd.No court.No roar of approval.Just the hum of a hospital hallway outside the room and the sharp ache behind my eyes.My phone was on the bedside table.Face down.I didn’t need to turn it over to know.But I did anyway.The screen lit up instantly—notifications stacked so thick they blurred together. Missed calls. Messages. Alerts. Names I recognized. Names I didn’t. Some I hadn’t spoken to in years.I opened the first headline without thinking.STAR PLAYER ASSAULTS ACTOR OUTSIDE CAFÉSAM MATTHEWS HOSPITALIZED AFTER PUBLIC ATTACKVIDEO GOES VIRAL: “MAXIMUS TURNER LOSES CONTROL”My stomach dropped.I scrolled.Photos.Too many of them.Sam on a stretcher. Blood on the pavement. Security is holding me back. My face—w

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status