MasukEthan’s POVSomething changed after dinner with Maya the previous night I noticed it sometime this morning while standing in the kitchen holding coffee that had already gone cold because I forgot to drink it. The feeling had been there before I woke properly sitting somewhere beneath my ribs like an itch I could not reach, and by afternoon I finally understood what it was.The realization unsettled me more than the feeling itself dor months Maya had been the only certainty in a life built almost entirely from missing pieces. She answered questions I could not answer for myself. She sat through nights where panic arrived without warning and left me struggling to breathe over memories that refused to surface. She explained gaps. Corrected timelines. Filled silence whenever confusion became obvious.Trusting her had become habit and questioning her felt wrong yet recently that wrongness had started changing shape. The villa felt different too.The routines had become impossible to ignor
Lena's POVI used to think preparing another nursery would break me and maybe that sounds dramatic but after losing Ethan there were certain things I convinced myself I would never survive and building a space for another baby without him sat somewhere near the top of that list.I stood outside the spare room holding a box of folded baby clothes while Eli sat beside my feet hitting two toy blocks together loudly. The room had been painted weeks ago after Victor insisted and until now I avoided opening the door not because I forgot because opening it made everything real.Another baby and another piece of Ethan and another child who would grow up hearing stories instead of memories. I took a breath before pushing the door open the first thing Eli did was crawl inside happily like he owned the place already and that made me smile before I could stop it and the realization surprised me.Pregnancy changes strange things and motherhood too.Eli pulled himself up against the crib laughing a
Ethan's POVI woke up angry not irritated or frustrated but actually angry the kind that sits heavy in your chest before your eyes even open for a few seconds I stayed still staring at the ceiling while my breathing slowly settled because the dream still clung to me in a way dreams normally don't.Everything felt too real that was becoming a problem.Months ago the memories came in flashes that disappeared before I understood them but lately things lasted longer although faces stayed blurred but the feelings didn't.I rubbed my hand over my face before sitting up the room was quiet except for rain outside and my chest hurt I hate that I hate waking up with grief and not knowing who belongs to it I closed my eyes briefly and the dream came back immediately.I remembered warmth and soft sheets the feeling of somebody curled against me a woman with dark hair spread across a pillow while early sunlight came through curtains. I couldn't see her face properly but I remembered touching her.
Lena's POVI used to think grief stayed loud I thought losing somebody would always feel the way it did at the funeral or the nights afterward when breathing hurt and sleeping became impossible but I was wrong. The worst part of grief is when life keeps moving because bills still need paying, children still wake up hungry and companies still expect decisions and somehow people look at you waiting for leadership while your whole world feels broken.I adjusted Eli on my hip while stepping out of the elevator inside Carter Enterprises. He was sleepy already and kept rubbing his face against my shoulder while holding one of his stuffed animals.The building looked exactly the same and Ethan belonged in places like this because he was always confident and certain I still felt like an intruder.The receptionist stood immediately. "Mrs. Carter, the board is waiting."Of course they were they always waited now watching and judging wondering if the grieving widow would finally fail I nodded on
Maya’s povI started noticing changes in Ethan after he asked about Lena for the first time but I convinced myself it was temporary because memory recovery is unpredictable and doctors warned me months ago that frustration would come before progress. I held onto that explanation longer than I should have.Now I am not sure I believe it because frustration and suspicion are different things. Ethan has become suspicious the way he watches me lately reminds me too much of the man he used to be before the explosion and that terrifies me more than I want to admit because the old Ethan noticed details.I parked outside the clinic gripping the steering wheel while rain hit the windshield steadily. The appointment had been scheduled weeks ago as one of Ethan’s routine evaluations but I asked to come alone because there were things I needed answered.The neurologist greeted me politely and led me toward his office. "How has he been?" he asked after sitting down.I lowered my eyes briefly befor
Lena’s povI was sitting on the floor folding Eli’s tiny clothes while he crawled around the living room throwing toys behind him like his personal mission in life was making extra work for me. Pregnancy had made me tired lately the kind where your body feels heavy all day and emotions sit closer to the surface.I folded another little shirt before looking over at Eli he was sitting near the coffee table chewing on one of his stuffed animals.I frowned immediately."Eli, why do you insist on eating things that are not food?" I asked making my way toward him slowly he looked up at me with Ethan’s eyes and smiled and my chest tightened the way it always does and I don't think that feeling will ever go away.I took the toy from him earning an offended little noise. "Oh now you are angry with me?" I laughed softly.His tiny brows pulled together. "Mama."Everything stopped as I stared at him and my breath caught instantly. Eli looked at me again still smiling. "Mama."The word hit me so h
Ryan’s POVI knew the second Maya went down that I needed a new angle.I didn’t panic. I don’t panic. I adjust.That’s the difference between me and people like Ethan. He reacts. I plan.When I found out Lena suddenly had “biological parents” who appeared out of nowhere, I didn’t believe it for a s
Lena’s POVI wake before the sun staring at the ceiling with my heart beating too fast. The house is quiet and I lie on my side, one hand curled over my stomach like it belongs there. The baby moves sometimes at this hour, slow, soft kicks that feel like tiny reminders that life is still happening
Lena’s POVFour weeks have passed since the storm rolled across Achwick like it wanted to erase everything in its path and yet the town is still standing, breathing and somehow growing instead of breaking.From the front window of the café I watch it every morning the slow reshaping of a place that
Ethan’s POVI don’t sleep much anymore. I lie in that guesthouse by the beach staring at a ceiling thinking about the Millers.That is what sits in my head when I close my eyes. Samuel and Chanel Miller.Names that look perfect on paper too perfect.I sit at the small desk in the guesthouse with my







