Maya Rami is a survivor. As single mother in Dubai, she has worked relentlessly to provide the best for her daughter. But when she loses her job at an elite private school due to a scandal she had no part in, her life is thrown into turmoil. In an attempt at stability, she takes on the position of tutoring billionaire Adam Saif's son. Maya expectes that Sami will be just like any other pampered kid, yet he isn't. He's genius, withdrawn, and completely silent. Nobody, not even his powerful father has any idea how to reach him. Then there's Adam himself. Ice-cold, ruthless, and inscrutable, his entire life revolves around control. But behind the hardened facade, Maya senses something else, a man shaped by secrets, not authority. What starts out as a simple assignment soon turns a lot more complicated. The more time Maya spends in Adam's world, the more she sees the cracks in his armor. The late-night conversations turn into lingering looks. The chemistry between them is undeniable, yet Adam has made one thing very clear, he doesn't believe in love. Just as Maya begins to penetrate his defenses, his past comes back to haunt him. The enemies that encircle him close in, targeting everything, including Sami. Now Maya has to make an impossible choice: walk away before she's pulled into the storm or stay with the one man she never imagined she'd fall in love with.
View MoreChapter 77Adam PovI found Maya in the living room, curled on the couch, arms wrapped tight around her body. The lamplight carved shadows across her face and she stared at the pillow on her lap like it could swallow her up.I sat down beside her. Not close enough to touch as I was lost for words. “Maya,” I said finally, my voice rough and unsteady.Her eyes lifted to mine and all I saw was pain. A confirmation that she already knew.Finally, she whispered. “Why custody?”The sound of her words scraped raw against me.I reached out and took her hand in mine.. I hadn’t realized how much I needed the feel of her skin until it was there, anchoring me.“I don't know, I admitted, the word like ash in my mouth. “Yes, Lena has filed. The law… it looks at blood but we'll fight for you.”Her eyes fell shut. When she opened them again, they brimmed. “No, I'm done.”Something cracked inside me at the sound of those words.“No no no.’ I almost yelled, my grip tightening around her hands. “Don’t
Maya's PovBy the time Adam came home, the kitchen gave me comfort I couldn’t find anywhere else. I had thrown myself into the only thing that steadied me aside reading… cooking. Ihad kneaded dough until my knuckles ached, pressing my fears into each fold, forcing myself to focus on the rhythm. Now a loaf baked in the oven, its crust slowly browning, filling the air with warmth. A pot of lentil stew bubbled on the stove, cumin and coriander curling up in the steam.Leila sat at the table, crayons scattered, humming as she drew. Sami sat close beside her. Silent, but his little hand rested near hers. When she nudged a crayon toward him, he traced faint lines, his dark head bent close.I was taking out bowls from the cabinet when Adam walked in. He was unusually late and his jacket draped over one arm and his tie was slightly loosened. His expression as unreadable as always. But his eyes… sharp enough to notice everything.They landed on me and lingered too long. “Rough day?” His voice
Maya's Pov.By late afternoon, the mansion glowed in that golden way that usually thrilled me to watch. Only that today, I wasn't thrilled. The sunlight spilled through the windows, warming the marble floors that usually felt cold under my feet. I had just cleared the last of the lunch plates from the kitchen table and the crumbs from Sami’s barely touched grilled cheese. Lee on the other hand had left tiny crumbs like trophies of her victory over every last bite. I’d managed a few spoons of soup, not because I was hungry but because it seemed wrong to eat nothing at all.They were up trying to take a nap and as the I settled to read a book in the silence, the doorbell rang. I froze, book in hand. No one ever came here unannounced but these days, I had been having frequent ‘unannounced visits’, who would it be this time?Wiping my hands on my jeans, I walked to the door, trying to calm the strange flutter in my chest but when I opened it, it was just a man in a cap standing there and
Maya’s POVThe bed felt larger without him in it. Too large and cold. I stretched my arm across the sheets, expecting the faint trace of warmth he usually left behind, but the space beside me was untouched. The pillow was smooth, the sheets still tucked. He hadn’t just slipped out early, he hadn’t been here at all.A chill crawled through me that had nothing to do with the draft sneaking through the window. Adam’s absence was becoming a language of its own. A silence that said more than words. And yet what kept ringing in my mind wasn’t the empty space at my side, but the look in his eyes last night… That unspoken thing he carried like a weight in his chest but refused to share. He had held me too tightly, as though I were something fragile about to break, and whispered, “I miss you.”The words should have comforted me, but instead they lingered with questions. Did he miss me? did he miss the closeness? the heat of skin against skin? Did he long for me and the escape I offered him wh
Adam’s POVThe study had always been my place of clarity. A sanctuary of order. The books were lined neatly on shelves with a desk polished smooth by years of use sitting by the edge. And the faint hum of the computer filled the room like the voice of a friend in the room. I always came here for clarity but tonight, it felt like nothing but a cage.I sat at my desk, the glow of the screen spilling across my hands, the cursor blinking like a taunt. Numbers blurred in front of me, emails stacked up unanswered, contracts waited for my approval. None of it mattered now, none of it even got to me.All I could see was the echo of headlights behind me. The same pair I’d glimpsed in the rearview mirror the other night. All I could feel was the weight of that car parked too long down the street, unmoving, pretending to belong. Every time I blinked, I saw it. Every time I closed my eyes, the memory of being followed uncoiled in my chest.The company and my problems had always been separate fro
Maya’s POVI woke up in Adam’s arms the next morning, his breath warm against the top of my head and his chest rising and falling in steady rhythm. For a moment, I didn’t move. I just let myself lie there, tucked against him, listening to that heartbeat I’d trusted to anchor me but instead of comfort, unease spread like frost through me. His words from the night before replayed over and over. “I miss you.”But something about the look in his eyes conveyed more than his voice had. There had been something desperate in them, something that didn’t feel like the kind of missing that comes from love. it felt like the kind of missing that comes from fear, from guilt, from trying to hold on to something already slipping and from being horney.I couldn’t stop the whisper in my head. Did he miss me? Or did he just miss sex?His arm was heavy across my waist and his hand curled round my stomach as though he couldn’t stand to let go of me even in his sleep. I pressed my lips together, staring a
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