Mag-log inMy blood ran cold. Not just because of the words, they’d done worse than the scheme. They mocked me. Rewrote my pain as a punchline. Danced on the grave of my dignity like it was confetti. I staggered back from the door, suddenly aware of how my hands were trembling. Of how my chest rose and fell like I was still being dragged underwater. I could still feel it, the betrayal. The nights I cried myself sick. The baby. The blood. The gaslighting. The cold stares. The silence. No, this wasn’t just a memory. It was a resurrection. I pressed my hand to my chest, grounding myself. This body? This moment? It was mine now. Not theirs. Not his. If this was a curse, I’d break it. If this was a second chance? I’d weaponize it. Let them laugh. Let them bask in their borrowed joy. Because from this moment on, I’m not playing the quiet, obedient pawn. I’m the storm they tried to silence. The reckoning wrapped in silk and scars. They don’t deserve peace. Not after what they did to me. I’ll make them feel it. The same agony, the same betrayal. No, worse. Double. And the Kensingtons? Oh, they won’t be spared either. Their blood's just as soaked in my suffering. I lived by their rules in my last life. In this one? They live by mine. And mercy? Yeah, I left that behind in the last timeline.
view moreMaya’s POV
“Congratulations, Mrs. Kensington. You’re pregnant.” Dr. Sarah’s voice was gentle.
Pregnant.
I blinked at her, unsure if I’d heard right. My breath caught, my ribcage tightened as the words sank in.
She smiled and glanced at the clipboard in her hands. “From the test, it looks like you’re about five weeks along.”
Five weeks.
My hand drifted instinctively to my stomach, not because I felt anything yet, but because suddenly, something was there. A heartbeat I hadn’t heard. A future I hadn’t planned for. Something tiny and terrifying and… mine.
Dr. Sarah kept talking about vitamins, no caffeine, appointments but her words slipped past me like a conversation underwater. I wasn’t here anymore. Not really.
I was in Aiden’s office, imagining the stunned look on Aiden’s face when I told him. The way his brow might crinkle first in confusion, then joy. Or would it?
It was our anniversary. I’d gotten him cufflinks. Suddenly, they felt small. Insignificant. Compared to this?
What better day to tell him that he was going to be a father?
“Where to ma’am?” Gideon, my personal chauffeur asked as I stepped out of the hospital with a wide smile on my face.
“To my husband's office.” I told him with my heart pounding.
Aiden and I had a complicated history. We married through obligation, him in love with someone else, me hopelessly in love with him. But maybe…just maybe, this baby would change everything.
At a gift shop, I bought a simple black mug that read: Dad To Be.
The company lobby was unusually quiet when we arrived. I walked through the building feeling like eyes followed me, then darted away.
I ignored them. What mattered was Aiden. Us. the baby.
His office door was closed. I didn’t bother knocking.
Inside, he looked up from his laptop, half-buttoned shirt, his sleeves rolled and his jaw clenched. My heart stuttered. He was beautiful. Always was.
“Maya.” He called my name coldly and I winced. I forced a smile on my face, our lives are about to change.
“I have something to tell you,” I said, stepping forward.
But he stood fast and looked very furious.
“How dare you show your face here after everything?” he thundered.
My heart stumbled. My smile froze. Wait. What?
“I…what are you talking about? Is this about the documents? I left the physical copies on your desk and emailed the digital copy to you.” I moved closer, confusion tightening around my chest.
He grabbed a stack of papers and flung them at me. I dropped to my knees and picked them up with shaking fingers.
“What…what is this?” i asked, my knees buckling.
“You tell me. These were confidential. You and I are the only ones that knew about it. Now, the Stefans know everything.”
“The Stefans? You think I told them?” my chest tightened. “You think I'd betray you?”
He sneered. “I don't think so. I know.”
Silence.
“That’s not true,” I whispered.
“You’re fired. And the only reason I haven't called the cops is because I'm wondering if you’re worth the paperwork.”
“No…please. You can investigate. I’d never hurt you in this company. I love it. I love…”
“Thirty seconds, Maya. leave.”
My knees buckled. I tried again. “You can’t replace me overnight…”
“I already did.”
I froze. “She’s an intern.”
“You trained her. I hope she doesn’t take your evil side.”
“You’re acting like I'm a monster.”
“You are.” his voice was steel. “You handed me this company. Don’t act shocked when I treat it like mine.”
“I did that because I love you,” I said. My voice cracked.
He didn’t blink. He just turned his back.
Then came the final blow. “Elena’s back. She’s forgiven me.”
Elena, my stepsister. The curse I could never shake.
I should have seen it coming. I did. And it still wrecked me.
He tossed another paper.
Divorce.
“No…we can fix this.”
“Sign it. Won't be here when Elena moves in tonight.”
And just like that, the ground was gone beneath me.
I gathered my things and whatever was left of my dignity.
As I left, no one met my eyes. They didn’t need to say anything. I read the judgement in their silence.
They were sure that I was a spy who had seduced their boss.
“Ma’am,” Gideon greeted quietly. He didn’t ask questions. Just opened the door.
“Where to?” he asked, glancing at the rearview mirror.
“Home,” I whispered. But it didn’t feel like home anymore. Maybe, it never has.
My phone rang and I snatched it up.
Instead of Aiden’s voice as I hoped for, a familiar voice filled my ears.
“Don’t come back. You’re no longer a Monroe,” the voice said and the call ended.
I covered my mouth and sobbed.
What crime did I commit? Oh right…being born.
MAYAThe pictures arrived at noon.My coffee was still warm when the first one came through. I watched the images load—one after another, each one a small knife turning in my chest.Aiden. His hands were on hers. Their fingers interlaced. His knee bent to the floor. The angle of his body tilted toward her like she was the only thing that mattered in the entire restaurant.Even from the angle of the photograph—taken from the side, from a distance, I could see the tilt of her head. The way her hair fell. The shape of her profile.Elena.Of course it was Elena.More pictures dropped. Different angles. Him leaning closer. Her hand moving to his face. Him speaking, his mouth open, his eyes desperate. Her looking down at her lap like she was shy. Like she was pretending to be modest while he literally begged.A video notification came through next. I hesitated before opening it.His voice was rough in a way I'd never heard before. "Please," he was saying. "Just give me one more chance. I mad
SORENShe was real.I could feel the warmth of her skin beneath my palms. Could feel the rise and fall of her breath against my chest. The way her body pressed against mine and felt small. I wrapped my hands around her and took a deep breath. Inhaling the scent of her perfume. The smell of warm sunshine over her collarbones hit me. Followed by the mixture of creamy and sultry scent. Almost hypnotic. I was ready to let myself drown in her scent.Her hands moved across my shoulders, mapping the landscape of muscle and bone. Her fingers traced the line of my collarbone, and I felt my breath hitch. She smiled against my neck, that small, knowing smile, and pressed her lips there. Soft. She slowly brought her tongue out and let the tip touch my skin for a second before retracting it. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she whispered, and the words were real. I cupped her face in my hands and looked at her. It was Maya, but not the version I’d seen in the restaurant. This Maya had no walls. Her
SORENMy mind wouldn’t stay still.It kept drifting back to her—to that impossible, disorienting moment in the restaurant.For half a second, her eyes had locked onto mine. I'd watched them widen. Watching her brows pull together like she was solving an equation, like she was searching for something in my face that she couldn't quite name. It felt deliberate. Intentional. The way she looked at me—like recognition, like memory.Then, just as quickly, the recognition vanished, replaced by polite surprise—the kind people use when they meet someone they’ve only seen on TV.Maybe that was all it was. After all, she’d said it herself: the great boss of the tech world. Of course she’d be shocked to see me in a run-down diner that smelled like burnt oil and cheap coffee.Still… something in her voice, the way her gaze lingered, felt too personal.Or was I just reading into it?Now I sat at my desk, the sleeve of my shirt rolled up, staring at the mark on my wrist.The black cross was so recent
MAYAThe moment my key turned in the lock, I knew.The house smelled of stale perfume and lemon polish. I pushed the door open to find them arranged like a jury on the couch. Elena's mother sat rigid, her spine not touching the back cushion. Her hands moved across her lap with a brittle impatience in sharp, repetitive taps. Tap. Tap. Tap. Her foundation was caked thick today, almost corpse-like, and her eyes had that gleam that made my stomach drop. Father slumped beside her, the loose comfort of old guilt softening his features.I forced a smile on my face and forced my feet to move in their direction. This was going to end in my favour because I have the upper hand."Where are you coming from?" Elena’s mother's voice could have etched glass.I swallowed. "I had to see Aiden."The sound she made wasn't quite a laugh. It was meaner than that."Not even a day. Not even one day since you forced Elena to end things with him, and already you're spreading your legs for him?" Her voice clim
Maya’s POVThe touch was small — a collision of fingertips over a scatter of paper — but it landed like an electric verdict. For a moment, the clatter of cutlery and the stink of frying oil vanished; the world narrowed to the hard cut of his jaw and the burn of recognition I shouldn’t have felt.I gasped.Soren Stefan. Alive. Real. Standing inches away from me when he was supposed to exist only in the fragments of a life I’d already lost.Shock rooted me in place for a heartbeat too long. Then instinct surged — smile, composure, a mask pulled on fast enough to smother the truth. I couldn’t tell him. Not that I’d known him before. Not that he had died saving me. Not that we had burned together.“Middle school,” he said at last, his smile clipped, his eyes unreadable.My brows knit. “What?”“We went to the same middle school. You were… nice to me.”Nice? To him? My mind flinched. In all my memories, the hospital had been the beginning. I would have remembered a boy like Soren Stefan, wo
Soren’s POVHe stared at me as if I’d suddenly sprouted two heads. Then he burst out laughing, clutching his knees, throwing his head back, glancing at me between fits of laughter.“Is something funny, Felix?” I ground out.He straightened, cleared his throat, and adjusted his tie. “Nothing, Sir.” He shook his head.“Then answer the damn question.”Felix raised a hand, thumb and forefinger pinched together. “Can I ask you one, Sir? Just one? Are you suddenly into K-dramas? I just want to let you know that no matter how good and realistic they look, they’re never true.”His grin faltered when he caught my expression. The laughter drained from his eyes, replaced by a stern gaze.“Sorry, Sir. What’s your plan?”“What plan?” My forehead tightened.“Getting the board members on our side.” He waved a hand.He beckoned me. I arched a brow but didn’t move, so he stepped in, glancing around before whispering in my ear. “That’s not a problem, because I’ve got a plan. We secure the deal with Phl






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