CHAPTER 4: THE DOOR

"You look beautiful," Victoria said, pressing both hands to Maya's face. "He is going to lose his mind when he sees you."

Maya blushed. "I hope so. I really hope so."

The stylist was still working.

Ciara came up behind her and hugged her from the mirror's reflection.

"You look absolutely stunning."

"Thank you." Maya met her eyes in the glass. "Are you okay? You seem…"

"I'm happy." Ciara stepped back. "I'm so happy for you."

She did not hold Maya's gaze.

The perfume…Heavy, Expensive, Something with a dark base amber and something woody and specific.

Maya had smelled it once sitting on the shelf in Damien's bathroom and asked what it was and he had said a client gifted it, he didn't know the name.

She had picked the bottle up and looked at it and set it back.

“Not today, Get through today, Get to the other side of today and then deal with all of it.”Maya thought.

Twenty minutes before the ceremony, the guests were seated.

Victoria came in alone and closed the door behind her, sat beside Maya and took both her hands.

"Damien asked me to come get you." Victoria's voice was warm. "He wants to see you before you walk out, He says he has something personal for you."

"Where is he?" Maya said.

"His suite, East wing." She squeezed Maya's hands. "He's so excited, He just wants one moment with you before it all starts."

Something in Maya's chest went soft. Even now. Even with all the things she had been filing away and not looking at directly.

"Okay," she said.

'Oh my gosh, I feel flushed. He wants to see me, before everything starts, he wants one moment with me.' She thought.

She picked up her dress and flowers and walked to the east wing.

The corridor was empty, Her heels on the marble.

She saw the door at the end of the hall, not fully closed, not fully opened, the way a door is when someone pulls it shut in a hurry and doesn't check the latch.

She heard voices inside.

'Oh my God, Damien watching the TV at this time?'

She was still smiling when she pushed the door open.

The smile stayed on her face for exactly one second.

She stood blinking in the doorway with her mouth wide in shock.

“Ciara”. The flowers dropped.

She did not move. She stood there for five full seconds and everything she had filed away came at her all at once , the C on the bracelet, the receipt in Ciara's bag, two more dates before your wedding, the phone turned face-down, the rearview mirror, the perfume on the bathroom shelf and none of it was paranoia and none of it had ever been paranoia and she had known and she had chosen not to.

Ciara opened her mouth.

"Don't." Maya's voice came out flat and very quiet.

"Demian, you've been sleeping with my sister all these while?"

"Umm..." He was interrupted.

"So...What's the issue with that and point of correction, step sisters ok?"

"What! Ciara, I trusted you. I have always loved you. What did I ever do to you to take my man?" Maya teared up .

"I guess I warned you". Ciara chuckled evilly.

"Yes...yes...you warned me". Maya said, nodding slowly with tears flowing down her face. She turned to walk away.

"Maya wait!" Demian called.

"F*CK you!" She walked out in heavy steps

The dress was heavy around her legs but she couldn't feel it anymore... The processional music was still playing from the reception.

She rested on the wall, crying.

"I have nowhere to go," she said. She heard footsteps and quickly dried her tears, she looked up.

Elias Voss stood in the corridor.

He looked at her dress, her face and he did not look shocked.

"It's ok...it's ok to cry".

"Huh?" Maya widened her eyes.

He dipped his hands in his pockets and gave her tissue papers .

"Thank ...you" She said in a shaky voice and cried. He gave her time.

"He was with my sister." Elias could feel pain in her voice "Right now, In there."

"I saw it, I've known for a long time." Elias said.

"Then why didn't you say something?" Maya looked at him.

"I had no tangible evidence." He held her gaze without apology. "And you would not have believed a man you had met twice."

She looked at him.

"They were after your inheritance, Your mother's estate,The property." He said it evenly. "And something connected to my family's company, something removed from the records after your mother died." He paused.

"This was planned before he ever approached you."

"My mother's property is connected to your company?" Maya sniffed.

"Yes."

"You knew my mother?"

"My father did." He paused. "Very well."

The estate papers, The line she had read twice and not understood, 22% stake Voss Industries. Status “ pending verification”.

' Yes, I was so foolish. Damien had asked me about the properties in his car'. Maya thought.

"I want to take everything from Damien." Elias said. "Every single thing he has touched that should not have been his, The company, The money, the reputation, I have been waiting for the right move."

He paused. "I think you're it."

"You want to use me." Maya stared.

"I want to work with you. There is a difference." He didn't move or soften his voice. "You get your inheritance, You get the truth about your mother, You get everything they stole from you."

Below them the processional music shifted, the opening notes of the wedding march rising up through the floor. She could feel it in her feet through the marble.

"And I get what they took from me," Elias said.

She looked at him.

She looked at the ring on her finger ,the one Damien had slid on at a dinner table set for a trap, in front of people who already knew.

She looked back at Elias.

"Deal”

Elias gave a single sharp nod. “Good. We move fast. I’ll handle…”

“No.” Maya’s voice cut through his. She slipped the engagement ring off her finger, the diamond catching the light like a cruel joke. “First, I do this myself.”

She turned and walked back down the corridor toward the suite, dress dragging behind her like dead weight. She pushed the door open without knocking.

Damien and Ciara sprang apart, both of them flushed, half-dressed, eyes wide with shock.

Maya didn’t scream, She didn’t cry, Her voice came out flat, cold, and final.

“The wedding is off. There’s no need for a party. I’m out.”

Damien stepped forward, hands raised. “Maya, baby, wait , it’s not what you think…”

“Save it.” She held up the ring between them like evidence. “You and my step-sister can keep each other. I’m done being your mark.”

Ciara’s face twisted. “Maya…”

Maya didn’t wait to hear the rest. She turned on her heel and walked away, the heavy processional music still swelling from downstairs like nothing had happened.

Elias was waiting where she’d left him. He looked almost impressed.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said quietly.

“I did.” She dropped the ring into his palm. “Now tell me everything. About my mother, about Voss Industries, about what they really wanted from me.”

Elias slipped the ring into his pocket and checked his watch. “We have maybe ten minutes before they come looking for you. My car is waiting out back. But there’s something you should know first…”

He leaned in closer, voice low.

“Your mother didn’t just die, Maya. She was murdered. And the person who ordered it is still in that building downstairs, smiling for the guests.”

Maya’s blood turned to ice. Before she could respond, her phone buzzed in her clutch. Then a rapid string of messages.

She pulled it out with shaking fingers.

“You think running to Elias saves you?” Cute.

We own you, Maya, just like we owned your mother.” From an unknown number.

Just Look behind you.

She turned around.

The corridor was empty.

But at the far end, near the suite door she had just left, the shadow of someone watching her melted back into the darkness.

Elias grabbed her arm.

*******

“Ladies and gentlemen… this is an urgent announcement from the wedding coordinator.”

The chatter in the hall slowly died down.

After a pause too long to be comfortable, the voice continued, more strained this time.

“I regret to inform you that the ceremony will not be taking place today. The wedding has been officially called off.”

A collective gasp swept through the guests. Chairs scraped. Murmurs erupted like wildfire.

“Please remain calm while arrangements are made for your departure. Refreshments will be served in the reception area…”

But then the microphone hissed.

A sharp, violent sound like someone had grabbed it mid-broadcast.

Silence dropped again, heavier this time.

And then a second voice came through.

Not the coordinator.

Calm. Familiar.

And completely unexpected.

“Actually… the wedding is still happening.”

The hall froze.

No one spoke. No one moved.

Upstairs in the east wing corridor, Maya’s phone lit up at the exact same moment with a single message:

“Don’t trust what you just heard.”

Elias went still beside her.

Because from the end of the corridor, footsteps began to echo slowly… approaching them both.

“We need to go. Now.” Elias said.