MasukChapter 3 Maya's POV Davis pulled his finger out of me and I straightened up slowly. “Are you expecting anyone?”I shook my head. The knock came again, louder this time. “Maya, open the door.” Gabby screamed from outside. “I can see your car. I know you're in there.” “Oh shit.” I cursed beneath my breath as I arranged my clothing. Davis also hurried to get back in his uniform. “Who is that?”“My best friend, Gabby.” I rolled my eyes.“You didn't tell me your best friend was coming over.” He adjusted his belt.“Cos I didn't fucking know.” “Maya.” She hit the door quickly. “Hold on.” I turned around to make sure Davis was good and walked to the door. Gabby threw herself on me the second I opened the door. Her face was stained with tears. She grabbed my face and confusion creased her features. “Why are you crying?” “I heard what happened with Jude. He called me. I cursed him out by the way. A fucking bastard.”“Right.” I ran my hands through my hair. “Who’s that?” She turned
Chapter 2 Maya's POV He froze for a second. He exhaled. “What? You're scared of coming in for a little drink?”“You’re already drunk.” He chuckled. “Fine.” I rolled my eyes. “Come in for coffee or even water.”He stepped back and let his eyes trail my face. “Just a few minutes.”I scoffed softly. “Just a few minutes.”He looked around the house as we stepped in before settling on a sofa. I walked to the kitchen. “What would you like? Soda? Coffee? Tea?”“You.” He replied quickly.My breath hitched. I had wanted to tear that uniform off since the first minute we spoke but I had no idea that he felt the same way. I cleared my throat. He smiled knowing the effect he was having on me. “Tea would do.” He said. “Okay.”I brewed some tea and served him while I sat on the sofa opposite him. None of us spoke a word in the first minutes. We simply sneaked glances and smiled to ourselves. After a while, I kicked off my shoes because my feet had started to ache. “Need help with that?”
Chapter 1Maya’s POV The veins at the side of my head threatened to pop as I drove through the wet streets. I couldn't believe Jude could betray me like this. I had always suspected that he was cheating but with my worst enemy?That was very low even for him. I must have had too much alcohol because I was starting to feel nauseous. I wanted to park for a minute but I would be home in about thirty minutes so I continued driving.I got to the traffic light. It turned red but I didn't care. I couldn't afford to stop for anything now. My foot pressed hard on the accelerator and my car shoots pass the intersection. For a second, nothing happens. Then blue lights flash in my rear mirror and the siren starts. I exhaled and rolled my eyes. “ Of course. Unlucky me.I kept driving. The cop had to give up at some point.“Pull over.” He said through the mic. I increased my speed and kept going. I laughed at myself. This seemed fun. Minutes later, I realised this cop was prepared to f
Damian's Pov Scarlet had read it while standing in the kitchen, her face cycling through emotions I couldn't quite identify, and then she'd handed it to me without comment. The letter was surprisingly articulate for someone whose previous communications had mostly consisted of drunk texts and rambling voicemails. Savannah wrote about being two years sober, about working as an addiction counselor helping other people avoid the mistakes she'd made, about being engaged to a man she'd met in AA who understood her history and loved her anyway. She wrote about wanting to apologize in person if Scarlet would allow it, about not expecting forgiveness but needing to make amends as part of her recovery program, about understanding if Scarlet wanted nothing to do with her but hoping for a chance to explain herself. "Are you going to respond?" I'd asked after reading it twice. "I don't know. Part of me wants to tell her to go to hell. But I don't know... maybe a part of me is curious about w
Damian's POVElena took her first steps on a Tuesday morning while I was trying to get Jace ready for school and answer emails on my phone simultaneously, and I almost missed it because chaos had become such a fundamental part of our existence that witnessing developmental milestones required actually paying attention instead of operating on autopilot."Damian, look!"Scarlet's voice cut through my distraction and I glanced up from my phone just in time to see Elena let go of the coffee table she'd been using for support and take three wobbling steps toward her mother before collapsing onto her diapered bottom with a look of pure triumph on her face."Did she just—""She walked! Elena just walked!"Ethan, never one to be outdone by his sister even if he was more methodical about achieving things, pulled himself up on the couch and carefully placed one foot in front of the other, taking five solid steps before sitting down deliberately like he'd been planning this all along and was sim
Scarlet's POV "The Matsuda Corporation deal closed today. Six months ago they wouldn't return my calls because of the SEC investigation, and today they signed a fifty million dollar contract.""That's amazing. I'm so proud of you.""It's not back to where we were before Lucas started his campaign, but it's progress. Another year and we might actually recover fully."Eleanor had bought a two-bedroom condo about fifteen minutes away, close enough to help with the babies whenever we needed but far enough that we all had our own space. She came over most days, usually bringing groceries or picking up things we needed, and had seamlessly integrated herself into our lives in ways that would have seemed impossible six months ago.Damian's relationship with her was still complicated, still healing from fifteen years of abandonment, but they were building something that resembled a mother-son relationship even if it wasn't the easy unconditional bond it might have been if she'd never left."I
Scarlet's pov I rubbed my head looking at the three people who were currently stating up at me with hope in their eyes. I didn't know what my parents were trying trying to achieve by suddenly wanting to create peace and bringing— Iooked down at the bunch of you gifts in their hands—these gifts fir
Morrison's face went pale. He looked at the other board members, then back at me. "We... we have to decline." The words landed heavy in the room. I'd expected it. But hearing it still stung. "I see." I reached for my bag. "However," Morrison continued quickly, "we'd like to make a count
Scarlet's Pov"You can ask," I told him"What do you do to decompress? When the carrying gets too heavy?"I thought about it, genuinely."I cook sometimes. Badly." I wrapped both hands tighter around my cup. "I run. I sit in Jace's room after he falls asleep and just... watch him breathe. Which pro
SCARLET'S POV Two PM came too quickly and not fast enough. I sat in the same conference room where they had suspended me three weeks ago. The same long mahogany table. The same too-cold air conditioning. But this time, I'm not alone. Dr. Kim sat beside me, her folder of evidence in front of







