Semua Bab Stronger Than Pain: From Beta To Luna: Bab 11 - Bab 20

Maya’s povI stepped into my office, barely able to catch my breath. My heels clicked against the tiled floor, a staccato rhythm that did nothing to drown out the pounding in my chest. Every sound felt louder today. The air conditioner hummed like it knew something I didn’t. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead with irritating insistence.I didn’t even notice how tightly I was clutching my bag until I got to my desk and dropped it with more force than necessary. My hand trembled slightly. I curled my fingers into a fist to make it stop.There was no one else here yet. The emptiness felt personal, like the universe had stepped back to let me unravel in private.I sank into my chair and tried to reach for the nearest file, tried to pretend that the weight in my chest wasn’t suffocating. That Jonathan’s twisted smile from this morning hadn’t followed me all the way here. That Jayden’s eyes...confused, pleading,weren’t burned into my memory like a scar.But I wasn’t in the office.I was

Maya's Pov I was rinsing my coffee mug when my phone lit up on the counter.Just then, a message blinked onto the screen. I dried my hands quickly and picked it up, expecting another automated school alert or maybe a spam caller.Instead:Alpha Conan: Something came up. I need you at the cabin. Bring the ring.No greeting. No preamble. No smiley face or punctuation. Just cold instruction. So typically him.I stared at the message, chewing the inside of my cheek before typing back:Me: When?The reply came almost instantly.Alpha Conan: Now. Come alone.8:42 a.m.I stared at the time, then the living room. Jayden's favorite blanket was still crumpled on the couch. The faint scent of pancakes lingered from breakfast. My throat tightened.I should’ve stayed. I wanted to stay. But if I stayed, I was going to shatter. And if I shattered, nobody was going to pick up the pieces.Not Jonathan.Not the Pack.Not even Alpha Conan.Only me.I grabbed the small ring recorder and slipped it into m

Maya's Pov The eggs were overcooked. The strawberries too red. The juice too bright.Everything in the kitchen gleamed like it belonged in a catalog...pristine, curated, unnatural. The morning sunlight hit the photo of Jayden dressed as a tiny firefighter, and for a split second, I wished I could crawl inside that picture, where everything still felt simple. Safe.But the kitchen didn’t feel safe anymore.The pan hissed behind me, a reminder I was still here, still pretending. I flipped the last pancake and stacked it neatly on the plate, then poured orange juice into the dinosaur cup with shaking hands.A good mother. A perfect wife. That’s what I was supposed to be.Footsteps creaked behind me—measured, unhurried.Then the scent hit me. Leather and pine.I didn’t need to turn.Jonathan.He didn’t speak at first. Just came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist like he hadn’t spent months disappearing into hotel rooms and phone calls that ended the second I entered the roo

Maya's Pov I didn’t even bother turning off the engine.The hum of the car was the only thing keeping my hands from shaking as I sat across the street from the school. Jayden had gone in twenty minutes ago, and I should have been halfway home by now. But no… I knew she’d show. Samira.The perfect little thief.Fuck her and her very existence!I kept my sunglasses on, even though the sun wasn’t that bright. My eyes stayed glued to the front gate. Kids trickled in one by one, laughing, dragging their bags along the dusty pavement. Then I saw her.Bright floral dress, hair done like she’d just stepped out of a salon, her fake smile plastered in place. And there he was...my son,perched on her hip like some prize she’d won. They were both laughing, heads tilted toward each other like they had no care in the world.Something in me snapped.I turned the key, pulled into traffic, and trailed them like a shadow. She didn’t even notice. Of course she wouldn’t. Samira lived in her own bubble, wh

Maya's Pov The house was too quiet.Not peaceful, quiet in that heavy, suffocating way that made your skin itch.I lay on the bed, still in my clothes from earlier, staring at the ceiling as if it could give me answers. My eyes burned, not from crying,no, I hadn’t given him the satisfaction of seeing me break,but from holding back tears long enough to feel like my skull was on fire.The door opened.Jonathan walked in like nothing happened. No glance at me. No “are you okay?” Just that same detached air, peeling off his shirt, tossing it carelessly over a chair, and slipping out of his shoes. He lay down on his side of the bed as though I wasn’t even there.Minutes passed. I counted them. The tick of the clock was louder than his breathing.Then he sat up suddenly.I kept my eyes closed, breathing slow, even though every nerve in me was awake.He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and walked out. The soft click of the door was the only acknowledgment that he’d left.I waited. Ten s