Semua Bab The Billionaire’s Broken Angel… and His Darkest Desire: Bab 121 - Bab 130

Ethan stood in the doorway of the Tidewater Inn's master bedroom, watching Maya sleep in the pre-dawn light, and realized with startling clarity that he'd been holding his breath for thirty-seven years—waiting for this exact moment to finally exhale.The revelation terrified him more than anything he'd faced in combat.She was curled on her side, one hand tucked beneath her cheek, her dark hair spilling across the pillow like ink on parchment. The morning sun caught the silver scar on her cheekbone—the one she'd stopped trying to hide from him months ago—and turned it into something almost beautiful. A testament to survival. To strength. To the woman who'd walked into his life six months ago carrying nothing but trauma and a duffel bag, and had somehow managed to crack open every defense he'd built since Afghanistan.He'd sworn he wouldn't do this. Wouldn't let anyone close enough to hurt him again. Not after watching his entire unit die in that valley. Not after carrying survivor's g

The scar on Maya's cheekbone had long since faded to nothing, but Declan still traced it sometimes in the dark, his calloused fingers gentle against her skin, as if he could feel the ghost of what had been. Three years since she'd arrived in Moonlight Cove with nothing but a duffel bag and a heart full of fear. Three years since she'd met the handsome handyman with storm-grey eyes who'd taught her that love didn't have to hurt.But tonight, standing in the foyer of the Tidewater Inn with her ex-husband's letter clutched in her trembling hand, Maya felt every old wound split open fresh.I know where you are. I'm coming for what's mine."Maya?" Declan's voice came from behind her, rough with concern. She heard his footsteps on the hardwood, felt the warmth of him before he even touched her. "What's wrong? You're shaking."She couldn't turn around. Couldn't let him see the terror that must be written all over her face. For three years, she'd been building a life here—had transformed the

Maya woke to the sound of waves and the warmth of Ethan's arm draped across her waist, and for the first time in her life, she didn't flinch at being held. The realization hit her with the force of a revelation: she was happy. Not the cautious, conditional happiness she'd learned to accept as enough, but the real thing—deep and bone-settled and terrifyingly fragile.Ethan's breath was steady against the back of her neck, and she could feel his heartbeat against her spine. After everything—the mystery of Eleanor's death finally solved, the confrontation with Marcus that had nearly destroyed them both, the painful excavation of secrets that had poisoned Moonlight Cove for a decade—they'd found their way here. To this quiet moment. Choosing each other when staying would have been easier than fighting for what they'd built.She shifted slightly, and his arm tightened around her in sleep, a protective gesture that no longer made her feel trapped. That was growth, she supposed. Learning the

Maya woke to the smell of coffee and the sound of the ocean, and for the first time in ten years, she didn't check for exits before opening her eyes.Ethan stood at the window of their bedroom—their bedroom, still strange and wonderful to think—silhouetted against the dawn breaking over Moonlight Cove. His dark hair was sleep-tousled, and he wore nothing but the worn pajama pants she'd bought him last month as a joke, the ones with tiny lighthouses printed all over them. He held two mugs, and she could see the steam curling upward in the soft light."I can feel you staring," he said without turning around, and she caught the smile in his voice."Maybe I like the view." Maya stretched beneath the quilts her grandmother had made, the ones that had survived decades in the Tidewater Inn, waiting for someone to love them again. Waiting for her to come home.Ethan turned, and the look on his face made her breath catch. After six months of rebuilding the inn together, after solving the myste

The DNA results sat on the kitchen table like a loaded gun, and Maya couldn't stop staring at them. After everything—the secrets unearthed, the danger faced, the love found and nearly lost—this single piece of paper threatened to rewrite her entire understanding of who she was. Eleanor Reeves hadn't just been her grandmother. She'd been her mother's mother and her father's aunt, which meant the man Maya had called "Dad" her entire childhood had actually been her second cousin. The family tree she'd thought she knew had been a carefully constructed lie, and the truth was so much more complicated than she'd ever imagined.Across from her, Ethan reached for her trembling hand. Six months ago, he'd been the storm-eyed handyman who fixed her roof and slowly, carefully, fixed the broken parts of her heart she'd thought were beyond repair. Now he was the man who'd stood between her and a killer, who'd believed in her when she couldn't believe in herself, who'd promised her that they could fa