Semua Bab The Billionaire’s Broken Angel… and His Darkest Desire: Bab 131 - Bab 140

Maya had imagined this moment a thousand different ways over the past six months, but standing on the widow's walk of the Tidewater Inn at sunset, with Ethan's calloused hand trembling in hers, none of her imaginations had come close to the reality. The October wind whipped her hair around her face, carrying the salt-sharp scent of the Atlantic and the ghost of her grandmother's lavender perfume. Below them, Moonlight Cove glittered like scattered diamonds, the town that had become her salvation and her home."Maya," Ethan said, his voice rough with emotion, "I need to ask you something, and I need you to know that whatever you answer, it doesn't change what we have. It doesn't change how I feel."Her heart kicked against her ribs. She'd survived so much—an abusive marriage, her grandmother's death, the revelation that Eleanor had been murdered, the confrontation with David that had nearly destroyed everything she'd rebuilt. But somehow, this moment terrified her more than all of it c

Maya stood in the middle of the Tidewater Inn's kitchen, staring at the three-tier wedding cake sketch that had somehow become a battlefield. Not the violent kind she'd once known—this was the gentle warfare of two people who'd survived too much to let something as simple as buttercream come between them. But still. A battlefield."I'm just saying," Ethan said carefully, his hands raised in that universal gesture of peaceful surrender, "that your grandmother always made lemon cake for special occasions.""And I'm just saying," Maya countered, her voice tight with something that wasn't quite anger but felt dangerously close, "that this is our wedding, not a memorial service."The words hung in the air between them, sharp and immediate. Maya watched Ethan's jaw tighten, saw the flash of hurt in those storm-gray eyes she'd learned to read like weather patterns. Three months since he'd proposed on the beach. Three months of wedding planning that had somehow unearthed every insecurity she

Maya had imagined her wedding day a thousand times during the darkest years with Derek—white dress, trembling hands, a church full of people she didn't know, and the suffocating certainty that she was making a terrible mistake. She'd imagined the weight of the ring like a shackle, the vows like a contract she couldn't break, the kiss that would seal her fate.This wasn't that wedding.This was nothing like that wedding.Standing in the gardens of the Tidewater Inn, surrounded by fairy lights strung through the ancient oaks and the scent of sea roses on the October breeze, Maya felt something she'd never associated with the word "bride" before: free. The dress Simone had helped her choose was simple—ivory lace with cap sleeves, flowing to her ankles, barefoot-on-the-beach simple. Her grandmother's pearl necklace rested against her collarbone, the only jewelry she wore besides the engagement ring Ethan had proposed with six months ago on the widow's walk at sunrise."You're shaking," Si

Maya had forgotten what it felt like to want someone without fear laced through every heartbeat.She stood in the doorway of the Tidewater Inn's master suite—her suite now, after six months of transformation—watching Elijah replace the final hinge on the antique armoire. His flannel shirt pulled tight across his shoulders as he worked, and she found herself tracing the line of his spine with her eyes, her pulse quickening not from anxiety but from something she'd thought she'd lost forever: pure, uncomplicated desire.Well, not entirely uncomplicated. Nothing about falling for your grandmother's mysterious handyman while uncovering a decade-old conspiracy was simple. But for the first time in years, Maya's want wasn't tangled up with survival instincts screaming at her to run."You're staring again," Elijah said without turning around, but she could hear the smile in his voice.Heat bloomed in her cheeks. "I'm supervising.""Uh-huh." He set down his screwdriver and finally turned to f

The storm that hit Moonlight Cove that October morning wasn't on any weather forecast. It came in the form of a sleek black sedan pulling up to the Tidewater Inn, and the man who stepped out wore a suit that cost more than Maya's first month of revenue. She knew him immediately, even though they'd never met. The sharp jawline, the calculating eyes, the way he carried himself like he owned whatever ground his feet touched.David Chen. The developer who'd been circling the inn like a shark since the day she'd arrived. The man who'd made her grandmother's final years a living hell with constant offers, pressure tactics, and thinly veiled threats. The man who, according to the stack of letters Maya had found in Eleanor's desk, had wanted the Tidewater's oceanfront property badly enough to make "acquiring it" his personal mission."Ms. Reeves," he called out, his voice smooth as oil on water. "We need to talk."Maya set down the coffee pot she'd been refilling and walked to the porch, very