Semua Bab The Billionaire’s Broken Angel… and His Darkest Desire: Bab 141 - Bab 150

Maya had learned that happiness was a fragile thing—built brick by brick, moment by moment, with hands that still sometimes trembled when doors slammed too hard. But standing in the renovated kitchen of the Tidewater Inn, watching the morning sun paint golden stripes across the new marble countertops, she felt something she'd almost forgotten existed: peace.Almost.The pregnancy test in her bathroom drawer upstairs had shown two pink lines three days ago, and she hadn't told anyone yet. Not Simone, who'd become her closest friend. Not Caroline, who'd evolved from attorney to confidante. And certainly not Ethan, the handyman with storm-colored eyes who'd somehow become the man she woke up next to every morning, whose calloused hands knew how to hold her like she was both strong and breakable at once.She pressed her palm against her still-flat stomach, fear and wonder warring in her chest."You're doing that thing again." Ethan's voice came from the doorway, rough with sleep and conce

Maya stood in the dining room of the Tidewater Inn, watching the first snow of December fall over Moonlight Cove, and realized she couldn't remember the last time she'd apologized for existing.Six months had become a year. A year had become a life. The woman who'd arrived with a duffel bag and a fading bruise felt like a ghost from someone else's story—a cautionary tale she sometimes told the guests who stayed too long at the breakfast table, the ones who recognized the particular wariness in her eyes. The ones who needed to know that surviving could transform into living if you gave it enough time and the right small town.Behind her, she heard his footsteps—the ones she'd learned to recognize by their rhythm alone. Steady. Unhurried. Safe."You're doing it again," Ethan said, his voice carrying that mix of amusement and concern that had become as familiar to her as her own heartbeat. "Staring out windows like you're waiting for something."Maya turned, finding him in the doorway wi

Maya had forgotten what it felt like to wake up without fear knotting her stomach.She lay in the four-poster bed—the same one her grandmother had slept in for forty years—and watched the morning sun paint golden squares across the bedroom walls. Outside, she could hear the rhythmic crash of waves against the rocks, the cry of seagulls, and somewhere downstairs, the rich baritone of Finn's voice as he sang along to whatever folk song was playing on the kitchen radio. Six months had passed since that first terrified drive to Moonlight Cove. Six months since she'd walked into the Tidewater Inn expecting a temporary escape and found something that felt dangerously close to home.The problem with peace, Maya was learning, was that it made you soft. It made you forget to keep your guard up. And forgetting—even for a moment—was how you got hurt.She pressed her hand against her chest, feeling the steady thrum of her heartbeat. Normal. Calm. No panic. No terror. Just the quiet certainty that

Maya stood in the doorway of the Tidewater Inn's newly renovated great room and felt something she hadn't felt in years: complete. The afternoon sun poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows she and Ethan had installed last month, casting golden rectangles across the restored hardwood floors. Where there had once been darkness and decay, there was now light. So much light.But the envelope in her hand threatened to shatter everything she'd built."You've been standing there for ten minutes." Ethan's voice came from behind her, warm and concerned. His arms wrapped around her waist, chin resting on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"She turned in his embrace, holding up the certified letter that had arrived that morning. "It's from him. From him, Ethan. After all this time."She felt his body go rigid, saw his jaw clench in that way that meant he was fighting to stay calm. Ethan—the handyman who'd become so much more, who'd helped her uncover her grandmother's secrets, who'd stood beside h

The confession hung between them like a blade suspended by thread—sharp, dangerous, and inevitable in its fall. Ethan stood in the doorway of the Tidewater's master suite, his shoulders rigid with a tension that had nothing to do with the storm raging outside and everything to do with the words he'd just spoken."I wanted you from the moment you arrived. But wanting you terrified me more than anything I've ever faced."Maya's heart hammered against her ribs as she watched him, this man who'd spent months building walls only to tear them down with brutal honesty. The lightning outside cast his face in stark relief—all sharp angles and shadows, the scar above his eyebrow more pronounced in the flickering light. He looked like a man standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting to either fall or fly."Terrified?" she whispered, taking a step closer. "You don't strike me as someone who's afraid of much, Ethan Cross."His laugh was bitter, self-deprecating. "That's because you didn't know me be