Semua Bab The Billionaire’s Broken Angel… and His Darkest Desire: Bab 61 - Bab 70

Maya had forgotten what it felt like to be touched without flinching.Declan's hand rested on the small of her back as they navigated through the crowd at the Moonlight Cove Spring Festival, his touch so light she could barely feel it through her jacket. Yet she was acutely aware of it—the warmth, the steadiness, the way his palm didn't grip or guide but simply existed there. A point of contact that asked nothing and demanded less. Three months ago, she would have pulled away. Two months ago, she would have tolerated it with gritted teeth. Now, standing in the golden glow of string lights strung between the oak trees in the town square, she found herself leaning back into it.Just slightly. Just enough to let him know she wanted him there."You okay?" Declan's voice was low, meant only for her despite the laughter and music swirling around them. He always asked. Never assumed.She turned to look up at him, at the man who'd spent five months proving that patience wasn't just a virtue b

Ethan Cole didn't need it. Want, yes. Desire, absolutely. But need—that desperate, clawing thing that made a man vulnerable—he'd locked that away the day his father's boat went down and his mother started drinking herself to sleep every night. Need was weakness, and weakness got you hurt.So why the hell couldn't he stop thinking about Maya Reeves?He stood in the doorway of the Tidewater Inn's kitchen, watching her knead bread dough with a focused intensity that made his chest ache. Flour dusted her cheekbone, and her hair was falling out of its messy bun, and she was humming something under her breath—something off-key and entirely unconscious—and he wanted to cross the room and kiss her so badly his hands shook."Are you planning to stand there all morning, or are you actually going to fix that cabinet?" Maya asked without looking up.Ethan's mouth curved despite himself. Six months ago, she would have apologized for asking. Would have made herself smaller, quieter, as if her mere

Sebastian Kane didn't lose control. He'd built an empire on the principle that emotion was a weakness, that calculated precision trumped passion every time. But standing in the grand foyer of the Tidewater Inn, watching Maya descend the staircase in that midnight blue dress that clung to every curve he'd memorized with his hands, he felt something fundamental crack inside his chest.She wasn't supposed to look at him like that—with fire in her eyes and steel in her spine. She wasn't supposed to be the one walking away."This conversation isn't over," he said, his voice low and dangerous. The same voice that had made boardroom adversaries fold. The same voice that had once made her shiver with anticipation.Maya paused three steps from the bottom, meeting his gaze with an unflinching stare that sent heat racing through his veins. "Actually, Sebastian, it is. You don't get to buy your way into my life anymore. You don't get to show up here with your lawyers and your contracts and your g

Maya had survived earthquakes, but nothing prepared her for the quiet devastation of seeing Marcus standing in the Tidewater Inn's lobby.He looked exactly the same—and that was somehow worse than if he'd changed. Same sharp jawline. Same expensive cologne that used to make her feel special and now made her stomach turn. Same smile that had once convinced her she was the center of his universe, right up until that universe became a prison. He wore a tailored navy suit that probably cost more than her entire month's revenue, and his hands—those hands that had taught her the difference between a caress and a threat—were casually tucked into his pockets like he was just another tourist looking for a room."Hello, Maya," he said, and his voice was velvet over razors. "You've done well for yourself. This place looks... different than I expected."Maya's body remembered him before her mind could catch up. Her shoulders tensed, her breathing shallow, every muscle coiled for flight or freeze.

The gun wasn't pointed at Maya anymore. It was pointed at Ethan's chest, and in that moment, she understood what it meant to feel your heart stop beating while your body remained alive."Put it down, Marcus." Ethan's voice was steady, but Maya could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hand had moved instinctively to shield her even though she stood three feet away. "This isn't what Eleanor would have wanted."Marcus's laugh was bitter, broken. "Don't you dare speak about my mother. Don't you dare pretend you know what she wanted." His hand trembled, the gun wavering between Ethan and Maya. "She wanted the truth buried. She wanted this town to keep its pretty little secrets. And you—" He swung the weapon toward Maya. "You couldn't leave well enough alone."They were in the cellar of the Tidewater Inn, surrounded by the evidence Maya had spent two months uncovering. Boxes of her grandmother's journals. Photographs of the night twenty years ago when everything had changed. Docu