Off Limits; My Best Friend’s Father. のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 71 - チャプター 79

MAYA’S POV.I stared at the ceiling from the comfort of my bed, replaying the events of the evening for what had to be the hundredth time or more.I still couldn’t believe I had let a complete stranger drive me home.I mean, what the hell was I thinking?I turned onto my side and pulled the blanket closer around me.I didn’t know him.I didn’t even know his name or where he lived.I didn’t know anything about him beyond the fact that he had nearly given me a heart attack with his car and then insisted on making sure I got home safely.And somehow, I’d let him take me all the way to my apartment.Maybe I had been too shaken to even argue. Or maybe I was just been too tired.Either way, I still shouldn’t have let me drive me home. Especially now that I wasn’t ready for anything.Not after everything that had happened.Not after Sebastian and Luisa.Not after spending six months trying to put the pieces of myself back together.The last thing I needed right now was another person complic

MAYA’S POV.If there was one thing Europe had taught me in the past six months, it was that being busy was an excellent way to avoid thinking.Unfortunately, it was also an excellent way to forget that I was a human being who needed food, sleep, and occasionally a moment to sit down without someone asking me to do something.Today had been particularly ridiculous.I’d arrived at the agency earlier than usual, only to discover that a collection of designs needed to be reviewed before an afternoon fitting. Then one of the models had arrived late, a shipment of accessories had gone missing, and my supervisor had somehow decided that I was the perfect person to help sort out the mess.By three o’clock, I was convinced my feet had filed a formal complaint against me.By four, I was ready to resign.By five, I was fantasizing about donuts.Not just any donuts.The donuts from my favorite little café. The ones with the soft centers, the perfectly glazed tops, and the kind of sweetness that m

MAYA’S POV.My day started like every other day.Too early. Too much coffee. And not nearly enough sleep.By nine in the morning, I was already buried beneath mood boards, fabric samples, sketches, and a pile of emails that seemed to multiply every time I answered one.I wasn’t complaining.Okay….Okayyyy.Maybe I was complaining a little.But I loved this. There was something addictive about watching an idea slowly become real: a sketch became fabric, fabric became a garment, and a garment became part of an entire collection.And somewhere in the middle of the chaos, I had began to realize that this was exactly where I wanted to be. Fashion wasn’t just beautiful.It was demanding.It required patience, creativity, precision…and the ability to survive a room full of people arguing about whether a shade of ivory was actually ivory. Apparently, that was a serious matter.I was standing beside one of the fitting racks, pinning a piece of fabric against a model’s dress, when Adriana wal

LUISA’S POV.“I’m sorry.”I froze.That voice.For a moment, I couldn’t quite place why hearing it made something twist uncomfortably in my chest.Then he spoke again.“I know I don’t have the right to call you. I know I probably shouldn’t even be doing this, but…”My fingers tightened around my phone.No.It couldn’t be.“Zaidyn?” I whispered softly, almost breathlessly.He didn’t say anything after I had spoken. And somehow, that silence told me everything I needed to know.My lips parted.Oh, my God.It was him.Zaidyn.The same Zaidyn who had lied to me along side Daniel; that’s if those are their real names.The same Zaidyn who had pretended to be someone he wasn’t while investigating my father.The same Zaidyn I’d barely allowed myself to know because something about him had always made me suspicious.I had sensed it.Perhaps not the whole truth, but enough to keep my distance.Zaidyn was the too charming type of guy….too confident…too ridiculously good-looking for his own good.

LUISA’S POV.By the time I got home, all I wanted was a warm shower, something to eat, and a few uninterrupted hours in which nobody expected anything from me.Work had been exhausting.My manager had changed the schedule twice, one of the photographers had arrived late, and I’d spent most of the afternoon pretending I wasn’t irritated by people who seemed determined to make their problems everybody else’s.I was ready to forget the entire day.I pulled into the driveway, cut the engine, and reached for my bag.I was about to step out of the car when I noticed the flowers.A bouquet sat on the porch beside the front door.I froze.For a moment, I simply stared at it through the windshield.White lilies nestled between deep red roses, surrounded by delicate greenery and wrapped in elegant cream paper. The arrangement was large enough to be noticeable without looking ridiculous, the flowers looked so fresh, like they were carefully chosen.My first thought was that someone had made a mi