All Chapters of OFFSIDE HEARTS: His Dr. Anchor : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

MAYAThe private elevator opens onto the penthouse's heavy silence.My heart races as I lift my gaze from the kitchen island. Ethan steps in, his dark suit still crisp from the board meeting, raindrops glistening on his shoulders. He looks weary, exhaustion shadowing his eyes, yet the captain’s armband rests inside the leather case Marcus insisted he carry.A wave of relief washes over me before I can clamp down on it.He catches my reaction.“I still have it,” he says, his tone light but laced with something deeper.“The armband?”A faint smile flickers at his lips, easing the worry etched into his features. “That too.”As he sheds his coat, draping it over a chair, the controlled movements betray the strain of the meeting.I slide a glass of water toward him, my fingers brushing against the cold surface.“What did they decide?” I ask, bracing myself.“Two weeks’ wages and a formal warning.”My fingers tighten around the edge of the counter, sandpaper against my skin. “That’s outrage

MayaChloe’s final message stays in my mind long after we leave the secure analysis room.I knew you’d come back to me.The confidence behind it is almost insulting.She still believes Ethan is the same man she once knew. A man who will hide pain behind anger, protect everyone by shutting them out, and face every threat alone until it breaks him.She has not realized he told me everything.Marcus walks beside us through the upper corridor of the training centre, Nadia a few steps ahead with the recovered footage secured inside her laptop case.“Do not contact Chloe again before the meeting,” Marcus says. “One answer was enough.”Ethan slips his phone into his pocket. “She thinks I’m coming alone.”“She needs to keep thinking that.”The muscles in his jaw remain tense, but he nods.Coach appears near the stairs, a folder tucked beneath one arm. His gaze moves over the four of us before settling on Ethan.“Finished with your secret meeting?”“For today,” Ethan replies.Coach studies him

Ethan Chloe’s message is still on my phone when I wake.Across the penthouse, Maya’s bedroom door remains closed. I stand in the kitchen with my first coffee untouched, listening to the quiet hum of London waking beyond the windows.Last night changed something between us.We spoke about the parts of ourselves we usually keep hidden. She told me about losing her parents, raising Leo, and learning that expecting help only created another way to be disappointed.

EthanCoach’s final words follow me all the way to Westbridge.Right now, Cross, I’m beginning to wonder if he has a point.Marcus drives faster than usual, but London traffic refuses to cooperate. Every red light feels personal.Maya sits beside me in the back, one hand resting near mine without touching it. Daniel and Nadia remained at the hotel to secure the recording and begin the legal paperwork against Chloe.I should feel relieved.We finally have her threat on record. She admitted the photograph was staged. She exposed Julian’s real motive.Instead, all I can think about is the squad training without its captain.“You made the right choice going to that meeting,” Maya says quietly.“I made the wrong choice with the time.”“You couldn’t know how long Chloe would keep talking.”“I knew when training started.”The answer comes sharper than I intend.Maya does not flinch.“That doesn’t mean Julian is right about you.”I look through the rain-streaked window.“He doesn’t have to be

Maya The elevator continues its steady, humming ascent, but the silence inside the mirrored car feels entirely too heavy. Outside Westbridge, the world had been a chaotic blur of flashing lights and shouting voices, a predatory machine trying to tear Ethan apart piece by piece. Standing in front of those cameras had been an instinctual reaction, an uncalculated defense of the man beside me.Now, enclosed in the quiet, metallic box of the lift, the adrenaline is beginning to fade, leaving a raw, aching exhaustion in its wake.Ethan stands close enough that his shoulder brushes mine with every slight movement of the elevator.