Bonds of the Alpha Billionaire (Maya and Alex)

Chapter 72

-Maya's POV-

Saturday

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Seventy-two hours.

Three excruciating days had crawled by since the earth had split open beneath my feet. Three days since the man I was supposed to call Dad. the one who should have been my protector, my safe harbor, had looked at me with such raw, naked hatred that the air itself seemed to crackle with hostility.

The vibrant chaos of the park swirled around me, a meaningless blur of sound and movement. Laughter, shouts of encouragement, the rhythmic thud of feet pounding the dirt-it all blended into a monotonous symphony of noise that did nothing to penetrate the thick fog clouding my mind.

Natalia sat beside me talking endlessly and outlining potential solutions to the text message problem.

"We could try a signal blocker. It wouldn't be foolproof, but it might buy us some time to track down the source."

My gaze remained fixed on a distant point on the horizon, a point that stretched into an endless void mirroring the hollowness within me. My chest felt heavy, and everything just felt so wrong.

"Or I've been doing some reading. We could use a counter-trace program. It's a little risky, but if we're careful..."

Her voice trailed off, and I finally tore my eyes away from the empty horizon. She was staring at me with a worried frown etched on her face.

"Amaya," her voice was gentle. "Are you even listening to me?"

A flicker of pain crossed Natalia's face for a fleeting moment before she recomposed herself. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Talk about it?

How could I possibly talk about it?

How could I put into words the searing pain of rejection that had branded itself onto my very soul? How could I explain the suffocating emptiness that had replaced the fragile hope I had clung to for so long? That someday we could get past whatever it was my father felt for me. He hated me. My own father simply hated me.

a blur of black hair

we lived in. But today, even their playful energy couldn't break through the shroud of despair that enveloped

loud squeal broke me out of my reverie. Naty, panting and grinning from ear to ear, stood in front of me, his chest puffed out with pride as he wrapped his hand around his sister, Ivy, her cheeks flushed from exertion tried to

voice filled with childish triumph. Chapter

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unfamiliar on my lips.

him off her and leaned towards me, pulling me with her tiny hands, "Come on, Mommy. Let's play." I smiled down at her, "Mommy is really tired.

exclaimed at the same

with a knowing sadness. She understood, of course she did. She had been my rock, my confidante, the one person who truly knew the depths of my pain. Ivy and Nate, easily distracted, turned their attention

don't know what to say to make you feel better," Natalia

isolation. I turned

nothing to say."

throat made speaking a physical effort. "I have a father, and... and he hates me.

know this hurts, Amaya. It hurts like hell. But you can't

out and squeezed my hand, "I know what it's like to be hurt by the people you care about. And trust me, letting them win, letting their words define you, that only hurts you in the long run." "But how do

mine. "You don't turn it off. You feel it. You acknowledge it. But you don't let it define you. You are

of cold fear washed

"Natalia? What's wrong?"

caused her sudden alarm. But I saw nothing out of the ordinary, just the

get the twins and go." The confusion that had clouded my mind moments

starting to gather our things scattered around the bench. "We need to

about -"I began to protest, but

called out in a bright,

around her.

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Chapter 72

twins, still happily engrossed in their game of tag with a couple

my voice laced with panic. "What's going on? Why are we

as she called out for the

and reluctantly started making their way towards us. Nate tried to bargain