Bonds

Chapter One

~Four years ago~

~Maya’s POV~

It rained on the day I died.

People die in different ways, mine was one of the most painful kinds. My heart was ripped out and shredded into a million pieces right in front of me.

“Alex, please don’t do this to me,” I begged running after him, “Please I am begging you. I have nowhere to go.”

He turned to me, his blue eyes now as cold as ice stared at me. Gone was the warmth that made me feel safe whenever he held me to his chest, whispering just how much he loved me.

“Alex,” I whispered his name again.

“You are starting to irritate me. Do not make me throw you out, Maya.”

Maya.

The sound of my name on his lips was another painful stab to my heart. He hadn’t called me by my real name in the three years we had been married.

My begging was getting me nowhere I realized. Standing to my feet, I wiped the tears from my cheeks.

“You are really going to do this to me after everything we have been through together? After everything I gave up just to be with you?”

He didn’t say anything. He simply stared through me like I didn’t exist. Like I was nothing.

I stared at him. He looked the same. The same man I had fallen in love with. The same man I had turned my back on my entire pack for just to be with yet he was so different.

There had been so much whispers after the announcement of our engagement but the center of it all was that I was a gold digging stripper that had dug her claws into one of the most eligible billionaires in the city but neither Alex nor I had cared.

He kissed me two months after that and claimed me as his.

“You and I against the world silver.. Always and forever,” he had whispered just before he entered me for the first time.

We had both made sacrifices for love and I was not going to let him destroy it.

“You cannot just discard me like I am nothing to you,” I said finally, hoping to get a reaction from him but there was nothing.

“Do you have nothing else to say?”

Silence hung between us, almost suffocating me then finally he walked towards the table, grabbing a brown envelope and in that cold and detached voice, “My signature is already on it. Sign it and don’t let me see you ever again.”

“We can fix whatever is wrong. Tell me what happened. You can’t just leave then return only to tell me you are ending our marriage and then throw divorce papers in my face. Please let me fix it. Whatever it is.” I tried to step forward but halted in my step when I saw the flash of black in his eyes.

me of the most important detail of our relationship,

that because the next

Amaya Stone and from this moment, you

hit was so fast and painful, it had me falling back on my knees gasping for air. I had heard stories of rejection but none of them prepared me for

howling in pain as I

out of

hands pick

gasped out,

words that echoed in my head and that was the last time

That night… It rained.

night.. I

***************

is time for you to come back home. I have found a man

to steady my breath when my father’s hard tone sounded through the phone again, “Amaya

father I

known immediately I saw Daniel Stones’ name on my phone. My father hardly

take place? Who is he?” I managed to get out

fetch you before the week runs out.

me. Like a

Am I allowed

didn’t let me finish before ending the call and

had it in me to fight. To say no. That I wouldn’t be part of an arranged marriage to a man that I did not know but there was no fire left in me. It had all burned out after four

Ivy and Nathan. I knew my father wouldn’t approve of me bringing them

I quickly scrolled through the limited

voice burst through the phone with an energy that could light up the whole city. “Amaya! I miss you so, so much! Oh my goodness, are you at my doorstep right now?

ever-excited best friend, “Could you maybe give me

can’t help

I interjected again, gently teasing her, “You’re

all ears now. You have the floor,

like she could fill an empty

Natalia’s face in my mind. I knew her eyes would have

through the phone,

hesitating as I felt the weight of his demand settling over me, “he wants me… he wants me

felt heavy, the space between her breaths seemingly long. Her silence spoke volumes before she finally broke it, her voice gentle but

in my mind, the words sinking into my heart like heavy stones. “Make the same mistake again,” I whispered, feeling the sting of resentment, “get married, but this time, to a man of

my name

and I had honed

phone, almost feeling her understanding seep through the line. “After everything I did… I turned my back on my entire

voice a mix of frustration and empathy. “Your parents left you to raise

in, her words gentle yet

his name for a

of my decision heavy in my chest. “He said

laugh but it sounded hollow, “Fetch you?

laughed if the situation had

I wouldn’t bother you if I had

Ivy and Nathan yourself? Please, please say yes. I’ve been dying to see you for ages. It’s been over a year and I really want to hug you and you don’t even have to stress about Nate. You know how much he