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.

surface reminded me of the most important

hadn’t said that because the next

Stone and from this moment, you are

hit was so fast and painful, it had me falling back on my knees gasping for air. I had heard stories of rejection

as I struggled to see

her out of

hands pick me

gasped

ever let me see her again.” Those were the last words that echoed in my head and that was the last time I

That night… It rained.

same night.. I

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

to come back home. I

my father’s hard tone sounded

Yes father I

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

he?” I managed to

be your concern. I will send a car to fetch you before the week runs out. Be

me. Like a

Am I

didn’t let me finish before ending the call and I let

no. That I wouldn’t be part of an arranged marriage to a

opened my eyes everyday were Ivy and Nathan. I knew my father wouldn’t approve of me bringing them to

solutions in my brain, I quickly scrolled through

whole city. “Amaya! I miss you so, so much! Oh my goodness, are you at my doorstep right now? Please tell me you’re here! Wait,

trying to calm down my ever-excited best friend, “Could you maybe give me a chance to talk

right, right, right! I’m so sorry. You know how I am—I just can’t help it. I

teasing her,

ears now. You have

enthusiasm. It felt like she could fill an empty room

in my mind. I knew her eyes would

happened?” Her voice flowed through the phone, laced with

felt the weight of his demand settling over me, “he wants me… he wants me to come back

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

words sinking into my heart like heavy stones. “Make the same mistake again,” I whispered, feeling the sting of resentment, “get

my name like

need words. It felt like Natalia and I had honed this psychic connection from the very first day we met

him,” I sighed into the phone, almost feeling her understanding seep through the line. “After everything I did…

in isolation isn’t exactly an act of reconciliation,” Natalia retorted, her voice a mix of frustration and empathy.

defend their actions, but Natalia cut in, her words gentle yet firm, “You did it for love. You loved him,

have to say his name for a new wave of pain to wash through

my decision heavy in my chest.

laugh but it

laughed if the

you if I had

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 loves you. Sometimes, I’m convinced it’s even more than he loves me, which