Bonds

Chapter Six

~Maya’s POV~

Natalia’s voice, muffled through the phone, jolted me out of a daze. “You really think he did it?” Her words felt like sandpaper against my raw nerves.

I let out a sigh, “I don’t know,” the confession scraping my throat, “But think of it, Natalia. If I were to bomb a place, why would I leave evidence that it was me on the bomb?”

“Exactly!” Natalia’s sharp tone crackled through the receiver. “My thoughts exactly. But still, he’s the only one with a motive to stop the wedding. Maybe he realized what he lost.”

I shook my head, the gesture echoing the hollowness inside me, “I looked into his eyes. The Alex that loved me… I didn’t see that man anymore. There was anger, yes, but also a stranger, someone consumed by something I couldn’t understand.”

A beat of silence hung between us, thick with unspoken doubts. “So maybe it was his way of making good on that threat. Maybe this was his way of showing Everton that he means to really go to war with your father.”

“And my father, of course, couldn’t help but blame me,” I muttered, bitterness lacing my voice.

“When are you going to stand up—?” Shebegan, her question hanging in the air.

“No, Natalia, please don’t,” I interrupted, my voice laced with a plea. “I did that once, and it ended with my heart in pieces. That fire…” I choked back a sob, the memory a barbed wire twisting in my gut. “It’s gone.”

“Amaya…” Her voice was laced with concern, reaching across the miles to wrap around me in a virtual hug.

I clutched the phone tighter, “It’s gone,” I repeated.

Silence followed as I stared at myself in the mirror. A stranger stared back, her eyes dull with pain, her lips drawn in a tight line of resignation.

through the fog. “Amaya…” she began, her tone softer now, filled with understanding. “It’s not about the fire, darling. It’s about the embers.

in the air between us. Natalia, bless her bluntness, knew me too well to let it linger. Instead, she sidestepped, her voice sharp but warm. “Has

control after the explosion. Daniel, of course, is already planning a redo of the wedding since

on Natalia’s tongue, her silence crackling with disapproval. I knew

the dust and debris of today and paint the town

my lips. “It’s past ten. I don’t

not a porcelain doll to be shelved at his will. I know it’s easier to just comply, to shrink into the shadow he casts, but damn it, Maya, that’s not you. I miss the girl who could stare down a rogue wolf and laugh in his

to the gut, jolting me out of my

wiping

club that just opened,” she chirped, her excitement infectious. “Big Shot, it’s called, and rumor has it they have a dance floor that hypnotizes and cocktails that sing opera. I’ve

Nathan and Ivy?”

anyway, and you need a night to forget the bomb, the broken vows, the piece of shit that broke your heart. Plus, I have this new outfit that practically screams ‘watch me dance,’ and you wouldn’t want

you the address, you wear something that sets your inner warrior goddess on fire, and meet me

day. The Natalia Rant, as she affectionately called it, had a way of doing that, of stripping away the

word slipping out on a breath of newfound defiance. “Just one favor,

her voice already halfway out the

dancing. Lots and lots

echoing down the hallway. “Tonight, my

who punched Nathan in the face and defied her father wasn’t dead, she was simply hibernating. And tonight, Natalia was

rusty back gate, the cool night air a welcome slap against my burning cheeks. My heart hammered in my chest, a

teased, her voice a familiar melody in

leather

through my flimsy excuse. “The alpha throwing another

tasted bitter on my tongue. “Just needed to…

it,” she said, “It’s been a hell of a day. But tonight, we forget all that. Tonight,

my bruised spirit. I let out a shaky laugh, feeling the tension seep out

declared, a mischievous glint in her