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.

about the fire, darling. It’s about the embers. They’re still there, glowing under

reply, a single word that hung heavy in the air between us. Natalia, bless her bluntness, knew me too well

of course, is already planning a redo of the wedding since I, apparently, need to finish my vows. A

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

debris of today and paint the town red? Forget Daniel’s mini-wedding plans, forget dinner with the

forming on my lips. “It’s past ten.

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

a punch to the gut, jolting me out of my

I whispered, wiping the tears that threatened to spill

laughter was like a spring breeze, clearing the fog of despair. “There’s this new 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 been dying to check it out, and tonight, my friend, tonight

Nathan and Ivy?”

girl time anyway, and you need a night to forget the bomb, the broken vows, the piece of shit that broke your heart. Plus, I

you wear something that sets your inner warrior goddess on fire, and meet me by the back gate in ten minutes. We’re

a place I thought had been buried under the rubble of the day. The Natalia Rant, as she affectionately called it, had a way of doing that, of stripping away the self-doubt and reminding me

I agreed, the word slipping out on a breath of newfound defiance. “Just

voice already halfway out the

Lots and

her mischievous laughter echoing down the hallway. “Tonight,

phone, a spark flickered to life in my eyes, chasing away the shadows of fear and resignation. The girl who punched Nathan in the face and defied

My heart hammered in my chest, a wild

long enough, Rapunzel,” she teased, her voice

I breathed, pulling the collar of my leather jacket tighter against the wind.

seemed to pierce through my flimsy excuse. “The alpha throwing another tantrum?”

though the lie tasted bitter

soft and understanding. “I get it,” she said, “It’s been a hell of a day. But tonight,

balm to my bruised spirit. I let out a shaky laugh, feeling

a mischievous glint in