Maya POV
I made it back to the apartment just as the adrenaline began to crash.
I went straight to the safe concealed in the floor of the closet. Passport. Cash. The burner phone Erin had given me. I shoved them into a duffel bag with frantic, clumsy fingers.
My hands were shaking now. Not just from fear, but from a cold, vibrating rage.
Then, the door burst open.
I didn't even have time to zip the bag.
Liam stood in the doorway. He was wet, disheveled, and absolutely furious. The calm, calculating Don was obliterated. In his place was a man losing control of his possessions.
"You do not walk away from me!" he roared.
He crossed the room in three long strides and kicked the duffel bag out of my hands. It skidded across the floor, spilling stacks of cash like dead leaves.
"Going somewhere?" he sneered.
"Away from you," I said, backing up until my legs hit the edge of the bed.
He grabbed me. His fingers dug into my arms, bruising the skin. He shook me, his eyes wild.
"You are mine, Maya! You belong to this family! You think you can just disappear? I own this city. I own the airports. I own the roads. You go nowhere unless I say so!"
"Let me go!" I screamed, struggling against his grip.
"I'd rather see you dead than with anyone else!" he shouted back.
The words hung in the air, heavy and toxic.
Suddenly, his phone rang. The special ringtone. The emergency line for the Commission.
He froze. He looked at me, then down at his pocket.
He hesitated.
The phone kept ringing. It was insistent. Urgent.
He shoved me backward onto the bed and ripped out the phone.
"What?" he barked into the receiver.
I saw my chance.
I scrambled off the bed and ran for the balcony door. If I could get to the fire escape, I could lose him in the alley.
"Wait! Stop!" Liam yelled, but he didn't chase me immediately. He was tethered to the voice on the other end. Something about a shipment. Something about millions of dollars.
And then, he made his choice.
I got the door open. The cold wind hit my face.
But I was weak. The miscarriage had taken more out of me than I realized. My body was running on fumes.
My foot caught on the threshold.
I fell.
It wasn't a graceful stumble. I slammed hard onto the concrete of the balcony. The impact jarred my bones and sent a shockwave through my spine.
A sharp, tearing pain ripped through my lower abdomen.
I gasped, curling into a ball.
Warmth. Wetness.
The stitches from the surgery hadn't fully healed. I had torn something deep inside.
I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't work. The world tilted sideways.
Liam was still on the phone inside. "Yeah, handle it. I'll be there in twenty."
He hung up. He turned around.
He saw the open door. He walked over, annoyed, adjusting his cuffs.
"Maya, stop this drama..."
He stepped onto the balcony.
Then he saw the blood.
It was pooling beneath me, dark and shiny in the moonlight.
His face went slack. The phone dropped from his hand, cracking on the stone.
"Maya?"
He fell to his knees beside me. His hands hovered over me, afraid to touch, afraid to make it worse.
"Baby? Maya? Look at me."
I looked at him. My vision was tunneling. The edges of the world were turning black.
"You... chose... the call..." I whispered.
"No, no, no. Stay with me. I'm calling the doctor."
He fumbled for his phone, his hands shaking so hard he couldn't unlock it.
I closed my eyes. The pain was fading, replaced by a cold numbness.
Liam's voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. He was screaming my name. He was crying.
But it was too late.
The darkness swallowed me whole. And for the first time in years, I felt free.
