Chapter 5

Maya POV

Consciousness returned in fragments, accompanied by the sharp sting of antiseptic and the rhythmic beeping of a machine.

My body felt heavy, anchored to the mattress as if my veins were filled with lead. But my abdomen... my abdomen felt hollow.

It was an aching, cramping emptiness that screamed the truth louder than any doctor could.

"Maya?"

A soft voice. Erin. My personal assistant, and the only person in this shark tank who didn't want to see me bleed.

I opened my eyes. Erin was sitting by the bed, her eyes red and swollen.

"Where is he?" I asked. My voice was brittle, like dry leaves crushed underfoot.

Erin hesitated, twisting a tissue in her hands. "He... his lawyer called. He sent a check."

A check.

I let out a laugh that sounded more like a fractured sob. He sent a check. A payout for the inconvenience.

"The baby?" I asked, though my body already knew the answer.

Erin shook her head, tears spilling over. "I'm so sorry, Maya. The trauma... the fall... there was too much internal bleeding. They couldn't save it."

I stared at the ceiling, tracing the patterns in the acoustic tiles. I didn't cry. I had cried enough in my soul. Now, there was only a vast, arid desert.

"Good," I said softly.

Erin looked shocked, her breath hitching. "Maya?"

"It's better this way," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "It won't be a pawn."

I sat up, wincing as pain shot through my core. "Get me my phone. And call the lawyer. The one I met with last month."

"Maya, you need to rest."

"I'll rest when I'm dead. Or when I'm gone." I looked at her, locking eyes until she stopped fidgeting. "I'm initiating the Phoenix Plan. Tonight."

Erin's eyes widened. She knew bits and pieces, but not the whole scope. "Are you sure?"

"Look at me, Erin." I gestured to the hospital room, to my empty womb. "He left me bleeding on the floor to save his whore. I am done."

*

Two days later, I walked into the Goldstein Enterprises boardroom.

I wore a black suit. Sharp. Tailored. Funeral attire.

Liam was sitting at the head of the table, surrounded by his legal sharks. He looked tired. Good.

When I walked in, the room went silent. The air grew heavy with unsaid words.

"Maya," Liam said, standing up. He tried to put on a mask of concern, but it slipped. "You should be in the hospital. I was going to come visit today."

"Sit down, Liam," I said.

I didn't sit. I stood at the opposite end of the table, commanding the space.

"My lawyer has sent over the papers," I said. "Irreconcilable differences. Adultery. Abuse."

Liam's jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath the skin. "We can handle this privately. You don't need to make a scene."

"The scene was made when your mistress threw a bracelet at me and I bled out on a ballroom floor," I said, my voice cutting through the silence like a scalpel.

I threw a manila envelope onto the table. It slid across the polished wood and stopped inches from his fingertips.

"What is this?"

"Evidence," I said. "Of everything. The hotel rooms. The texts. The conspiracy to humiliate me."

He opened it. He looked at the photos. His face remained impassive, but a vein in his temple throbbed dangerously.

"You had me followed?"

"I had to protect myself."

"I won't sign," he said, closing the folder with a definitive snap. "You are my wife. You don't walk away from the family."

"I'm not walking away," I said. "I'm being erased."

I pulled out the second item. The hospital report.

"Read it."

He picked it up. His eyes scanned the page. He stopped. His face went gray, draining of all color.

"Miscarriage?" he whispered.

The lawyers shifted uncomfortably, suddenly finding the grain of the table fascinating.

"You didn't know?" I asked, my voice dripping with venom. "Oh, that's right. You were too busy escorting Ava to safety to ask if your wife was dying."

"Maya..." He looked up, and for the first time, I saw genuine horror in his eyes. "I didn't know... I thought you just fell... I thought the check covered the hospital bills..."

"You killed him," I said. It wasn't a lie. His neglect was the weapon. "Your son. You killed him."

It was a calculated strike. In the mafia, lineage was everything. Killing your own heir was a sin beyond redemption.

Liam slumped back in his chair. He looked like he had been punched in the gut.

"Sign the papers, Liam," I said. "Or I release the photos of you leaving me bleeding to the press. I'll ruin your reputation. I'll make you look weak. A Don who can't even control his own house."

He looked at me. The arrogance was gone, replaced by a dark, simmering rage and bottomless grief.

He picked up a pen. His hand shook slightly.

"You think this is over?" he said, his voice low, vibrating with a threat. "You think you can just leave?"

"Watch me."

He signed. He pushed the papers back.

"You will regret this," he said. "You will have nothing. No money. No protection. You will be prey."

"I'd rather be prey in the wild than a pet in a cage," I said.

I took the papers.

"One last thing," I said.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the diamond ring he had given me five years ago. I placed it on the table. It clicked sharply against the wood.

"It never fit anyway."

I turned and walked toward the door.

"Maya!" he shouted.

I stopped, hand on the handle. I looked back.

His face was a mask of fury and loss.

"If you walk out that door," he threatened, "you are dead to me."

I smiled. It was a cold, broken smile.

"Liam," I said softly. "I died three days ago. You're just talking to a ghost."

I walked out.

The elevator doors closed, shutting out his world.

I went down to the lobby where Erin was waiting with a car.

"Is it done?" she asked.

"The divorce is done," I said, climbing in. "Now for the rest."

I touched my stomach. The physical pain was still there, but the emotional weight was lifting.

"Drive to the airfield," I said. "It's time for the Phoenix to burn."

Liam thought I was just leaving him. He had no idea.

I wasn't just leaving. I was about to vanish from the face of the earth.

And when he finally realized what I had really done... it would be too late.