DANIEL’S POV
The door clicked shut. The sound was final. A judge’s gavel. I stood in the center of the office, the silence she left behind ringing in my ears. Forty-eight hours.
My hands were cold. I flexed them, trying to get the blood back. This was my desk. My view. The leather of the chair was still warm from where she’d been sitting. A ghost had walked in and put her hand right through my chest.
I couldn’t lose this. Not now. Not after everything. Maya was finally back under my roof, where she belonged. The public narrative was perfect—the wronged CEO, the treacherous brother, the loyal wife returning. I was on the verge of having it all, the complete picture. And Clara… Clara was a relic. A scandal sheet story. She couldn’t just reappear and take it.
I grabbed my phone. My hand s
