MAYA'S POV
The silence after Liam put the phone down was different this time. It wasn’t the stunned quiet of the warehouse or the fearful hush of the car. It was a clear, cold silence. The kind that comes after a window shatters and the wind finally stops howling.
I looked at Liam. He was staring at the phone in his hand like it was a dead animal.
“He thinks he can summon me,” I said. My voice sounded strange in my own ears. Flat. Final. “He thinks he can set a time and a place and I’ll bring our son to him, like a dog returning a stick.”
Liam looked up, his eyes dark with worry. “Maya, he has the law—”
“He has a piece of paper,” I cut him off. The calm was settling into my bones, heavy and certain. “He had a piece of paper that said he’d love me, too. It didn’t make it true.” I stoo
