Chapter 4: A Deal With The Devil

"You rejected me. You broke me. Now, it's my turn."

Maya barely had time to react before Luca's words settled into her bones like ice.

She had expected anger. 

Maybe disgust. But not this.

Luca leaned back in his chair, arms crossed as he studied her. 

His office was suffocating—too dark, too big, too full of the man who had once been hers. 

The man she still dreamed about, no matter how much she tried to erase him.

"You want to survive in this city, Maya?" Luca's voice was silk wrapped around steel.

"Then come work for me."

Maya's breath hitched. Work for him? 

The man who once whispered love into her skin but now looked at her like she was nothing?

She forced a laugh, but it sounded hollow. 

"You really think I'd work for you after what you did?"

Luca's expression didn't change. If anything, his gaze hardened. 

"After what I did?" He scoffed, shaking his head. 

"Tell me, Maya, do you even know what you did?"

Her stomach twisted. She did. But she would rather burn than admit it.

"You shattered me." His voice dropped to something raw, something she wasn't sure she had ever heard before.

"And now you think you get to act like the victim?"

Maya clenched her fists. No. She couldn't let him turn this on her. He didn't know the full story. 

He never would.

She forced her spine straight. 

"I'm not your problem anymore, Luca."

His smirk was sharp. 

"Oh, Maya." 

He leaned back in his chair, studying her like he was unraveling every one of her secrets. 

"You've always been my problem."

Maya stiffened. "Not a chance in hell."

A smirk played on his lips. 

"Then leave. Go back to sleeping on the streets, running from people who don't give a damn whether you live or die."

Her nails dug into her palms. He wasn't wrong.

She had nothing. No money, no home. The clothes on her back were borrowed from a stranger, and if she left now, she had nowhere to go.

And he knew it.

She swallowed hard, forcing steel into her spine. 

"What kind of work?"

Luca's gaze darkened. "I haven't decided yet."

Her stomach twisted. 

"So, I just sign up for whatever game you want to play?"

His smirk widened. 

"You catch on fast."

She wanted to slap him. To claw at the perfect face that had once looked at her with love, not loathing.

Instead, she turned away, her pulse hammering.

"I'll find another way."

Maya's pulse pounded. She didn't want to need him. 

But the thought of walking back onto the streets, sleeping in alleyways, terrified her more than anything.

She turned toward the door, gripping the knob so tightly her knuckles went white. 

"I'll find another way."

Luca's voice was silk and steel. "You won't."

Maya froze. Her heart hammered against her ribs.

She swallowed hard. 

"You don't control my life."

Luca chuckled, but there was no amusement in it. 

"Don't I?" He stood then, moving around the desk with slow, careful steps.

Maya didn't dare turn around. But she felt him. The air in the room thickened, charged with heat.

"You don't think I know where you've been?

Who you've spoken to?" Luca's voice was maddeningly calm.

"Do you think anyone is coming to save you, Maya?"

Her fingers trembled against the door handle.

"Let me go, Luca."

He was right behind her now. His presence burned into her back like a brand.

"Oh, you can leave," he murmured, his breath ghosting over her ear. 

"But don't come crawling back when the city eats you alive."

She yanked the door open and stormed out before she did something stupid. 

Like stay.

Luca's voice stopped her in her tracks. 

"You won't."

She spun back, fuming now. "You don't know that."

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk, eyes piercing into her.

"You think I haven't been watching? You're running out of options, Maya. No job. No allies."

She clenched her teeth.

"Or…" Luca tilted his head. 

"You take my deal. You stay under my protection."

His protection used to mean something. But not this time.

She swallowed. 

"I don't trust you."

His expression didn't change. "You shouldn't."

Her heart pounded so hard it hurt. 

She needed time. Space to think.

She turned for the door. "I'll let you know."

"You have until tomorrow," he called after her. 

"Then the deal's off."

She stormed out, but even as she stepped into the cold night air, she knew the truth.

She was already out of time.

*************************

"You had your chance, Maya. You don't get a second one."

Brielle's voice was sickeningly sweet as she circled Maya.

Maya had barely gotten two steps into the upscale boutique before Brielle appeared, looking flawless in her designer dress and smug expression.

Maya braced herself. "I'm not here for you."

Brielle laughed. "Oh, but you should be." She leaned in, lowering her voice. "Luca may have let you crawl back, but don't mistake that for forgiveness."

Maya's chest ached. "I don't need his forgiveness."

Brielle's smile widened. "Good. Because you're not getting it."

Maya turned to leave, but Brielle grabbed her wrist, nails biting into her skin. "Stay away from him, Maya. Get lost."

Maya yanked free. "We'll see."

For the first time, Brielle's smile faltered.

Maya walked out without looking back.

********************

Luca had lied.

Maya stood frozen in the grand ballroom, her heart pounding as the conversation unfolded in front of her.

She hadn't meant to overhear. She had only come because Luca ordered her to be here.

But then she heard it.

"The rejection wasn't real."

Maya's breath caught.

"Carter's lawyers rigged the contract. They needed Maya out of the way for Brielle."

Her entire body went numb.

No. No, that couldn't be true.

She had rejected Luca.

Signed the papers.

If it wasn't real...