Chapter 11: The Weight of Secrets

Maya's POV

I couldn't sleep.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Dante standing on that bridge with Vanessa. Heard her words echoing in my head: "You take Elena's position, you become immortal again, and you give up any chance of being with Maya forever."

He had to choose between saving me and losing me.

And I already knew which one he'd pick.

Because that's what good men did, right? They made the noble sacrifice. They saved the damsel in distress and rode off into the sunset alone. It was romantic in movies. In real life, it just hurt.

I sat at my kitchen table at six in the morning, staring at cold coffee, when Lily shuffled in wearing her unicorn pajamas.

"Mommy?" Her voice was small and worried. "Why are you crying?"

I hadn't realized I was. I wiped my face quickly. "Just tired, baby."

"You're sad about Mr. Dante." She climbed into my lap, even though she was getting too big for it. "I heard you come home late last night."

I held her close, breathing in her strawberry shampoo. "Sometimes grown-ups have complicated problems."

"Is Mr. Dante in trouble?"

You have no idea, I thought. Out loud, I said, "He's trying to help people. But helping might mean he has to go away."

Lily pulled back to look at me with those too-wise eyes. "Then we have to stop him from leaving. He makes you happy, Mommy. I see it."

My phone buzzed on the table. Vanessa: Emergency bakery meeting. Now. Bring Lily.

I texted back: What's wrong?

Her response made my blood run cold: Elena just showed up. She wants to talk to you about Dante. Says it's urgent.

Twenty minutes later, I burst through Sweet Nothings' door with Lily's hand gripped tight in mine. The bakery wasn't open yet—chairs still stacked on tables, lights dim except for the kitchen glow.

Elena sat at a corner booth like a queen holding court. She looked the same as always: elegant, composed, ancient eyes in a sixty-year-old face. But today, something about her seemed... dangerous.

"Maya." She gestured to the seat across from her. "Thank you for coming."

"Vanessa said it was urgent." I kept Lily close. "What do you want?"

"To give you information Dante won't." Elena's expression was unreadable. "He thinks protecting you means keeping you in the dark. I disagree."

Vanessa emerged from the kitchen with hot chocolate for Lily and coffee for me. She sat down beside me, solid and supportive.

"Lily, sweetheart," Elena said gently, "there are fresh cookies in the kitchen. Would you help Vanessa frost them while your mother and I talk?"

"I want to stay with Mommy."

"It's okay, baby." I kissed her forehead. "I'll be right here."

Vanessa led Lily away, but I caught the warning look she shot at Elena: Don't hurt her.

Elena waited until they were gone. Then she leaned forward, hands folded on the table. "What did you hear last night on the bridge?"

"Enough." My voice came out harder than intended. "Vanessa told Dante he has to choose between saving me and being with me. That he can become immortal again if he takes your position, but he'll lose me forever."

"And what did Dante say?"

"I left before I could hear." I wrapped my hands around the coffee mug. "Because I knew what he'd choose. He's going to sacrifice himself, isn't he? Take your job, break my binding to Marcus, save the town from demons, and disappear from my life."

Elena's expression softened with something that might have been sympathy. "He hasn't decided yet."

"Yes, he has. I know him." The words caught in my throat. "He's good. Too good. He'll do the noble thing and destroy himself to save everyone else."

"Then stop him."

I stared at her. "What?"

"Stop him from making that choice." Elena's eyes blazed with intensity. "Vanessa's information isn't complete. Yes, Dante could take my position and regain immortality. But there's another way to break your binding to Marcus. A way that doesn't require Dante to sacrifice anything."

Hope flared in my chest, painful and desperate. "What way?"

"Marcus isn't just your ex-husband. He's a demon who's been feeding off your pain for fifteen years through our binding." Elena pulled out a folder—the same one Vanessa had shown Dante. "I made unethical deals. Sold women to demons. Your binding is one of them. But if we can prove Marcus violated the terms of the contract, the High Council will void it."

"What terms?"

"He was never supposed to harm you physically or emotionally beyond normal relationship difficulties. But systematic psychological abuse? Destroying your confidence, isolating you, manipulating you?" Elena's smile was sharp. "That breaks the contract. We just need proof."

My mind raced. "How do we get proof?"

"You already have it." Elena tapped the folder. "Your divorce records. Therapy notes. Witness statements from friends who saw how he treated you. Medical records from the stress-induced health problems you developed during the marriage. All of it together paints a clear picture of demonic abuse disguised as human cruelty."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Anger surged through me. "Why let me suffer for two years thinking there was no way out?"

"Because I didn't know you were one of my mistakes until Dante told me." Elena's voice cracked with something like regret. "I made hundreds of bindings over centuries. I didn't track what happened after. Marcus kept you isolated in a different town until the divorce. By the time you moved to Rosewood Falls, I had no idea you existed."

Vanessa returned from the kitchen, face grim. "Lily's decorating cookies. What did I miss?"

"Elena says we can break my binding to Marcus without Dante giving up his mortality." I looked between them. "But she needs proof of abuse."

"I have proof," Vanessa said quietly. "I documented everything during the divorce. Photos of you when you were with him—you looked hollow, Maya. Scared. I have texts where you apologized for things that weren't your fault. Voice mails where he called you worthless. I saved all of it because I knew someday you might need it."

Tears burned my eyes. "You did that for me?"

"You're my best friend." Vanessa squeezed my hand. "I'd do anything for you."

Elena stood up, gathering her things. "I'll file the petition with the High Council today. If they accept the evidence, your binding to Marcus dissolves immediately. He loses his claim on you. And Dante doesn't have to choose between mortality and saving you—he can have both."

"How long will it take?"

"The Council meets on Valentine's Day." Elena's expression turned grave. "Which means we have sixteen days to build an airtight case. And Maya? Marcus will know the moment I file. He'll come for you. Demons don't give up their prey easily."

The bakery door burst open.

Marcus stood in the entrance, eyes glowing faint red in the morning dimness. Behind him were three other men I'd never seen before—all with the same predatory gleam in their eyes.

"Too late for petitions, Elena." Marcus's voice echoed with inhuman resonance. "The four of us have been planning this for months. Did you really think we'd let you break the bindings and ruin everything?"

Lily screamed from the kitchen.

I was already moving, but Marcus was faster. He crossed the bakery in an impossible blur and grabbed my arm, his touch burning cold.

"Valentine's Day, the magic peaks," he whispered in my ear. "And we're going to use it to crack open the barrier between worlds. This whole town becomes a demon feeding ground. Starting with everyone you love."

He vanished—just disappeared into smoke—taking me with him.

The last thing I saw was Dante bursting through the bakery door, his face twisted in horror as I dissolved into darkness.