Chapter 9: The Truth Comes Out

Maya's POV

Marcus's eyes were glowing red in the darkness of Dante's living room.

I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't process what I was seeing.

"Maya." Marcus smiled, and it was the scariest thing I'd ever seen. "Surprised to see me?"

Dante stepped in front of me, blocking me with his body. "Get out of my house."

"Your house?" Marcus laughed. "Interesting. You've been in Rosewood Falls for three days, and you already think you own something here. That's not how this works, Cupid."

My brain stuttered. Cupid? What was Marcus talking about?

"Maya doesn't belong to you anymore," Dante said, his voice steady despite the tension radiating from his body.

"Doesn't she?" Marcus took a step closer, and the red glow from his eyes got brighter. "I paid good money fifteen years ago to make sure she'd always be mine. A binding that can't be broken by something as trivial as divorce papers."

Ice flooded my veins. "What are you talking about?"

Marcus finally looked at me, his expression almost pitying. "Oh, sweetheart. You really didn't know? Our entire relationship was arranged. I made a deal with a Cupid before we even met. Paid them to guarantee you'd be my perfect match. That you'd fall in love with me, marry me, give me the stable family life I needed for my career."

The room spun. "That's not possible. That's—"

"Magic?" Marcus's smile widened. "Yes. Real magic. The kind you've been seeing around your new neighbor here. The glowing hands, the blooming roses. Dante's not human, Maya. He's a Cupid. An immortal being who creates love matches for humans."

I looked at Dante, silently begging him to say it wasn't true.

He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Maya, I can explain—"

"So it's true?" My voice came out as a whisper. "You're not human?"

"I was going to tell you—"

"When? After I fell completely in love with you? After you made me trust you?" Tears burned my eyes. "I slammed my door in your face because I saw something impossible, and instead of explaining, you just... what? Decided to keep lying?"

"I wasn't lying. I just wasn't telling you everything—"

"That's the same thing!" I backed toward the door, my heart breaking. "You're just like Marcus. Making me feel crazy, keeping secrets, manipulating—"

"I'm nothing like him," Dante said fiercely. "He used magic to trap you. I would never—"

"But you did!" I was crying now, angry tears streaming down my face. "You knew what you were. You knew about this binding Marcus is talking about. And you let me start to care about you anyway, knowing it could never work!"

"It can work," Dante insisted. "We can break the binding—"

"Stop!" Marcus's voice cracked like a whip. The lights suddenly flickered back on, and I saw him clearly for the first time. He looked the same as always—expensive suit, perfect hair—except for his eyes. They were still glowing red, and now I could see something else. Something moving beneath his skin, like shadows trying to break free.

"What are you?" I breathed.

"Demon," Dante answered before Marcus could. "That's why his eyes are red instead of gold. He's not human either, Maya. He never was."

The word 'demon' should have sounded ridiculous. Like something from a bad movie. But looking at Marcus—really looking at him—I could see it. The wrongness I'd always felt but couldn't name. The coldness that no amount of charm could hide.

"A demon who made a deal with a Cupid fifteen years ago," Marcus confirmed casually. "I wanted a perfect human wife to make me look normal, to give me a beautiful daughter, to be my cover while I built my law practice. And I got exactly what I paid for."

"I'm not a thing you bought," I said, my voice shaking with rage.

"Aren't you? The binding says otherwise." Marcus pulled out his phone and showed me a photo. It was some kind of contract written in languages I didn't recognize. "Your name, my name, and a Cupid's signature. All official. All unbreakable."

"Every binding can be broken," Dante said. "We just have to prove it was made under false pretenses. That you used it to abuse her—"

"Abuse?" Marcus looked genuinely offended. "I gave her a beautiful house, a comfortable life, a child. I never hit her. Never raised my voice unnecessarily. By human standards, I was a model husband."

"You cheated on her," Dante growled. "You destroyed her confidence. You made her doubt her own mind—"

"I got bored," Marcus said simply. "Fifteen years with the same person is a long time, even for a demon. I wanted something new. But that doesn't break the binding. Infidelity is a human concept. Magically, we're still connected."

I felt sick. My entire marriage—my entire relationship—had been fake. Manufactured. Marcus had never loved me. He'd bought me like property.

"Why are you here?" I asked. "If you're so bored with me, why do you care if I move on?"

"Because you're mine," Marcus said, like it was obvious. "The binding means you can't truly love anyone else. You can try—" he gestured at Dante, "—but it won't work. You'll always be drawn back to me. Always feel like something's missing with anyone else. That's how the magic works."

"That's why I could never feel whole after the divorce," I whispered, the pieces clicking into place. "Even though I hated you. Even though I wanted to move on. Some part of me always felt... incomplete."

"Exactly." Marcus looked pleased. "And if you try to bond with him—" he pointed at Dante, "—the competing magic will tear you both apart. Literally. On Valentine's Day, when this town's ancient magic peaks, the collision will kill you, kill him, and probably destroy half of Rosewood Falls in the feedback."

Dante stepped closer to me. "We can break the binding before then. We find the Cupid who made the deal, we prove it was unethical—"

"Good luck with that." Marcus smiled. "The Cupid who made the deal is very well protected. And very invested in keeping their old contracts intact. They don't like admitting mistakes."

"Who is it?" I demanded. "Who sold me to you?"

Marcus's smile widened. "Someone you trust. Someone who's been watching you your whole life. Someone who's right here in Rosewood Falls."

My blood went cold. "Who?"

"Figure it out yourself." Marcus headed for the door. "You have until Valentine's Day—sixteen days. Break the binding if you can. But when you fail, I expect you to come back to me quietly. No drama. No fighting. Just accept what you are: mine."

He opened the door and paused. "Oh, and Maya? I'd keep Lily away from all this if I were you. Demon magic and six-year-olds don't mix well. It would be a shame if something happened to her because you were too stubborn to accept reality."

He left, and the threat hung in the air like poison.

I turned to Dante, tears streaming down my face. "Is it true? Everything he said?"

Dante looked broken. "Most of it, yes."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Yes. Tonight. I was trying to figure out how—"

"Get out." The words came out flat, dead.

"Maya—"

"Get out of your house. I need to go home to my daughter and figure out how to protect her from the mess my life has become." I walked to the door. "Don't follow me. Don't call me. Don't—" My voice cracked. "Just stay away from me. You've done enough damage."

I ran home through the dark, my heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

When I got inside, Lily was standing at the top of the stairs in her pajamas.

"Mommy? Why are you crying?"

I couldn't answer. I just held her and cried.

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: Now you know the truth. The Cupid who made your binding is Elena—Dante's supervisor. She's been in Rosewood Falls for fifteen years, watching her investment. If you want to break free, you'll have to destroy her. And that means destroying Dante too. Your choice. -V

Not M this time. V.

A new player in this nightmare.

And they'd just told me the one person who could help us was the same person who'd sold me to a demon.

How was I supposed to fight that?