Chapter 13 Darkness and Truth

Chapter 13 Darkness and Truth
Maya's POV

The basement was freezing, and something sharp cut into my wrists.

I came awake all at once—the way you do when your body knows you're in danger. My hands were tied behind the chair with what felt like wire. Tape covered my mouth. The room was pitch black except for a dim red glow coming from somewhere to my left.

Don't panic, I told myself. Stay calm. Think.

But my heart was hammering so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.

"She's awake." Marcus's voice came from the darkness, making me flinch. "I can hear her breathing change. You always were a terrible liar, Maya."

Footsteps. Then suddenly he was in front of me, his face lit by that horrible red glow. His eyes weren't human anymore. They burned like hot coals in his skull.

He ripped the tape off my mouth.

I gasped in pain, tasting blood. "What are you?"

"What am I?" Marcus laughed—a sound that raised every hair on my body. "I'm what I've always been. You just couldn't see it because Elena's binding made you blind to the truth. Demons are very good at hiding, Maya. We've had thousands of years to practice."

My mind reeled. Demons. Bindings. Nothing made sense. "You're insane."

"Am I?" He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. His skin was ice-cold. "Tell me something. During our marriage, did you ever wonder why you couldn't leave? Why even when I treated you like garbage, even when I cheated on you, humiliated you, destroyed your confidence—you still stayed?"

I had wondered. A thousand times I'd wondered why I didn't just walk away.

"It was the binding," Marcus continued. "A magical contract Elena made when she sold you to me fifteen years ago. You were compelled to stay with me, to love me, to give me everything I wanted. Your pain fed me for years, Maya. Made me stronger. And the best part? You thought it was your own weakness keeping you trapped."

Tears burned my eyes. "That's not true."

"Isn't it? You told yourself you stayed for love. For commitment. Because divorce was failure." His smile was cruel. "But really, you stayed because I owned you. Body and soul. The binding made it impossible for you to leave until I was done with you."

"Then why did you let me go?" My voice came out hoarse.

"Because I found someone better to feed on. Rebecca was so much easier to manipulate than you ever were." He released my chin and stepped back. "But now Elena's trying to break our binding. She thinks she can use your pain as evidence against me. So I need to remind you why you'll never be free."

He pulled out his phone and pressed play on a video.

Lily's face filled the screen.

My heart stopped.

She was in Vanessa's bakery, decorating cookies, completely unaware she was being filmed. The angle was from outside, through the window.

"Such a sweet little girl," Marcus said softly. "It would be a shame if something happened to her. If she had an accident at school. Or got lost walking home. Or—"

"Don't you dare touch my daughter!" I lunged forward, but the chair was bolted to the floor. The wire cut deeper into my wrists. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"She has everything to do with this. She's leverage." Marcus pocketed his phone. "Here's what's going to happen, Maya. You're going to tell Elena to drop the petition. You're going to tell Dante to leave town and never come back. And you're going to come back to me willingly, or I hurt everyone you love. Starting with Lily."

"I'll never come back to you."

"Yes, you will. Because the binding is still active. Because I still own you. And because—" He leaned close, his breath cold against my ear. "—you're too weak to stop me."

Something inside me snapped.

Not broke. Snapped into place.

I'd spent two years believing I was weak. Believing Marcus when he said I was too emotional, too unstable, too broken to trust my own judgment. I'd let him live rent-free in my head, second-guessing every choice, every feeling, every moment of happiness.

But sitting in that freezing basement, hands bleeding, daughter threatened—I finally understood.

I wasn't weak for staying in an abusive marriage. I was strong for surviving it. I wasn't broken for trusting the wrong person. I was brave for trusting again. And I wasn't going to let a demon tell me who I was anymore.

"You're wrong," I said quietly.

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"About me being weak. About owning me. About any of it." I met his glowing eyes without flinching. "You never owned me, Marcus. You just made me forget who I was for a while. But I remember now."

For the first time, uncertainty flickered across his face.

The red glow in the room suddenly pulsed brighter. Marcus spun toward it, and I saw what was causing the light—dozens of old Valentine cards spread across a table, all glowing the same angry red.

"What did you do?" Marcus demanded.

"Nothing. I—" But then I felt it. A warmth spreading through my chest, pushing back against the cold. It felt like the magic from my mural, but stronger. More focused.

The Valentine cards flared brighter.

"The wish-bond," Marcus breathed. "The little brat made a wish-bond between you and her. I can feel her reaching for you through the connection. She's trying to find you."

Hope exploded in my chest. Lily was trying to help. My brave, brilliant daughter was somehow fighting back.

Marcus grabbed a knife from the table. The blade gleamed silver in the red light. "Then I'll have to cut the connection. And you're going to help me, or I'll start with your fingers and work my way up until you cooperate."

He moved toward me, knife raised.

The basement door exploded open.

Dante stood in the doorway, backlit by normal light from upstairs. His eyes found mine immediately, and the relief on his face was so intense it hurt to see.

Then Marcus laughed.

"Right on time," the demon said. "I was hoping you'd come. This will be so much more fun with an audience."

Two other demons materialized from the shadows behind Dante. They grabbed his arms before he could move. A third appeared and slammed the door shut, sealing us all in the darkness.

Marcus turned the knife toward Dante instead. "Now, let's discuss terms. You leave town and never see Maya again—or I kill you both and take the little girl anyway. Your choice, Cupid."

Dante's eyes met mine across the basement. In them, I saw three thousand years of loneliness. Centuries of watching love from the outside. A lifetime of never knowing what it felt like to have your heart break.

And then I saw him choose.

"If you touch either of them," Dante said, his voice deadly calm, "I will end you. I don't care if I'm mortal now. I don't care if you're stronger. I will find a way to destroy you."

Marcus smiled. "Bold words for someone who just lost everything."

The demons holding Dante tightened their grip. I saw his face twist in pain.

And that's when the Valentine cards on the table burst into flames—brilliant gold flames that didn't burn, but blazed like sunlight.

The entire basement flooded with light so bright I had to close my eyes.

When I opened them again, someone new stood in the center of the room.

A woman with Lily's eyes and my grandmother's smile. She wore clothes from another century and glowed with the same golden light as the burning cards.

"Hello, Maya," she said gently. "I'm sorry I'm late. Traffic through the veil is terrible this time of year."

Marcus's face went white. "That's impossible. You're dead."

The woman smiled. "Death is relative when you make the right wishes. Now, shall we discuss who really owns my granddaughter's soul?"