Chapter 78 Untitled Chapter

Chapter 78 Untitled Chapter
Someone knocked at the door. Maya hesitated because it wasn’t loud or urgent, just deliberate, like whoever was on the other side knew they had been heard.
Antonio was already frowning. “Are you expecting anyone?”
Maya shook her head slowly. “No.”
Another knock came, harder this time, and before either of them could think it through, Maya moved toward the door. She had a gut feeling that shouldn’t have opened it. But she did anyway.
The moment she pulled it open, everything stopped. A cold metal pressed against her forehead. Her breath caught instantly and her hands lifted into the air without her even thinking about it.
“Don’t scream,” a voice said quietly, low and controlled in a way that felt more dangerous than shouting.
Maya froze.
Behind her, Antonio shoved his chair back so fast it scraped against the floor. 
“What do you want?” He asked, and his voice shook even though he was trying to sound firm.
The man at the door didn’t look at him. His attention stayed locked on Maya.
“Inside,” he said.
Maya swallowed hard and stepped backward into the house, step by careful step, with the gun never leaving her head. Antonio didn’t move to stop it because he couldn’t. He was terrified, and they both knew it.
The man followed them in and shut the door behind him with his foot. Click. Silence swallowed the room.
Then he lowered the gun slightly, but he didn’t put it away. His eyes swept around the house once, assessing everything, judging everything, before they came back to Maya.
“So,” he said calmly, like they were having a normal conversation. “You’re the one who kept the girl.”
Maya’s stomach dropped.
Antonio’s voice cracked. “Who are you?”
The man ignored him completely and tilted his head slightly, like he was studying a mistake someone had made and was trying to decide what to do about it.
“Kieran Voss,” he said at last, and the name didn’t sound like an introduction. It sounded like a warning.
His gaze returned to Maya and stayed there. “And I’m guessing you’ve been taking care of something that doesn’t belong to you.”
The room stayed frozen.
Kieran hadn’t moved, and neither had Maya. Antonio’s breathing sounded too loud in his own ears, like it might give them away.
Then the door behind Kieran opened again, slowly and deliberately, and Kieran didn’t turn right away. He only stepped slightly to the side, like he was making space, like he was no longer the person worth paying attention to. That alone made Antonio’s blood run colder.
A second figure entered. He was older, calm in a way that didn’t feel human. No rush, no noise, no hesitation. Just certainty in every movement.
Maya’s breath caught the moment she saw him and her face drained of color. “No…” 
It wasn’t loud and it wasn’t even meant to be heard, but it was. Antonio turned to her instantly. “You know him?”
Maya’s lips trembled and she couldn’t answer fast enough, because the man smiled. Not warmly. Not politely. Something far worse. Recognition. Ownership.
“Sir…Victor,” Maya whispered again, barely audible.
The old man’s eyes locked onto her like she had been waiting for him in the dark. “Still remembering me,” he said softly, and then his gaze shifted briefly to Kieran. It was a silent acknowledgment, nothing more.
Kieran stepped back fully then and lowered his head slightly. Respect. Fear. Both. Antonio noticed that, and it made everything worse.
Victor stepped deeper into the room without urgency and without a weapon raised, because he didn’t need one. His presence did the work for him. His eyes returned to Maya, long and unblinking.
Then, he said gently, “Hello, maid.”
The word landed like a hand around her throat and Maya flinched before she could stop herself.
Antonio moved instinctively in front of her. It was a mistake.
“Stay away from her.”
Victor sighed, almost disappointed. “Still hiding behind things,” he said, and then his smile sharpened slightly. “I was hoping she would have learned better by now.”
The old man Victor was still smiling, and Antonio hadn’t moved an inch in front of Maya, but she barely noticed him anymore. Her eyes were locked on Victor, and something in her had gone very still. Not calm. Controlled. Like the part of her that had been running for years finally stopped.
“You keep calling me that,” Maya said.
Her voice was quiet, but it didn’t shake. That alone made Antonio glance back at her.
Victor’s smile didn’t change. “Calling you what?”
Maya swallowed once, then stepped slightly forward. Antonio tensed immediately, but she didn’t stop.
“A maid,” she said again, and this time it was sharper and clear. “I’m not your maid.”
For the first time, something small shifted in Victor’s expression. Not surprise. Interest. Like she had said something slightly more entertaining than he expected.
Antonio whispered, “Maya…” 
But she didn’t look away. Not anymore. Her hands were still shaking, but her voice wasn’t.
“You don’t get to walk into my life and label me like I’m still standing in front of you waiting for orders,” she said.
The room tightened.
Kieran shifted subtly near the door, and Victor finally tilted his head. Slow and measuring. “Still talking back,” he said softly.
Maya’s jaw tightened. “I stopped being your maid a long time ago. I was never your maid.”
A beat passed, and Antonio’s breath caught because even he hadn’t heard her say it like that before.
Victor’s smile faded just slightly. Not gone. Just refined, like he was adjusting his understanding of her. “You think distance changes what you are?” he asked calmly.
Maya didn’t flinch this time. “No,” she said. Then a pause. “It changes what you can do to me.”
Silence dropped heavily into the room. Antonio stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time, and Kieran looked away briefly.
Victor, however, smiled again. But this time it was slower, quieter and more dangerous than before. “That,” he said softly, “is exactly what I came to test.”