Chapter 134 #52: Hands Where I Can See Them
The sight of Maya on our couch with her legs crossed, looking like she’s waiting for room service, snaps something inside me and I just move. I cross the living room in three strides, my hands already curling into fists, ready to wipe that calm smile off her face with every ounce of rage that’s been building since the day stepped into that warehouse.
I almost make it.
The cold press of a gun barrel against the back of my skull stops me dead.
“Easy now,” a man’s voice says from behind me. “Hands where I can see them.”
I raise them slowly, doing my utmost to quell the rage building up within me.
Maya sets her glass down on the coffee table with a soft clink. “Well,” she says, standing smoothly, “now that we’ve gotten the initial hostility out of the way, perhaps we can behave like adults.”
David puts himself between me and the gunman without hesitation.
“Get that thing off her head,” he says in a voice that's dangerously quiet. “Right now.”
The goon doesn’t budge. Maya raises one hand in a lazy gesture. “Stand down, Carter. She’s not going to do anything stupid. Are you, Nora?”
I don’t answer. I just stare at her over David’s shoulder, letting every bit of loathing show on my face.
She smiles wider. “I’m here for one thing only. The ledger. Nothing more, nothing less. Hand it over, and I walk out of your lives forever. Keep playing games, and…” She shrugs delicately. “Well. You’ve seen how creative I can get.”
David’s eyes are stone cold as they look at her. “You framed her for two murders. What strain of madness makes you think we’re handing you anything?”
Maya tilts her head. “I have people on the force. Good people. Loyal people. It wasn’t hard to find someone willing to slip a few of Nora’s hairs under Elaine’s fingernails. A little DNA magic, and suddenly the grieving widow looks like she had her hands around the victim’s throat. As for the recording…” She laughs softly. “Swapping the original for a doctored version was child’s play. The forensic tech who analysed it works for me now. Or rather, he works for whoever pays better. And I happen to pay very well.”
“You’re admitting all of this,” I say, keeping my voice even. “In our living room with witnesses.”
I feel the gun barrel press a fraction harder until my scalp tingles.
“Witnesses who won’t speak,” she replies. “Because they know what happens to people who cross me. And because you’re going to give me what I want anyway.”
David steps closer to her. “Why the hell should we trust you to clear her name if we hand it over? You’ve spent years lying, manipulating, killing. You expect us to believe you’ll suddenly play fair?”
Maya’s gaze softens when she looks at him. She steps forward until she’s close enough to touch. Her hand rises slowly and brushes her fingers against his jaw. “Because you have no choice, David. If only you’d opened your eyes years ago we could have ruled everything together. The company. The city. The world. I was always the better choice. I was smarter. Stronger. More devoted. I waited for you. I fought for you. And still... you chose her.”
Her thumb traces his lower lip, parting it slightly.
Rage explodes in my chest, white-hot and blinding. I start to lunge again but David moves faster. His hand snaps up, catches her wrist, and twists hard. Maya gasps, her body jerking forward as pain shoots up her arm. The goons behind me shift, lifting their guns in unison.
“Stand down,” Maya bites out through clenched teeth, raising her other hand to stop them even as David tightens his grip. Her face is pale, but her eyes stay locked on his. “Let him have his moment.”
David leans in until their faces are inches apart. His voice drops to something lethal, barely audible. “The next time you touch me, Maya, will be the last time you have fingers. I’d chop off my own balls and feed them to the crows if that’s what it would take to get you to realise that you’re nothing to me. You never were.”
He releases her with a small shove. She stumbles back one step, cradling her wrist, breathing shallowly. A surge of satisfaction swells through my entire body and in this very moment, I don’t think I’ve ever loved him more.
For a while, no one moves.
Then Maya straightens, smooths her dress with her good hand, and smiles again. “Despite the blatant rudeness, my offer still stands. The ledger for her freedom. You have forty-eight hours. After that, the next piece of evidence won’t be planted. It’ll be real. And permanent.”
She turns toward the door. The goons fall in behind her with their weapons still trained on us.
“Think carefully,” she says over her shoulder. “I’d hate for Lucy to grow up visiting Mommy in prison.”
The door closes behind them with a soft click and silence crashes in.
David turns to me, eyes searching my face. “You okay?”
I nod, but my hands are shaking. “She’s bluffing about the forty-eight hours. She’s desperate. If she had real leverage she wouldn’t be here begging.”
“She’s not begging,” he says. “She’s threatening. And she’s got enough pull to make good on it.”
I walk to the couch and sink down where Maya sat moments ago. The cushion is still warm and I can smell her perfume. “We can’t give her the ledger. It’s the only real proof we have that she’s been pulling strings for years.”
David crouches in front of me and smiles. “Maybe we should.”
I look up quickly ready to argue, but as soon as my eyes meet his, the words die out in my mouth.
I study him for a second more. “You have an idea.”
"I sure do, baby."
He leans in until his mouth is close to my ear, voice dropping to a whisper so low even the walls can’t hear. I listen to every word, every detail. The plan unfolds in quiet sentences and I feel my pulse slow down as he speaks.
By the time he finishes, a slow smile is spreading across my face. The kind of smile I haven’t worn since before the hospital, before the cuffs, before any of this started.
David pulls back just enough to look at me. His own mouth curves into that familiar half-smirk I fell in love with years ago.
“Now all we have to do,” he says softly, “is hope no one follows you.”
The smirk deepens, slow and certain, like he already knows exactly how this ends. And for the first time in months, I believe we might actually win.