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ch.2
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2025-02-04 17:58:18Maya's pov
Tears that I had been holding in stream down my face. “Please,” I beg, as he turns me around. “Are you deaf?” he asks. “I said don't move.” “I know… I know I just.” “I hate being disrespected,” he says, his voice low but controlled. “I'm sorry I'm just scared,” I cry. “Does it look like I care?” He asks, so close I can smell the mint on his breath. “No.” I shake my head and his hand, tight and firm presses on my jaw. His skin is hard, like someone that does manual labor, the callouses scraping against my skin. “Then why did you think to open this pretty mouth of yours to tell me that you're scared?” He pushes me to the door hard and I wince in pain. “Do you want to die?” he asks, running the butt of his gun on my stomach. The cold surface has me shivering. I try to shake my head, but he presses harder, till the metallic taste of blood fills my mouth. “I'm going to forgive you since you saved my brother, but if you ever disrespect me like that again I will take you to my basement, chop you into pieces and feed you to my gators.” The words have bile rising up my throat. “I won't.” He snickers just as in time as the men come out holding Holden who had regained consciousness but still looked weak. “Go check the perimeter,” he orders one of the men. I move from the door. The three of them barely acknowledge my presence as they wait for their friend to return. “Thank you,” Holden murmurs. I look away and move further away from them. “Clear,” the guy who had left said. “You guys go ahead, there's something I need to tell our little friend here.” “Are you sure boss you don't want me to do it?” The one who had left asked. My heart drops to my stomach. The leader throws him a withering look as he nods and leaves. “Just let her live, she saved me, please,” Holden says. Holden is dragged out the door. My knees buckle, and I collapse to the floor. “Please I'm begging you, my family is depending on me,” I cry, touching his feet. He crouches to my knelt position, his gaze unyielding. “What's your name?” He asks. “Ma…Maya.” “I want your full name.” “Maya Isabel Sanchez,” I answer, my lower lip shaking. “Don't worry Maya, I'm not going to kill you not just yet,” he says, tilting my head to look at him. “I'm going to walk out this door and if you ever tell anybody what happened here I'm going to butcher everybody you've ever known including you.” He runs his thumb across my lip. “You understand?” I nod, fighting against the tears. He leaves, and I remain on the floor barely grasping what just happened. I don't move until I hear the blare of the alarm, reminding me it's time to go to work. The sun trickles from the window to the polished floor casting golden shadows on it. I move from the ground, my limbs feeling numb. As always there is no hot water, I fight the urge to cry as I step into the cracked bathtub. The cold water feels like needles as it cascades down my body, but I don't care. I lather my body with soap scrubbing hard until my skin burns, hoping I can erase everything from last night. I get into my usual outfit consisting of washed away jeans and turtlenecks. I grab my bag refusing to look at the house and walk out. The bustling city of LA hums with chaos, the honking cars and chatter of strangers drowning out my thoughts as I weave through the crowd. Everyone looks so normal, holding their usual cup of coffee and running against the traffic like the dynamics of their lives can't change in an instant. The sign of Mercy Grace Hospital stands in bold blue colors at the entrance. The usual seriousness of the hospital is replaced by people writhing in pain. I move to the locker room changing into my scrubs barely saying a word to anyone. “Where have you been?” Maggie asks, looking at her pager. “Uh, home.” “I tried calling and paging you,” she yells, looking at me. Her blonde hair is tied into a messy bun, her tired blue eyes boring holes into my face. “Oh, sorry I turned off my phone.” “You're a first-year resident you do not get to turn off your phone,” she yells, the sound making my head throb. I need a painkiller. “I'm sorry.” “I don't care if you're sorry Sanchez,” she spits. “Okay I get it,” I snapped back, drawing the attention of some nurses. She tilts her head back, her mouth slightly open. “Oh, you have some nerve after you failed to show up here last night and now you're talking back. You're at the pit.” “Maggie,” I call. “Don't even dare.” I huff and take my coat. I shouldn't be wasting time here I should be learning not spending my time treating — All the beds in the ER are full, people with severed limbs and gunshot wounds fill the beds. “Jenny, what happened?” I ask, looking at the number of patients. Her eyes widen when she sees me. “Where were you? Did you see Maggie, she is going to kill you?” “I already did, now what happened?” “There was a shootout in your neighborhood and people got caught in the crossfire,” she answers, bandaging an arm. Oh God! The people that caused this were in my house, and I saved one of them. “Did you hear anything?” She asks. I suck in a sharp breath, the man's face clouding my vision. “No, you know how I'm such a heavy sleeper,” I mumbled, letting out a dry laugh. She looks at me before moving to the next patient. Maggie gives me a stink eye and I grab a patient's chart. A little girl cries holding her leg and guilt gnaws at me. I probably saved the man that did this to her. — “Are you sure you don't want to move in with me?” Jenny asks, looking at the disheveled building where I live. “No, I'm fine,” I mumble, trying to convince myself more than her. She gives me a lopsided smile and tells me goodnight. I alight her car walking to the house every step heavier than the last. By the time I had made it to my door, my chest was tight. My feet loose beneath me when I find the door open. Oh God. What if it's the police and they have found the body? No it can't be. There would be yellow tape and cars parked outside. I peek through the door and the silhouette of a man sits on the couch, the same musky cologne from last night fills my apartment. My legs wobble and when I'm about to leave he speaks. “I've already seen you, Maya Sanchez.”
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Cassian's povHer eyes darken, her breathing coming out in short, ragged gasps as she tries to come down from the high. She buttons her shirt with practiced ease fixing her brassiere. She smooths down her skirt, a satisfied grin curling on her lips. The dim office light flickers casting shadows over the desk we just sprawled over. She takes a step back her legs wobbling slightly, but she recovers slightly like someone who has done this a million times.“You really know what you're doing.”I zip up my pants, my movements swift, detached. Grabbing a wipe, I clean my hands but the sensation of her touch lingers — the way her hips bucked when my fingers digged into them, her breath hot against my ear.“Did you need anything else?” I ask, barely meeting her eyes.She clears her throat. “Uh no, I got what I wanted,” she says, opening the door. “For now.”The words make my skin crawl. Having sex with her is like giving a child candy every time they cry — they always throw tantrums to get mor
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Maya's pov“Are you still mad at me?” I ask stepping in front of Holden blocking his view from the screen. He doesn't move but shifts his grip on the controller his knuckles whitening.The bluish glow from the TV flickers across his face, highlighting the angle of his jaw. His doe eyes flick up to meet mine, but his expression is unreadable.“I'm not mad at you,” he says but his tone says otherwise. I jump next to him. “Yes you are, you have barely talked to me.”“You want me to talk to you?”I look away. “Yeah, you're my friend.”I look back just in time to see him smile. “Well, you don't act like I'm your friend.”My stomach churns. “I told you, I can't tell you what's wrong with Cassian,” I mumble, touching his thigh. “But I can tell you, I'm taking care of him and I won't let anything happen to him.”Something crosses his face. “Cool.”Silence takes over and the tension is suffocating. “Do you want me to teach you how to play?”I light up. “Yeah.”He takes another game controller
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Cassian's pov“What's this I'm hearing about seducing Don Meyos daughter?” Holden asks a bored look on his face.I compose myself, but the nagging feeling of Maya leaving won't stop gnawing at me. I knew she wasn't going to stay forever so why am I feeling like I'm losing something more?“They appointed Roxanne as the new board member instead of her.”He nods. “And this concerns me how?”“We need to know why.”“I thought you liked her,” he says, raising a brow at me. “Hence taking her from Mexico to here.”“I was doing that to stop the Moretti's drug operation,” I answer. “And I did, but Don Hurio brought her here for some unknown reason.”“So you don't want her on the board.”I huff. “Yes.”“Because?”“There is something suspicious about it all," I answered taking a seat on the chair.He walks out and I let out a breath. I don't know if he believed me but that's all I have for now. I take the papers from the safe, going through them one by one. If there's something to know about the
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Maya's pov“What's wrong with you, this is good news?” I ask, he barely meets my eyes as he speaks.“Nothing, I just need to be alone for now,” he says, his voice barely audible.“Okay.” I take the papers leaving his room. Holden leans outside his door, his hands in his pocket. I swallow the lump in my throat, the guilt of slamming the door on him the other day resurfacing.“Uh, hi,” I mumble.He forces a smile. “Hey.”“Uhm I'm going back to the hospital.”He nods getting inside the room. I place the papers in my room running down the stairs.“Maya, where are you going?” Dimitri asks as I put on my jacket.“To the hospital.”He looks at his watch. “At this hour?”I stop narrowing my eyes at him. “Yeah, do you have a problem?”He sighs, picking up the car keys. “No.”I walk in front of him taking a seat at the back. The hum of the engine fills the silence, low and steady but my mind is still hung up on Cassian's behavior.Was he not pleased by the news? Dimitri clutches the steering w
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Cassian's pov“Sir ma'am Maya is not cooperating,” Dimitri complains, his face set in a frown.“She won't let me teach or let me anywhere near her,” he adds. I place my leg over the other slumping on the chair.“So you have come to tell me you're failing at your job,” I mumble. He remains stoic but I see the slight twitch in his jaw.“No sir, I just came —”I cut him off. “I don't care what you do or how you do it. Not a single hair on her head should be touched.”His lips form a thin line. ”But she won't.”“I don't care, like right now she is at the hospital and you're here,” I mumble checking my watch. The red dot has been there for three hours.“That only shows me how incompetent you are, leave my office before I do something I will regret.”He runs out and I hope he is going to the hospital because if anything happens to Maya I will slaughter him alive. Someone knocks on the door and I groan.“Who is it?” I ask.“It's Leo sir, may I come in.”“Yes.”He steps in, his silhouette sha
Mine To Claim Ch.42
Maya's povI finish sterilizing the surgical area and arranging the tools. After some hours of preparation and long tutorials on how to do it, I finally felt confident enough to go and ask him if I could poke into his eye with a giant needle.I trudge to his office thinking of ways to convince him when I very well know this shouldn't even be this difficult.A strong scented perfume lingers around his office and just when I'm about to knock the door swings open.Roxanne steps out with a wide grin on her face. She looks at me skeptically, pulling her bag to her elbow. “Evening Maya,” she says brushing past me.Cassian appears behind her and I freeze. She is back. “What do you want?” Cassian asks, looking to where Roxanne just walked past.“To do a Biopsy.”“Can it wait?”“Can your blindness wait?”He rolls his eyes. “Let's go.”“Have you eaten anything?” I ask as I scrub myself.“Not since last night.”I put on my mask standing next to him.“What is a Biopsy?”“It's a test to determine
Mine To Claim Ch.41
Maya's povHolden pulls me aside, his grip on my arm tight. “What is going on?” He asks, his eyebrows furrowed.“What do you mean?” I ask feigning confusion.His jaw tightens. “Don't play with me, I know my brother is sick.”My breath hitches. “How do you know that?”He cuts me off his gaze sharp. “One from the fact that he was bleeding from his eye and the other that you blabbed it out when you were in my room.”“I did what?”Shit ! The night Cassian slept with Roxanne.“Holden, I can't tell you what's going on,” I mumble, touching his shoulders.“Why not?” He asks, his voice strained between anger and desperation.“Is this why you are here?” He asks, looking around. “ To treat him?”I let out a breath. “Holden stop, I can't tell you.”“Why not?”“Because I signed an NDA.”His eyes widen as he steps back. “Maya.”“Holden, please,” I mumble. “Not right now.”I shut the door before he can respond. My legs give out and I sink in the bed. This cannot be happening.I grab a book going thr
