The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 25

< Chapter 25 Maya Advice 2

Chapter 25: Maya Advice 2

Bella pov

+25 Points

“Or,” Maya said gently, “you could stop building walls and start building a real life. One where you’re happy, not just successful. One where Tom has a mother who smiles instead of just survives.”

Her words hit harder than any of Caleb’s apologies. Because she was right. I’d spent years surviving, building, proving myself, but I hadn’t spent a single day actually being happy.

I’d forgotten how.”I don’t know if I can,” I admitted quietly. “I don’t know if I remember how to be anything other than angry.”

“Then learn.” Maya pulled me’back into a hug. “You learned how to be a CEO. You learned how to be a mother. You can learn how to be happy again. It just takes practice.”

We sat like that for a long time, me crying into her shoulder while she held me together, until I finally ran out of tears and just felt hollow.

“Thank you for coming,” I said eventually, my voice hoarse. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’d survive,” Maya said. “Because that’s what you do. But I’m glad you don’t have to survive alone.”

That night, after Maya went to bed in the guest room, I stood at my bedroom window looking out at the Silverton skyline. Somewhere out there, Caleb was probably in his penthouse at Black Tower, maybe standing at his own window, maybe thinking about me the way I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

My phone buzzed with a message from another unknown number.

I know you blocked me. I won’t apologize for trying to reach you. I need you to know that I never stopped looking, never stopped hoping you were safe. I don’t expect forgiveness. I just need you to know I’m sorry. That I was wrong. That I would give anything to undo what I did. -C

I stared at the message for a long time, my finger hovering over the delete button.

Then I read it again. And again.

I would give anything to undo what I did.

But he couldn’t undo it. Time only moved forward, and the past was written in permanent ink. He’d thrown me away while I was carrying his child. He’d laughed when I’d begged him to listen. He’d chosen Jade over me without a second thought.

And now he was sorry.I thought about Tom, asleep in his room with his grey eyes and his innocent questions about his father. I thought about the moment, years from now, when I’d have to explain why his daddy hadn’t been there, why his grandparents didn’t know he existed, why half his family had thrown him away before he was even born.

How do you tell your son that his father told you to abort him?

How do you explain that kind of rejection to a child who deserves nothing but love?

I blocked the new number and put my phone away, then climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling in the

1/2

Chapter 25 Maya Advice 2

dark.

+25 Points?

Tomorrow, I’d put the armor back on. Tomorrow, I’d be the Iron Empress again, cold and untouchable and completely in control. But tonight, in the dark, I let myself be Bella Hart, the girl who’d once believed in love and family and happy endings.

The girl who’d had her heart broken so thoroughly she wasn’t sure it still worked. The girl who’d survived anyway, because someone had to protect the little boy with grey eyes who deserved better than the parents fate had given him.

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