The Billionaire's Intern (Maya Thompson) novel Chapter 42

<Chapter 26: Aftermath-2

+25 Points

Chapter 26: Aftermath-2

Damien snapped, voice sharp and cold.

“Watch yourself, Ashcroft.”

Ashcroft threw up his hands in mock surrender.

“Alright, alright! I’m a man. I see beauty when it’s there. Don’t blame me for noticing.”

Damien’s glare was ice.

“Keep your filthy thoughts locked up.”

Ashcroft laughed, then his tone shifted, harder, serious.

“But tell me-are you really sure about this? About her?”

Damien’s eyes darkened, silence stretching before he finally said, “I don’t know. All I know is she matters. More than anyone’s mattered in a long time.”

Ashcroft’s gaze hardened.

“Look, D… It broke me too. Lost someone close, I get it. The pain. The rage. The hole it leaves.

He took a breath, voice rough with something like regret.

“But grieving doesn’t mean we get stuck. We move on. Doesn’t mean we forget. But we gotta let go of the past or it’ll kill us. It’s a cruel truth-sometimes surviving means losing a part of yourself. But it doesn’t mean we have to die in the process.”

Ashcroft’s eyes locked on Damien’s.

“If Maya’s the one who can crack through your walls without even trying, make your heart beat again… then hell, I’ll take that as a sign that she’s the one.”

His voice dropped, fierce.

“I got your back, D. Don’t let the ghosts drag you under.”

The words hung heavy in the tight space between them – two warriors scarred by loss, learning to fight for something new.

Ashcroft Family Medical Pavilion

The SUV’s tires screeched gently as it pulled into the private emergency intake bay-tucked

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<Chapter 26 Aftermath-2

+25 Points

behind the grand west wing of Ashcroft Family Medical Pavilion, the city’s most elite medical

institution.

Owned and operated by the Ashcroft family for over three generations, the Pavilion wasn’t just a hospital-it was a fortress of confidentiality. A place where NDAs were signed at reception, and silence was more sacred than steel. Heads of state, billionaires, tech giants, and stars had passed through its halls without a single photo leaking.

And tonight, every hallway between the ER wing and intensive trauma had been pre-cleared.

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