The Billionaire's Intern (Maya Thompson) novel Chapter 92

Chapter 49: Unfamiliar Peace-1

Across the city, far beyond the reach of her eyes, a phone buzzed on a dark wood desk.

Damien didn’t look up right away. The glow of the screen lit the edge of his peripheral vision, but his gaze remained fixed on the skyline beyond the glass. Rain tapped faintly against the windows, soft and steady- like the heart he was trying too damn hard to ignore.

Then he reached for the phone.

Her name was the first thing he saw.

Maya.

He sat forward slowly, shoulders tense beneath the crisp black of his dress shirt. One thumb unlocked the screen, and there it was-her message.

Thank you for the gift. And for everything you don’t say.

The air thickened.

He stared at the words longer than he should have, as if reading them once wasn’t enough. As if he could summon the sound of her voice through the glow of text alone.

His jaw tightened.

There were so many things he didn’t say.

Things he couldn’t.

GROW

Not to her. Not yet.

Not when the truth still curled like a blade behind his ribs.

Damien exhaled-slow, quiet. Then stood. He walked to the bar and poured himself a small drink he wouldn’t finish, the scent of aged whiskey sharp in the room. A gift. That’s all it had been. A small gesture. Clean. Distant. Safe.

And yet it had landed too deeply. Too honestly.

Because she had seen it. Understood it. Felt it.

She always did.

She’d seen through the quiet better than anyone ever had. And maybe that terrified him more than anything else.

Chapter 49, Unfamiliar Peace-1

Finn’s words echoed in his mind, low and unrelenting:

Claim

“Sooner or later, she’ll have to know everything. If she’s willing to stand by you, to fight with you… that’s the kind of love worth everything.”

Damien exhaled, dragging a hand across his jaw.

Will she stand by me?

Will she fight with me?

Will she survive the weight of my world?

And if I reach for hers… will she let me in?

She wasn’t supposed to soften the edge he’d spent years sharpening.

But she had-without even trying.

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