The Rejected daughter chosen by the Alpha (Maya and Atila) novel Chapter 105

Chapter 105

Chapter 105

MAYA

I was still trying to wrap my head around the word mother when the woman stepped forward.

“What exactly are you trying to do, Atila?” Her voice was too controlled to be calm. “Give me a heart attack?”

Átila loosened his grip on my hand just enough to shift half a step in front of me, like he could shield me from his own

mother.

“Mom. Not here.”

She finally looked at me-really looked at me. Her gaze slid over my jeans, my backpack, my wind-tangled hair from the bike ride. Quick assessment. Surgical.

“She’s-”

-Maya is my girlfriend,” he cut in, steady. “We’ve only known each other a few weeks, and I don’t want you filling her head with unnecessary drama. We can talk another time.”

A few weeks.

My stomach did a strange little flip hearing that out loud, in front of this immaculate woman who looked like she’d stepped straight out of a fashion spread.

She stopped. Actually stopped. Like she was rearranging the entire universe inside her head.

“Absolutely not.” Her tone shifted. “I’m not leaving without you-or without your word that you’ll accept protection and move somewhere secure.”

Protection?

My brain lagged a second behind the word. Why would he need-

Then she turned to me.

“Did your boyfriend happen to mention that he survived an assassination attempt two days ago? That he almost died in front of his own mother after I specifically warned him?”

The hallway felt smaller.

“I already told you not to scare Maya,” Átila snapped, stepping between us again.

“Two days ago?” I whispered before I could stop myself. “So… the day you disappeared… you almost died?”

He closed his eyes for a second, like he was bone-tired.

“Someone almost put a bullet in him, to be precise,” she answered for him.

Everything went distant. Like I was underwater.

“Do you know who did it?” I asked, my voice thinner than I wanted.

Átila answered first.

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Chapter 105

“Some Russian mob guys who think they’re entitled to the fortune my late father left behind.”

“Mob guys?” his mother repeated, the word sounding oddly fragile in her mouth.

“Yeah, Mom.” He gave her a tight, humorless half-smile. “Mob guys.”

My eyes widened.

What. The. Hell.

Suddenly the black cars downstairs made sense. The men in suits. None of it had been over-the-top paranoia. They were bodyguards.

She turned back to me like I was the only rational person in the corridor.

“Please,” she said, “talk some sense into him. He needs to move today. Somewhere safe. He has a beautiful apartment with top-tier security in one of the best neighborhoods nearby. I have no idea why he left that fortress to live… here.”

I glanced around at the chipped paint, the old banister, the faint smell of aged wood.

I loved this building.

To her, it probably looked like a liability.

“With all due respect,” Atila cut in, his voice sharpening, “maybe you should focus on your own life, Mom.”

“How am I supposed to focus on my own life when I can’t sleep because I’m terrified my son is going to take a bullet to the chest?” Her voice cracked at the end. Not much. Just enough.

That broke something in me.”

I looked at Átila and pinched his arm hard.

“What?” he asked, dead serious.

Through my teeth, I muttered, “Just listen to your mother.”

He stared at me like I’d just betrayed him.

I didn’t look away.

He inhaled slowly, Deep. His chest rising and falling a little too deliberately.

Then he turned to her.

“Fine. I’ll move today.”

The air went still.

“But on one condition.”

“What?” she asked immediately.

He paused. Long enough for my heart to start misfiring.

Then he said it.

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Chapter 105

“Maya moves with me.”

“What?” Mrs. Volkov and I said at the exact same time.

Was he insane?

Was that what this was?

We’d barely started dating and he was already asking me to move in?

My brain took off running.

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12 55 vouchers

Moving in means my toothbrush next to his. Waking up in the same bed every morning. It means “a few weeks” stops being casual and turns into something real. Serious.

“Now that I’m in a relationship, it’s only natural I’d want her close,” he continued, like he was explaining basic math.

“But that decision belongs to her,” his mother shot back. “Not just you.”

“Exactly.” He turned fully toward me now. “It’s up to her.”

His eyes locked on mine.

Intense. Vulnerable. Stubborn.

“So? Are you moving in with me or not?”

My heart was racing.

Part of me wanted to laugh at how absurd this was. Part of me wanted to scream at him for not telling me he almost died. And another part-the most dangerous part-wanted to say yes just because the thought of him being somewhere without me made my chest tighten.

I swallowed.

“Move in… like actually move in?” My voice came out softer than I meant it to. “As in share the apartment?”

“Yes.” He didn’t break eye contact.

I almost rolled my eyes.

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