~ đź–¤
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Maya knew the moment she stepped into the gym that something was off.
It wasn't just the quiet. Or the way the lights flickered above like they knew something she didn't. It was the feeling in her bones. Cold. Heavy. Familiar.
Then she saw him.
Jax.
Leaning against the far wall like he hadn't just vanished for weeks. Like he hadn't disappeared the night after he gave her Mira's diary and left her alone with every lie her sister had written.
But this Jax…
He wasn't the boy who used to smile when she walked into a room. His shoulders were tense. His jaw sharp with bitterness. His eyes—once warm—were now guarded.
> "You came," she whispered.
> "Had to," he said. "Couldn't keep pretending I didn't care."
Maya stepped closer, but he didn't move.
> "You've changed," she said.
> "So have you," he replied. "I can see it. You're different now. Like him."
Her heart twisted.
> "Jax…"
> "I read the diary again," he cut in. "Every word. And I started seeing things I didn't want to see."
He pulled something from his jacket — a folded page, ripped and frayed.
> "Mira didn't just lie to you, Maya. She lied to everyone. And she didn't just hate you. She wanted to destroy you."
Maya stared at the page. Her fingers shook as she took it.
It wasn't just a journal entry. It was a plan.
A detailed list of every way Mira had tried to ruin her — emotionally, socially, even physically. There were notes about manipulating Elias. About seducing Jax. About making Maya feel like the second twin, the unwanted one.
Maya's throat closed.
> "She was going to sleep with Elias," Jax said. "Not because she loved him. But because she knew he would've chosen her."
Maya's chest ached.
> "And you," she whispered. "You were just a game to her."
Jax nodded slowly.
> "But I meant it when I said I loved you, Maya. I meant it. And you chose him. You chose the one who looks at you like he's going to eat you alive."
> "It wasn't like that—"
> "It is," Jax snapped. "You're not the same. He's turned you into something else. Something that doesn't flinch when he touches you like you belong on a leash."
Maya's eyes darkened.
> "Maybe I do," she said. "Maybe I like it."
Jax stepped forward, furious. "You think that's love? You think that's what it means to be wanted? Maya, he doesn't love you. He owns you. Like some twisted possession he keeps locked in his house and kisses when no one's looking."
> "And you loved a version of me that never existed," she shot back. "You loved the idea of saving me. But I don't need saving."
He flinched. For a moment, the old Jax flickered through — hurt, confused, vulnerable.
> "I wanted to save you from becoming her," he whispered. "But you've become something worse."
The door behind her creaked open.
Maya didn't have to turn to know who it was.
Elias.
> "Leave," he said coldly.
> "She doesn't belong to you," Jax spat.
> "She does," Elias said, stepping fully into the room, his voice low and lethal. "And she's never going to be yours."
Jax looked to Maya.
> "Is that true?" he asked, voice breaking. "Do you want this?"
Maya looked at Elias.
At the monster she'd fallen into.
At the storm she couldn't escape.
She nodded.
> "Yes."
Jax backed away like she'd stabbed him.
> "Then you deserve each other."
And then he left.
---
Later, back at Elias's house, Maya sat in silence, the ripped page from Mira's diary still clutched in her hand.
Elias knelt in front of her, taking her wrist gently.
> "I told you," he murmured. "Everyone leaves. Except me."
> "And what happens when I leave?" she asked softly.
He smiled darkly.
> "You won't."
> "But if I try?"
His fingers brushed her throat — softly, almost reverently.
> "Then I'll break every bone in my own body trying to make you stay."
She didn't flinch.
Because part of her…
Wanted that.
---
đź–¤