Chapter 6 - THE CORPORATE COUNTERATTACKEthan couldn't breathe. The air in the diner felt thick, toxic, suffocating. Every harsh word he had ever spoken to her during their marriage came back to haunt him, replaying in his mind with horrifying clarity.
"I was a monster," Ethan whispered, his voice cracking. "I know that now. I spent years building Crestline because I thought power meant safety. I thought if I controlled everything, I wouldn't ever have to feel helpless again. But I was just a coward hiding behind an empire."
Maya stared at him, her expression softening just a fraction before she hardened her walls once more. "An apology doesn't rewrite three years, Ethan. You can't just waltz back into our lives because you saw a kid with your eyes and felt a sudden pang of paternal guilt."
"He's my son, Maya," Ethan said, his voice dropping into a desperate, grounding plea. "I have rights—"
"Don't talk to me about rights!" she snapped, standing up abruptly so the plastic table shook. "If you try to take him from me, I will fight you until my last breath. I built a life for him out of the wreckage you left behind. You will not destroy it."
She turned and marched out of the diner before he could say another word.
Ethan sat alone in the booth, staring at the empty space across from him. He knew she meant every word. Maya was fiercely intelligent, stubborn, and resilient. If he pushed her with lawyers and threats, she would go underground, and he might never see his son again.
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He needed a different strategy. He needed to prove he had changed.
And the universe decided to test that resolve sooner than he expected.
