Chapter 78

Maya’s POV

My phone rang for the eighth time today. Each time, Elias’s name flashed insistently across the screen, and each time I tapped “decline” without a second thought. By the fourth call, he must have realized I wouldn’t pick up, so he reached out to Christopher instead. When Christopher asked if I could talk, I refused again. He must have known that I was fine—I wasn’t injured or hurt—but there was something deeper behind my silence. I simply wasn’t in the mood to hear Elias’s voice.

Ever since I saw that photograph from the mysterious number, I’d felt myself shut down from the inside out. Just days ago I’d been on the verge of telling him I loved him, but after that image appeared on my phone, it felt like someone had driven a knife through my heart. I couldn’t bear to speak until I’d buried my hurt somewhere deep enough that it wouldn’t spill over in tears. So I threw