Chapter 3 - Maya’s Choice
Two hundred miles away, in the bustling student union of the University of Michigan, Maya Alden sat at a corner booth with her laptop open, surrounded by the chatter of undergrads cramming for exams. Her phone screen lit up on the scarred wooden table.
Incoming Call: Dad.
Maya frowned. Her father almost never called on a Wednesday afternoon unless he needed her to confirm her attendance at an upcoming corporate holiday party to look like the perfect executive daughter. She tapped the screen and brought the phone to her ear.
“Hi, Dad. I’m actually between classes right now—”
“Maya, thank God you picked up,” Victor interrupted, his voice uncharacteristically breathless and edged with tension. “Are you alone? Can you talk?”
Maya leaned back, her instincts instantly on alert. “Yeah, I’m alone. What’s going on? Is something wrong?”
“Your mother has lost her mind,” Victor said bluntly, not bothering with pleasantries. “She’s having some kind of severe middle-aged breakdown. She filed for divorce without even warning me, and she’s trying to destroy the family business out of spite. She’s frozen our personal accounts and she’s sending lawyers to harass my staff.”
Maya sat in stunned silence for three long seconds. The air in the busy student union suddenly felt icy cold.
“A divorce?” Maya whispered. “Dad, what did you do?”
There was a pregnant pause on the other end of the line, followed by Victor’s classic defensive chuckle—the sound he always made right before he tried to rewrite history.
“I didn’t do anything, sweetheart. You know how demanding my schedule has been lately. Your mother feels neglected, so she’s exaggerating things. She’s listening to some predatory shark of an attorney who is feeding her delusions. I need you to pack a bag and come home tonight. She listens to you. You’re the only one who can make her see reason before she ruins all of our futures.”
“Is Elise Ward in Dallas with you?” Maya asked quietly.
The silence that followed was absolute.
“Excuse me?” Victor choked out.
“I asked if Elise was with you,” Maya said, her voice dropping into a flat, steady register that sounded remarkably like her mother’s. “Don’t lie to me, Dad. I’m nineteen, not blind. Last Thanksgiving, you spent forty-five minutes out by the garage on the phone with her while Mom was carving the turkey by herself. And three days ago, Elise posted an Instagram story from the rooftop lounge of the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas. There was an Alden Enterprises corporate brochure sitting on the table right next to her martini glass.”
Victor groaned in frustration. “Maya, that’s strictly business! Elise is an integral part of our corporate strategy, and your mother’s jealousy is completely irrational!”
“Mom didn’t call me to complain about you, Dad,” Maya said, her eyes stinging with tears of pure betrayal. “Mom called me yesterday morning just to tell me she loved me, to ask if I had enough money for groceries, and to promise me that no matter what changes happened, my college tuition was fully protected in a separate account she funded with her clinic bonuses.”
“Maya, listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me,” Maya interrupted, her hand gripping the edge of her laptop. “For years, I watched Mom bend over backward to make your life effortless. She canceled family vacations because your board meetings ran long. She covered for you when you missed my high school graduation dinner. And you repaid her by bringing your side piece to corporate events and treating Mom like a live-in maid.”
“I gave both of you everything!” Victor shouted, losing his temper entirely. “The house in Lake Forest, your luxury car, your private schooling—none of that exists without me! You respect me, Maya! I pay your bills!”
“Grandpa gave us the land you built your warehouse on, Dad,” Maya said coldly. “Mom told me everything about the lease fifteen minutes ago. She didn't want to weaponize it, but you gave her no choice.”
“Maya—”
“Don’t call me again until you apologize to Mom,” Maya said, her voice trembling with righteous fury. “And don't bother having your assistant send me my allowance this month. Mom already wired me my living expenses from her personal savings. Lose my number, Dad.”
She ended the call with a firm tap of her finger.
May you like
Across the table, a couple of students looked over at her, startled by the intensity of her voice. Maya wiped a stray tear from her cheek, took a deep, steadying breath, and opened a text thread with her mother.
I just talked to Dad, Maya typed. He’s terrified of you, Mom. Good. Don't give him a single inch.
