All Chapters of The Day I Stopped Loving Him: Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

Maya's POVChloe turned five in February with those views about what five should look like.She had been forming those views since December and presented them in a formal briefing on the first of January at the kitchen table. Her full wishlist... Square cake, not round, on the grounds that square was more interesting. The park in the afternoon, which had been the birthday arrangement for two years and which she saw no reason to change since it was working. Elena must be invited. A new sketchbook as the main gift because she had filled her current one and could not see the sense in marking a birthday with anything that was not immediately useful.The plan was followed exactly.Daniel came for the afternoon. He arrived with a set of drawing pencils, the wide range of greys from pale silver to near-black, and Chloe accepted them with the appreciation of someone who had needed exactly that without having known to ask for it."How did you know?" she asked him.He looked briefly over her he

Maya's POVThe Worn collection was complete, six weeks ahead of the original plan.Twelve pieces, one more than planned, which was how collections ended when they were going right. The twelfth arrived unexpectedly: trousers in a charcoal wool, warmer in tone than the coat's charcoal, more the grey of a city evening when the day has resolved into something worth keeping. The fabric at the supplier had spoken immediately and the understanding came whole and complete. Three days to make, which was fast and which was the speed the piece required.On the afternoon the last piece was finished the forms moved into wearing order and all twelve stood in the light.They were for the woman who had arrived. The woman living the life she had built, needing things that knew her well enough to change with her. Things whose inside was as carefully considered as their outside. A requirement for anything meant to last, not a luxury.A message went to Elena: the collection is finished. I want to talk to

Maya's POVElena's call ended with a soft click that echoed longer than it should have in the quiet loft. I set the phone down on the marble kitchen island, my fingers lingering on its cool surface as if it might slip away. The space around me felt different now transformed. The air had grown thicker, heavier, like the atmosphere before a storm front rolls in over the city. Shadows from the pendant lights stretched longer across the polished concrete floors, and even the distant hum of Paris traffic outside the tall windows seemed muted, conspiratorial. A woman named Astrid Bauer had died in the mill. Not just died, been lost in some industrial accident that Margaux Delisle, with all her calculated precision, had signed away into oblivion. A single signature on a document, and a life vanished from the official record. Colette had the proof. Colette was running. And somewhere out there, the private equity sharks at Corsair Capital were circling VOSS like blood in the water.I stared a

Daniel's POVThe drawing Chloe had given him still sat on the kitchen counter, catching the warm glow of the overhead light. The building with the open door. He kept glancing at it while the coffee brewed, the quiet hum of the machine filling the otherwise silent apartment. Steam rose in lazy curls from the mug he eventually poured. The lines in the child’s sketch were surprisingly confident for a five-year-old. The proportions were decent, the perspective intuitive. But it was the figure in the doorway that held his attention, no face, just a dark, solid presence. A sentinel standing watch.The phone rang sharply, slicing through the calm like a blade. Thomas."Daniel. Do not go home tonight."Daniel set the coffee mug down so hard that some of the hot liquid sloshed over the rim, burning his fingers slightly. He barely noticed. "Why?""The man who was watching your building. He’s not there anymore. He’s at the train station. Bought a ticket south. Lyon."Léo and Elena were driving

Maya's POVThe phone screen cast a pale light across the ditch. Two photographs. My loft. Chloe's bedroom. A figure standing over the bed.The phone rang. Elena. I answered."Astrid Bauer," Elena said, her voice raw with the cold and the fear. "A death in the mill. Margaux covered it up. Colette has the documents. And Maya, they ran us off the road. Léo is hurt. We are in a field."The information stacked in my mind. Astrid Bauer. A covered-up death. Colette running. Léo bleeding. Elena in a ditch. And the photographs on my phone, taken inside my home, inside my daughter's room."Get to the road," I said. "Marcus is sending extraction. Stay hidden until they arrive."I ended the call. The loft was silent. Barnaby was not on his bed. He was standing in the hallway, his hackles raised, a low growl vibrating in his chest. He was looking toward the front door.The lights in the loft flickered. Then they went out.The power had been cut.I moved in the dark. The loft was my space. I knew e