Two Little Secrets From My Boss

Chapter 235

Maya’s POV

This is it. The moment I've been dreading for six years, the inevitable exposure I knew was coming but somehow thought I'd have more time to prepare for.

Except there's no preparation for this. No way to rehearse the confession that will destroy everything. No script that makes this easier.

My throat is so tight I can barely breathe. My hands won't stop shaking. I open my mouth but nothing comes out.

Archie's watching me with those eyes that used to look at me with love and now just hold demand. Waiting.

His jaw is set, hands gripping the counter like he's physically holding himself back from—what? Shaking me? Walking away? I don't know anymore.

"Start talking, Maya." His voice is quiet, controlled, and somehow that's worse than if he were yelling. "Now."

The words unlock something in me. Once I start talking, I can't stop. Six years of lies pouring out like poison I've been holding too long.

"Six years ago, Lora died. They said it was an overdose, made it look like suicide, but it wasn't. Someone killed her. Used her to get leverage against Xander Hale, threatened her to force him to cooperate with something, and when that didn't work…"

My voice cracks. "They killed her to prove they weren't bluffing."

"What does this have to do with…"

"Everything. A few months after she died, someone contacted me. Said he had information about what really happened. Said Xander Hale knew people were threatening Lora, that he could have protected her but didn't."

I'm crying now, tears streaming down my face, but I keep talking.

"That he chose his company's security over her life. The patron—that's what he called himself—recruited me, trained me. Positioned me to infiltrate the Hale family and gather evidence that would expose what happened."

Archie's expression shifts. Recognition giving way to disbelief. "You've been lying this entire time."

"Yes." The admission tastes like ash. "I applied for the assistant position specifically to get close to the family. To access Xander's files, his communications, anything that would prove he was responsible for Lora's death. I've been searching for six years."

"The threatening notes." Archie's voice is so quiet it's almost a whisper. "About the twins."

My stomach drops. "I sent them. To create chaos, to make the family vulnerable, to…"

"You threatened Nina and Lisa." He's staring at me like I'm a stranger, like he's never seen me before. "You made Daphne terrified for her children while she was pregnant with a baby who might have died. While she was already drowning in fear and grief, you added to it. Deliberately."

"I never meant to actually hurt anyone."

"That doesn't matter!" His voice cracks, the first real emotion breaking through. "You terrorized a pregnant woman. You threatened five-year-old children. You made them all afraid in their own home."

"It was just to create pressure, to make them vulnerable enough that…"

"Stop." Archie's hand comes up, cutting me off. "Just stop. Don't try to justify threatening children. There's no justification for that."

The silence that follows feels like the end of the world.

I watch Archie's face and see the exact moment love dies. It's horrible, witnessing it in real time.

The way his expression transforms from disbelief to horror to something cold and final. Like he's looking at someone he doesn't recognize, someone wearing Maya's face but containing a monster underneath.

"Was any of it real?" His voice is devastated, broken in a way I've never heard before. "Anything between us? Or was I just… What, a convenient cover? Access to the family through their security chief?"

My throat closes.

"It was real! All of it was real. I never meant to fall for you, Archie. That wasn't part of the plan. But I did. I love you. That's the one true thing in all of this—I love you and I never wanted to hurt you and I don't know how to…"

"Get out." His face is stone but his hands are shaking. "Get out of my sight."

"Archie, please…" I reach for him, need to touch him, need to make him understand.

He steps back like my proximity might contaminate him. Won't let me make contact. "Don't touch me. Don't…" His voice breaks. "I can't look at you right now."

I'm sobbing openly now, not caring how I look, how weak this makes me. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted this, never wanted to hurt you or the family or…"

"But you did." He's looking at me with an expression I can't read.

Pain and anger and something that might be self-hatred. "You spent six years planning to destroy people who never did anything to you. You threatened children, you lied to everyone who trusted you, including me."

"I know. I know that and I can't… I can't take it back. I can't undo what I've done." My hands shake as I wipe tears that keep falling. "But I need you to know the feelings were real. What we had—that wasn't a lie."

Archie's laugh is bitter, hollow. "How am I supposed to believe anything you say? How do I know this isn't just another manipulation?"

"Because I'm telling you the truth now. Finally, after six years of lying, I'm giving you the truth."

He stares at me for a long moment. I watch emotions war across his face—fury and devastation and something that still looks like love despite everything.

"Twenty-four hours," he says finally, voice flat.

"What?"

"I'm giving you twenty-four hours to leave before I tell Xander everything."

His eyes meet mine, and the pain in them makes me want to die. "That's it. That's all you get. Disappear before tomorrow night, or I go to him with all of it—your real identity, the threatening notes, everything you've done."

The gift lands like a blow. He's protecting me. Even now, even after learning what I am, part of him still loves me enough to give me an escape route.

And he hates himself for it. I can see the self-loathing written across his face as clearly as the pain.

"Why?" I whisper.

"Because I'm an idiot." His voice cracks. "Because some part of me still…" He stops, can't finish. "Just go, Maya. Before I change my mind."

I move toward the door, each step feeling like walking through concrete. At the threshold, I turn back one more time.

"I'm sorry," I tell him, and the words are completely inadequate.

Archie doesn't respond. Just turns away, his shoulders rigid, his whole body radiating pain I caused.

I leave before he can see me completely break. Make it to the hallway outside before the sobs really hit, doubling me over, making it hard to breathe.