Chapter 6 Go To Hell, Noah

The quiet certainty in his voice made the anger in my chest burn hotter. I stepped back, needing space between us. I was not going to break down in front of him. Not now. Not ever.

“You don’t get to say things like that to me,” I said, my voice low and shaking. “You don’t get to act like my life matters to you after everything you’ve done.”

Noah stayed where he was, watching me carefully. The faint red mark from my earlier slap still showed on his cheek. “Sit down, Maya. We need to talk about what happens next.”

“I don’t want to talk about anything with you.”

His jaw tightened. “Don’t make me sit you down, Maya. You don’t have a choice. There are people out there trying to kill you. We need to find a solution. Sit your fucking ass down.”

I didn’t sit. I stood with my arms crossed, staring at him. “Then start talking. And don’t lie to me.

”Noah’s eyes stayed steady on mine. His fists clenched at his sides for a second before he forced them open again. “You have to remain legally dead. That part is non-negotiable. The moment the wrong person confirms you survived the ferry, they will come for you again and next time they will not miss. So you will live under a new identity. Seraphina Sinclair. The paperwork is already prepared — passport, background, financial records. It’s clean. It’s untraceable.”

I let out a short, harsh laugh that sounded ugly even to my own ears. “You want me to erase myself. Pretend Maya Foster never existed. Let my mother keep crying over an empty grave while I walk around with a fake name you chose for me. Do you have any idea what that would do to her?”

“Yes,” he said simply. “I do. And I’m still asking you to do it.”

The calm way he answered made my blood boil. My hands curled into fists so tightly that my nails dug into my skin.

“What else?” I demanded, my voice rising. “Because I can see it on your face. There’s more. Stop holding back and just say it.”

Noah was quiet for a moment. He looked like he was choosing his words carefully. “There is an old clause in the Sinclair family charter,” he said at last. “If I am not married by the end of this year, controlling voting shares of the company transfer automatically to my father. Richard has been waiting for that deadline for a long time. If he gets those shares, he gains full power over Sinclair Industries. Every resource I am using to keep you hidden and to investigate the people behind the ferry will disappear overnight. He will shut everything down.”

I scoffed loudly and shook my head. “So what are you really trying to say? You need a wife?”

“I need a legal wife on paper,” he corrected, his voice still even. “Someone who already has every reason to stay out of the public eye. Someone whose existence is already erased. A marriage of convenience. Separate rooms, clear boundaries, nothing more than a contract that keeps Richard away from the company and keeps you under my protection at the same time.”

The room suddenly felt too small. I could barely get air into my lungs. I dragged in a slow breath through my nose and let it out, trying to keep myself from screaming.

“Did you plan all this?” I asked, my voice sharp with suspicion. “Was this the goal from the beginning? Wait until I had nowhere else to go and then trap me into marrying you?”

“What? No, Maya. For God’s sake, why would I?” His voice rose for the first time. “All I’ve ever done was try to protect you!”

The room suddenly felt smaller. I took a slow breath, trying to keep control of the anger rising in my chest.

“Don’t stand there and talk to me about protection,” I said, my voice shaking. “We were friends for three years, Noah. I trusted you. I told you things I never told anyone else. And when it mattered, you cut me off completely.”

I took a step closer to the table.

“You didn’t just take the company. You planned it. You undercut our contracts one by one. You went to our clients and made them offers they couldn’t refuse. You put pressure on the banks until they called in the loans with almost no time to breathe. My father tried to meet you. He called. He sent messages. When he finally got in front of you, he asked for more time. He was willing to restructure everything. And you looked at him and still signed the papers.”

My throat felt tight, but I kept going.

“You walked away with the ships, the warehouses, the routes, and the name my grandfather built. You left us with debt and public failure. My father never recovered from it. He sat in that empty office for weeks. Then his heart gave out. And the whole time, people called you brilliant for it.”

Noah’s jaw tightened. For a brief second he looked away, toward the dark window, then his expression closed off again.

When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter than before, but it was still firm. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, Maya. I know what I did to your family. I know what it cost you. I am not asking you to fucking forgive me. All I am asking is that you stay alive long enough for us to finish this.”

He paused and ran a hand through his hair in frustration before he continued. “The marriage is a tool. Nothing more. It gives me the legal power to keep Richard out and the cover to keep you hidden while we find the people who ordered your death.”

I stared at him, my chest rising and falling too fast. “So I’m just going to be a tool?” My voice dripped with disgust. “After everything you did, I still get to be a pawn in your game? You are sick, Noah. Truly sick.”

“You’re the reason I’m doing any of this,” he said, his eyes locked on mine. “The company is just the weapon I need to keep you breathing.”

I shook my head hard and pushed away from the table, putting real distance between us. “I don’t believe you. I will never believe a single word that comes out of your mouth.”

“You don’t have to believe me yet,” Noah replied. His voice stayed steady even though his hands had curled into fists again at his sides. “You only have to decide whether you want to live long enough to learn the rest of the truth.”

He slid a thick folder across the glass toward me. I could see the edge of a marriage contract and the new identity papers inside.

“Sign it,” he said quietly. “Or walk out that door and take your chances with the people who already put one body in your grave.”

My hands were trembling so hard I had to press them against my sides. Hatred and fear and grief tangled so tightly inside me that I could barely breathe.

I stared down at the folder, then back up at the man who had destroyed my family and was now asking me to bind my life to his.

Both of my palms slammed down on the glass table hard enough to make it rattle. I glared at him with pure, undiluted hatred.

“You ruined my father, you stole our company, and now you want me to wear your ring?! Go to hell, Noah!”