Max Botho didn't do hospitals. Not because he feared them but because he hated what they represented.
Vulnerability. Weakness. Humanity.
All things he didn't have time for. And yet, there he was six-foot-two of controlled danger wrapped in a designer hoodie, black jeans, and a scowl sharp enough to cut glass standing outside the private recovery suite of the woman he had very intentionally erased from memory.
Naledi Lerato Molefe.
Except… the woman inside wasn't just Naledi anymore.
Something about her had changed and not in the "new weave and fresh gloss" kind of way.
No.
She felt different.
Max paused just outside the door, staring through the glass. He watched her adjust her hospital gown with measured grace. She was alone. No friends. No lawyers. Just her… and that belly that now belonged to him as much as it did to her.
She should've looked fragile.
She didn't.
She looked like someone reborn like a woman who'd seen fire and walked out of it with purpose.
He opened the door and stepped in without knocking. Melissa formerly a successful, independent 34-year-old woman before waking up in Naledi's body didn't flinch when he entered. She'd been waiting for him.
She looked up from her hospital bed with the kind of cool that could freeze a wildfire.
"Well," she said, her voice even and low, "look who decided to remember he has a child on the way."
Max's eyes flicked down to her stomach, then back to her face.
"You're bold now," he said. "That's new."
Melissa tilted her head. "No. That's original. The old Naledi just forgot she had teeth."
A beat of silence stretched between them, thick with tension and unspoken history.
He stepped closer. "You've been quiet for months. No calls. No demands. Then suddenly, my lawyer gets a message that you want to renegotiate terms. Why now?"
Melissa smiled, slow and deliberate. "Because now I know my worth."
Max's jaw ticked. "Don't start thinking that baby makes you untouchable."
"Oh, darling," she said, her eyes glinting. "The baby makes you vulnerable. I've always been untouchable."
Max studied her, something sharp flickering behind his eyes. "You're different."
"You don't know the half of it."
He moved closer to the bed, until there were only inches between them.
"What do you want, Naledi?" he asked, his voice low and rich, like smooth whiskey with a deadly aftertaste.
She held his gaze without blinking. "Everything I deserve."
"And what does that mean exactly?"
Melissa leaned forward, resting a hand on her belly.
"It means I'm not here to be a footnote in your story, Max Botho. I'm here to rewrite the whole damn chapter."
Max stared at her, the edge of a smirk playing on his lips but not out of amusement. It was respect. Maybe even interest.
"You're playing a dangerous game," he said.
"I was born for it."
[FLASHBACK ! One Night in Gaborone City]
The music at Opal Lounge pulsed through the walls, a living heartbeat of neon and bass. Max had been dragged there by his crew after locking down a lucrative deal with a German investor.
He hadn't wanted to celebrate. He'd just wanted to disappear. And then she walked in.
Naledi.
Not the desperate, clout-chasing version Instagram knew but raw, untouched elegance in a red satin dress that hugged her like desire. Her eyes were bold, her walk deliberate. She didn't look around for validation.
She was the validation.
Max noticed her instantly and so did everyone else.
But only he owned the space between them.
Their chemistry hit like gasoline on an open flame. They didn't speak much.
A few flirtatious exchanges. A crooked smile. An invitation with no words.
She ended up in his penthouse an hour later.
The sex was messy. Addictive. Unapologetic.
She scratched down his back like she owned him.He kissed her like he hated her for seeing too much. And when it was over, they laid tangled in expensive sheets, both pretending it meant nothing.
But it did and it meant everything.
She ran her fingers across his jaw and whispered, "You're lonely. You just hide it with power."
He looked at her like she'd just stabbed him then kissed her again, harder this time, like he could erase the truth from her lips.
The next morning, she was gone.So was his peace.
[Back to Present Hospital Room]
Max didn't show emotion easily. But even now, the memory stirred something he didn't like.Melissa watched him, saw the shadow in his eyes.
"Still think I'm just some gold-digging groupie?"
"No," he said quietly. "I think you're something far more dangerous."
"Smart man."
"I should crush you before you get started."
"But you won't."
He stepped back, just a bit. Enough to show he was listening. Not agreeing. Not surrendering.
But calculating.
"I want full custody," he said. "You can keep the money, the perks, everything. But the child stays with me." Melissa let out a soft laugh.
"Max… baby daddy dearest… I died once already. You think I came back to play housemaid in your corporate nursery? This child is mine. And if you want to be part of his life you'll sit at my table, not the other way around."
Max blinked slowly as he hadn't expected that.
And for a man who expected everythingThat was thrilling. As he turned to leave, he paused in the doorway.
"This isn't over."
Melissa met his gaze, unflinching. "It has never even started."