character guide for Things That Belong to Me, summarizing personalities, motivations, and relationships to help you a reader keep track:
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Main Characters
Maya Vale
Role: Protagonist, widow of Elias Vale
Age: Early 30s
Personality: Cold, determined, highly intelligent, precise. She balances grief with meticulous planning. Calm, almost detached, but fiercely loyal to family and those she loves.
Background: Daughter of a secretive, powerful family operating behind Valmere's entertainment and financial world. Unknown to the public.
Arc: Transforms from grieving widow into a calculating avenger, then finally retreats to a quiet life, raising her child with Elias's mother.
Key Traits: Steely resolve, strategic mind, capable of restraint and emotional depth, protective instinct toward her child and surrogate family.
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Elias Vale
Role: Famous singer and actor, Maya's husband
Age: Mid-30s
Personality: Charismatic, artistic, kind, idealistic, slightly naïve about the business world.
Background: Internationally acclaimed celebrity in Valmere's entertainment industry. His kindness and trust make him vulnerable to exploitation.
Arc: Though deceased, his life and death catalyze Maya's journey of vengeance. Remains a moral and emotional anchor for Maya.
Key Traits: Creative genius, gentle-hearted, embodies innocence contrasted against the corruption around him.
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Selene
Role: Family operative and Maya's covert ally
Age: Appears 30s–40s
Personality: Calm, efficient, professional, and mysterious. Speaks with precision. Unwavering loyalty to Maya's family.
Background: Works for Maya's family network, carrying out covert operations to assist Maya without revealing their full scope.
Arc: Introduces Maya to the hidden machinery of power and ensures her safety while facilitating her vengeance.
Key Traits: Silent strategist, highly capable, unflinching, enigmatic.
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Elias's Mother
Role: Maternal figure and later caregiver to Maya's child
Age: 60s
Personality: Gentle, wise, nurturing, morally grounded, protective of family legacy.
Background: Lives outside the city near the coast. Provides Maya with a safe refuge after Valmere.
Arc: Acts as a stabilizing presence, helping Maya transition from vengeance to domestic life.
Key Traits: Compassionate, practical, morally clear, patient.
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Cassian Industries & Associates
Role: Antagonistic network responsible for Elias's death and industry corruption
Key Traits: Cold, calculating, self-interested, protective of their wealth and status. Represent the corrupt machinery of fame and power.
Arc: Serve as the primary targets of Maya's vengeance. Their downfall demonstrates her strategic brilliance and control over her family's influence.
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Sol Vale
Role: Maya's child, born after the events of the story
Age: Infant to 5+ (seen in epilogue)
Personality: Observant, sharp, precocious, with hints of the same intelligence and awareness as Maya.
Significance: Represents hope, continuity, and the next generation in the circle of influence. The epilogue hints Sol may inherit Maya's strategic mind and vigilance