CHAPTER 12
ORION
After forty-eight hours of nonstop searching for Maisy, instead to resting, we’re yet again running on adrenaline and preparing for breaking and entering Viktor’s place in Washington DC.
Ten hours have passed since Viktor’s call.
It’s coming close to late afternoon as Logan paces by the windows, and Kai sits at the edge of the couch, wrapping his hands in boxing tape—a ritual he’s started to perform lately when preparing to draw blood.
I stand at the center of it all, checking my watch for the fifth time in as many minutes.
“The surveillance feed should be up by now,” I say, scrolling through my cell for messages. The tech specialist has been working on hacking Viktor’s security cameras, but progress is slow. Too slow.
“We’re running out of time,” Kai mutters, the tape making a ripping sound as he tears it with his teeth.
My cell lights up. I look at the screen. “Unknown number.”
The three of us exchange glances. I answer immediately, putting it on speaker. “Carte.”
The other end is silent, but I can hear someone breathing.
“Orion.”
My breath catches in my throat. Maisy? Not frightened, not broken, not pleading. Just…flat. Cold.
“Maisy? Are you alright? Where are you?” The words tumble out before I can arrange them into something more controlled.
“I’m fine.” Her tone is clipped, precise. No emotion. Nothing like the woman who shares our bed, who cradles our children, who matches me word for calculated word. “Better than fine, actually.”
Logan moves closer to the phone. “Maisy, are you alone? Can you speak freely?”
A soft laugh, one I’ve never heard from her before. “Yes, Logan. I’m alone. And speaking very freely.”
Kai leans forward, his eyes never leaving the phone. “What’s going on, Maisy? What did that Slav do to you?”
“Nothing I didn’t want him to do.” The statement falls like a blade between us. “That’s actually why I’m calling. I need you all to understand something.”
My jaw clenches, my rings pressing into my skin as I curl my fingers into fists. “We’re listening.”
“Twenty-five percent of New York territory is mine.” Her voice hardens. “I’m claiming it back. Effective immediately.”
The words don’t register at first. They simply can’t. Not when they come from her.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Kai demands, already on his feet. “This isn’t funny, Maisy.”
“I’m not trying to be funny.” She sounds almost bored now. “I’ve made a business decision. I need to think about myself. It’s nothing personal.”
Logan’s eyes meet mine. He knows, as I do, that something is deeply wrong. This isn’t Maisy.
“Viktor’s forcing you to say this,” I state, keeping my voice even. “Whatever he’s threatening you with—”
“Viktor isn’t forcing me to do anything,” she cuts in. “Neither are his brothers. We’re partners now. Equals. Something I never quite felt with you three.”
The floor seems to shift beneath my feet.
“You expect us to buy that you willingly allied with the Mrozovski brothers?” Logan asks in disbelief. “The same men who’ve been threatening our territory for months? Who’ve been killing our people?”
“Yes,” she counters. “We come from the same blood. We have common ground. They understand where I come from in a way you three never could.”
My mind races, searching for the angle, the play. I know Maisy always has a strategy, but this is something new. Something I’ve never seen with her.
“What about our children?” I ask. “What about our family?”
A pause. Brief, but telling.
“I’ve been playing house long enough,” she says eventually, her voice hardening again. “I was never meant to be just a mother, just a lover to three men. I was destined for more than that, and it’s time I claimed it.”
Kai slams his taped fist against the wall. “Bullshit! This isn’t you talking, Maisy!”
“You never really knew me, Kai,” she replies, ice in every syllable. “None of you did. You saw what you wanted to see—a broken girl you could fix, a genius you could control, a body you could share.”
The words strike like physical blows.
“And Viktor?” I ask, forcing each word past the tightness in my throat. “What does he see?”
“A queen.” Simple, direct. “Not a possession.”
Logan steps closer to the phone, his instincts reading between her words. “Maisy, if you’re in danger, if he’s watching you—”
“I told you, I’m alone,” she snaps. “No one’s making me say any of this. I’m finally thinking clearly, for the first time in years.”
I close my eyes as she speaks, searching for the tells in her voice, the subtle cues that would signal distress. Instead, I hear only certainty. Cold, hard certainty.
“So that’s it?” Kai asks, raw pain bleeding through his anger. “You’re just switching sides? Throwing away everything we built together?”
“I built my part,” she says, “and now I’m taking it with me. The eastern territories, the docks, the financial district operations—all mine. I expect a smooth transition.”
My lawyer’s mind catalogs what this would mean. A quarter of our empire, gone. Vulnerable borders. War with the Slavs all but guaranteed.
“You know we can’t let that happen,” I tell her, my voice dropping to something I’ve never directed at her before.
“You don’t have a choice,” she replies, matching my tone, “unless you want an all-out war. And trust me, with what I know about your operations, you’d lose. Badly.”
The threat hangs in the air between us. Maisy knows everything—every weakness, every secret, every vulnerability in our organization. She helped build our security, our strategy, our future.
“Why are you doing this?” Logan asks. “The real reason, Maisy.”
“I told you. I’ve outgrown you.” Her words are measured, precise strikes. “I’m not asking for permission. I’m telling you how things will be from now on.”
Kai’s unable to contain his rage, as usual. “So you’re fucking the Mrozovski brothers now? Is that it?”
“My personal arrangements are none of your concern anymore, Kai,” she says coldly. “But since you asked—not yet. Although I’ll let you know the moment I do.”
The image this conjures up makes my stomach turn. Not from jealousy, but from wrongness. This isn’t Maisy. Not the woman who fought alongside us, who bore our children, who went through hell only a short while ago.
“I don’t believe you,” I say quietly. “I know you, Maisy Roy.”
“You know what I wanted you to know,” she counters. “Nothing more.”
“What about the children?” Logan asks. “Your children. Our children.”
The silence stretches out for longer this time. When she speaks, her voice is firmer, as if she’s pushing through something. “They’re better off without me. I was never built for motherhood.”
And there it is. The first real crack in her performance. Maisy would never abandon her children. Not willingly. Not for power, not for revenge, not for anything in this world.
“We’re coming for you,” I say, certainty settling into my bones. “Whatever game Viktor’s playing, whatever he’s forced you to say—it won’t work.”
“There is no game,” she insists, but I hear it now—the smallest tremor in her voice. “I’m making a choice. My choice. Stay away, Orion. All of you. This call is a professional courtesy, nothing more.”
“One question,” I say, leaning closer to the phone. “Do you remember what you said to me the night the twins were born? When it was just you and me in that hospital room?”
Silence.
“Maisy?” I press.
“I need to go,” she says abruptly. “Consider this my formal separation from our arrangement. Any attempt to intervene will be considered an act of war.”
The line goes dead.
For several heartbeats, none of us moves. The penthouse feels colder somehow, as if her words have leeched all warmth from the air.
“She must be lying,” Kai says, certainty in every line of his body. “Viktor’s got her. He’s making her say that shit.”
Logan nods slowly. “There were inconsistencies. Hesitations. The way she spoke about the children—that wasn’t Maisy.”
I move to the windows, staring out at the city that’s partially ours, partially hers. The city Viktor wants to take.
“She’s sending us a message,” I say, everything clicking into place. “She’s telling us she’s with Viktor. She mentioned the brothers. She emphasized being alone in the room.”
“She’s feeding us what she can,” Logan concludes.
“But why tell us to stay away?” Kai asks, confusion warring with hope on his face. “If she wants us to come for her—”
“Because Viktor’s planning something,” I realize, turning back to them. “The territory claim, the brothers, telling us explicitly to stay away—it’s a warning. He wants us to come charging in. It’s a trap.”
Logan’s eyes narrow. “So what do we do? We can’t leave her there.”
“We don’t,” I say, resolve hardening in my chest. “But we don’t play by Viktor’s rules either.”
Kai steps forward. “Right. What’s the play?”
“Viktor thinks he knows us,” I say.
Logan nods, already reaching for his arsenal. “And they expect us tonight.”
“We hit them tomorrow, right in the chaos of morning rush hour,” I say, final. “They won’t see it coming.”
Kai’s smile is all teeth, primal and hungry. “I’m gonna enjoy tearing those brothers apart.”
MAISY
“That brilliant mind of yours won’t help you this time!” Viktor had yelled angrily at me. “This time, Maisy-Moo, there’s no escape.”
But that didn’t stop me. I was watching closely, and for a split second—just a heartbeat—doubt flickered across his features. I saw it the moment I mentioned someone had been feeding him bad information. That he’s been played.
The smallest crack in his certainty.
“Make sure she stays secure,” he barked as he left the basement.
In a way, it worked in my favor. Igor, Viktor’s brother, all biceps and sleaze—turned out to be a talker. A major pervert, unstable and unpredictable yes, but also an easy source of information. If Viktor hadn’t walked back when I screamed, I probably would’ve been raped by him.