CHAPTER 14
LOGAN
The sound of children’s laughter echoes through our home, a small miracle after the hell we’ve all been through. I lean against the doorframe of the living room, watching Maisy on the floor with the kids. All six of them—I still marvel at how she manages them all.
“Logan, you just gonna stand there or help me with these tiny monsters?” Maisy calls out as Grace climbs onto her back.
“Just appreciating the view.” I smile. Something is different about her. The way she holds herself, maybe. More confident? No, that isn’t it. But something has shifted.
Our moment is interrupted by the doorbell. Again. The third time in an hour.
“I’ll get it,” Kai announces, striding past me. When he opens the door, I see Georgina.
“She here?” Georgina’s not bothering with pleasantries. Especially after the way we treated her.
“Yes, I’m here.” Maisy steps forward, gently passing Grace into my arms. “They’re all waiting in the dining room,” she adds, with a subtle nod toward the hallway.
Our dining room has turned into some kind of council for women.
Celina, Lisa, Angelina, and Sasha are already there, hunched over coffee cups, and more women are expected, I’m told.
Their voices are a steady hum of conversation that drops suspiciously when I enter.
They’ve all been trying to find out what Maisy went through with that asshole.
“That’s not gossip,” Maisy insisted earlier when I raised an eyebrow at their huddled conversations. “It’s strategic information sharing.”
Later, when the kids are settled with their movies and toys, and of course, with Sasha by their side, we finally notice that Maisy’s friends have left.
Orion corners Maisy in the kitchen. I follow, with Kai close behind. We need answers.
“Maisy,” Orion begins, “it’s been a few days now. It’s time we talk about what happened.”
Maisy looks between the three of us. She picks up a mug of coffee and takes a sip. Her onyx eyes reveal nothing. Then, out of the blue, she takes us by surprise.
“Tell me, if we had gotten married by now, would we have had this problem?”
I’m stunned, and unsure what to say. We all glance at each other before Orion takes the lead.
“No, we wouldn’t have had this problem. Because if we’d married you, your share of New York would’ve belonged to us.”
Maisy raises her eyebrows. “You?”
“Well, when I say us , I mean you too—because then you’d officially be part of the family. Don’t forget, we already run New York, but if we were married, it would be in an official capacity,” Orion explains.
“So for now, you’re running it un officially?” she asks. I’m not sure if she’s trying to grasp the situation or just reaffirming information she already has.
“Yes. Because you’re not the head of the mafia like your father was. You’re our woman now, so we took control of it. But as we’ve learned, anyone can challenge that control—since it’s not official.”
“So basically, this was all your fault,” she concludes.
“Yes,” Orion says softly. “And I’m sorry for that. We struggled to tell you. We didn’t want you to think we only wanted to marry you for your stake. And while we hesitated…time just kept slipping by.”
“ Fools ,” she says, enunciating it. “You men are fools.”
Kai nods. “Agreed.”
“It’s too late now,” she snaps, irritation slipping into her voice. “You wanted to talk about what happened, right?”
“Correct,” Orion says, shifting his stance. She’s clearly caught all of us off guard with her questions.
“Viktor took you,” I say, playing with the blade in my pocket. The feel of it reminds me of who it is for.
“Did he try something?” Kai demands. “Because if he touched you—”
Maisy cuts him off. “He didn’t.”
She leans against the counter, looking at us not like someone who needs protecting, or saving, but like an equal.
It throws me. I really expected tears, trauma—especially after what happened last time she was kidnapped, and what she went through.
What both of us went through back then. Instead, she’s talking clinically about her own kidnapping.
“Georgina found me a condo I could stay in, but they tracked my cell just before I switched it off. And then found me hiding under the bed,” she explains, her voice steady despite the memory. “Viktor and his three brothers. They dragged me out by my ankles while I screamed.”
Something primal twists in my gut. With my hand in my pocket, my fingers curl so hard around the handle of the blade I feel my knuckles might split. The image of Maisy being dragged burns itself into my brain.
Orion’s voice drops an octave. “Those fuckers.”
“Then I was hit on the head with something, and—”
“Fuck,” Kai swears, but all I can think about is concussion. Brain swelling. Hemorrhage. The possibilities flash through my mind and make my blood run cold.
“I woke up two days later, in a basement, my wrists and my ankles tied to a bedframe, with Viktor and his men standing over me.” Maisy narrows her eyes. “He was gloating. Asshole . He said he couldn’t wait to kill me. He said eliminating me was the only way he’d become head of the Slavs.”
The veins in Kai’s neck are visible as he slams his fist hard on the counter. “I’m gonna paint the walls with his blood!”
“Get in line, Kai,” Maisy replies, her calmness unsettling me. “I made him think that, since I’m a Slav, I could help him rule.”
“And that worked?” Orion asks, leaning forward.
“Viktor’s arrogant.” A sneer plays on her lips. “He thinks he’s the smartest person in any room.”
I cross my arms. “What are you saying?”
“I had to do what I had to do, because the lives of my children were at stake. I was threatened and trapped. But now?” Her voice has drops to a deadly whisper. “He’s gonna find out that nobody gets to threaten my children and live.”
She sets down her mug and slides past Kai and me with predatory grace, stalking toward the living room.
“What the fuck?” I mutter, making sure only Orion and Kai hear me.
Orion’s eyes meet mine, then shift to Kai. Before we can say anything, Orion’s cell rings.
“Oh, that must be Uncle Colletti and Uncle Leo,” Maisy says, turning back to us. She has that look—the one that means her brain is ten steps ahead. “They’ll want to apologize.”
“For what?” Kai asks.
“For doubting me,” she says, a hint of satisfaction in her voice. “When I showed up at the penthouse with Viktor, they were gloating, if you didn’t notice.”
I remember the day with sickening clarity—Maisy walking in, on someone else’s arm. The doubt that clouded my own judgment.
“You knew they never trusted you,” Orion states.
Kai’s eyebrows shoot up. “Damn.”
“I had enough of their negativity,” she rejoins us. “And now that they’ve seen I was loyal the entire time…”
Orion answers his cell, putting it on speaker. “Carte.”
“Hey, Orion. Is Maisy there?” Uncle Leo’s gruff voice fills the kitchen, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant.
“I’m here,” she says calmly.
“Listen,” he begins awkwardly, “we were wrong about you.”
Uncle Colletti’s voice joins in. “We misjudged you. Shouldn’t have been so quick to believe you’d turned.”
I watch a small, victorious smile play at the corners of Maisy’s lips.
“No harm done,” she says, though we all know that’s not entirely true. “I showed Viktor exactly what he needed to see—that not everyone here supports me. A division he could exploit.”
Silence hangs on the line as the realization dawns on both men. They’ve been played, but for a purpose bigger than their pride.
“Smart,” Uncle Leo admits finally. “Risky as hell, but smart.”
“Mm-hmm.” Now she’s cocky.
“Well, anyway. Goodbye,” Uncle Colletti says, and the line goes dead.
Kai looks at Maisy with something between admiration and horror. “Damn, baby girl.”
“Kai, I think I was clear. Viktor, and everyone else he brought with him, is not getting out of this alive.”
“Easy now, we don’t want you getting yourself kidnapped again,” I warn. “And please, for the sake of our kids, don’t do anything stupid.”
Orion doesn’t say anything for a moment.
He remains silent, his dark eyes tracking Maisy’s every movement.
His face reveals nothing, so I can’t tell if he’s buying into her performance or dismissing it.
He simply observes, taking in every micro- expression, every gesture.
Orion isn’t being taken in by clever Maisy—he’s measuring her.
“Maisy,” he finally says, his brows knitted, “I haven’t seen you like this before.
This intensity…this focus. There’s rage inside you, but you’ve contained it like a weapon.
It’s the control that’s unsettling. You’re not just angry—you’re methodical about it.
Calculated. It’s like watching a predator decide exactly when and how to strike. ”
Maisy just shrugs and heads to the living room.
She sinks onto the sofa and kicks her feet up on the coffee table. I follow and sit next to her.
“Level with me,” I say quietly, “are you really okay?”
She looks at me and for just a moment, I see a flicker of vulnerability in the depths of her eyes—a glimpse of the fear she’s hidden from everyone else.
“I was terrified,” she whispers. “But I couldn’t show it. Not to him. Not to anyone.”
I press my forehead against hers. “You don’t have to be strong all the time. Not with us.”
“Yes, I do.” Her voice is firm again. “Six children depend on me. Three mafia families think of me as their woman. And as such, I can’t afford weakness.”
I kiss her then, gently. “Being human isn’t weakness, sweetheart.”
She pulls back, that new determination hardening her features.
“You’re wrong, Logan. In our world, it’s the most dangerous thing to be.
” Her eyes meet mine. “Humanity is what they target first. They see it, they exploit it, they destroy it. Well, I’m calling the shots now.
And I bet you, Viktor is not going to like that one little bit. ”