Page 2 of KAI Tortured

I throw my hands up and stare at him in disbelief. “You did not just say that to me. Tell me you didn’t.”

Kai’s standing his ground. “You heard me.”

“What the fuck are you gonna do with the fucking heir to the Slavs?” I thunder. “Everyone will want to kill her when they find out! We prepared for a war on them, then we protect their leader? The true heir to the Slavs? Have you lost your mind?”

“Both of you, sit down!” Logan barks at us. “We need to make a plan.”

“If it involves killing Maisy, it ain’t gonna happen.” Kai reaffirms his position and sits his ass down next to Logan. I follow.

“Why are you protecting her so much?” Logan asks Kai.

“As much as I hate the Slavs, and her right now, I believe her. She couldn’t have known.”

“Stupid. You’re stupid, Kai!” I growl at him.

“Orion, I’m warning you. Next time, I’m gonna swing my fist your way.”

“And I’m gonna pull my gun on you, and then what’re we gonna do? Tell me! Are we gonna kill each other, and lose everything we have, over a woman? Let alone a Slav? A fucking Slav, Kai?!”

Kai and I lock eyes, neither of us willing to secede.

Logan clears his throat. “I’m going to say something now and it won’t be easy, but it has to be said,” he starts, and pours himself a full glass of whiskey.

We wait until he drinks it in full and looks at us.

“She must be killed.”

“No!” Kai slams his fist down, the empty glasses bouncing on the table. He shoots back to his feet. “Maisy’s staying alive. You’re gonna have to kill me first before you kill her.”

I never thought either of them would agree. It’s the best option for all of us, clearly, and I want to kill her, but I also don’t. I’d rather imprison her than kill her. But then, practicalities. Fuck. There’s no way out of this. She’s gonna have to die.

“Orion?” Logan is after my support.

My mind is split in half, with one half stronger than the other. The stronger one wants Maisy alive. What the fuck is happening to me?

“If it has to be done, then so be it.” I’m focused on getting my words right, not to falter, all the while my heart is being surgically removed. I can only imagine how Kai feels. And Logan… These past few weeks were hard on him. Having been roughed up by the Slavs has made him the sanest in this discussion. And maybe the only one who’s able to be unemotional and detached. In any case, it’s what we need right now.

“I’m going to Maisy’s room now.” The dark edge to Kai’s voice is alarming. “You come near her, either one of you, you die.”

He heads toward the stairs. His hands are curled into fists. He’s angry, and ready to protect Maisy with his life. That much I can see.

I turn to Logan, but there’s a wall in front of him, one that hides all of his emotions. The Slavs took away the once cheerful and relaxed Southerner out of him. He’d never been tortured for that long. And I wonder how long it will last, or if it will ever end. I don’t have an ally here right now, nor even a friend. I have another mafia head sitting next to me.

“I’ll deal with it,” he says, as if he heard my thoughts. “I’ll find an assassin. One who’ll kill her painlessly. We won’t see it, and it’ll just feel like she left.”

Alarm bells are ringing. He already has a solution in his head, before even discussing it with me. “And Kai?”

“Kai’s gonna cry for a few days and then he’ll be fine,” Logan concludes flatly.

I shake my head. “Logan, as much as I’m with you, you saw him. He’s hurting. That’s his way of coping. I want to slap some sense into him but right now, we can’t do much until the dust settles. Seriously. He’ll be like this for a few days, I know him. He’ll hate her just as much as we do, but he won’t let her die.”

“Do you want her to die?” Logan asks blankly, catching me off-guard.

I lean back in my seat, my eyes landing on my empty whiskey glass. Before I respond, I fill up the glass and down it. He knows what I want. But we have no choice.

“All I can say is that not killing her leaves open a can of worms. Worms that want to take over New York. And with her being alive, our very existence comes into question. If I have to choose between us and her, it’s us. It hurts me to say this, but I choose the Cartes, the Delgados, and the Vitalis over Maisy.”

Logan’s hard stare mellows. “Fuck, man. I know how you feel.”

---