Page 94 of Seven of Hearts

“No. She meansherhouse,” a deep voice bellowed from the doorway. Logan stood in the entrance with his eyes locked on his mom.

“Logan!” Cheryl said in surprise, but not excitement. She looked like she had gotten caught. She took one step closer.

“No,” he bellowed. “You don’t go near her. Understand me?”

Cheryl’s sense of self-preservation must not have grown in prison, because she didn’t listen as she neared me while looking at him.

Before I could blink, Logan was standing between the two of us. “You touch her, you go near her, you even look at her, and I will not hesitate to make it the last time you look at anything. Have I made myself clear?”

Her gasp was legendary. Honest to goodness, I wish I could have seen her face, but standing behind Logan felt like the safest place in the world.

“But that’s my grandchild,” Cheryl argued. “And you—you’re the only one who still talks to me. Not even Zoey will?—”

“Zoey doesn’t know you,” Logan snapped. “Do you remember why? Or did your fifteen-something years in prison make you forget? She hadn’t even turned a year old when you got locked up. Or maybe you just remember hiding the cache of drugs you kept on hand to sell beneath her crib in diaper boxes.”

The malice in his voice was terrifying, but warranted.

Logan had never been anything but gentle with me. The dichotomy was striking, and it made me fall in love with him that much more.

He was soft and strong. Logan was a work-a-holic, but compartmentalized so he could give me his full attention when we were together. He was sensitive and had an incredible emotional intelligence, but didn’t let it control him.

But more than all of those things, he chose me.

I peered through the crook of his elbow.

Cheryl had legendary crocodile tears in her eyes. “But—but—you’re the only family I have left.”

“You’re not my family anymore. Leah is. And if memory serves, you’re still married. So go cry to your partner in crime and get out of our house. You’re not welcome here.”

Cheryl’s expression morphed from hurt to shock to anger. “You can’t cut me off!”

“I already did,” Logan said. “Now leave before I have you arrested for trespassing.”

To my surprise, Cheryl slipped out the door and disappeared down the driveway. The moment she was gone, Logan locked and deadbolted the door.

“I’m so sorry, Leah,” he said as he dropped to his knees in front of me and rested his forehead on my bump. “I swear I’ll never let that happen again. I promise. To you both.”

I raked my fingers through his hair, feeling the stress and fear radiating off of him. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not,” he whispered as he rolled up the hem of my shirt and kissed my belly. “But it’ll be the one and only time.”

“How’d you know she was here?”

“Erica called from next door right after we hung up,” he said as he let out a tense breath. “She said someone had come around the house and didn’t recognize them.”

“You called me your family,” I said as I crooked my finger beneath his chin and tipped it up until he was looking at me.

Logan stood. “You are. We are. The three of us.”

“What about your meeting?”

He cracked a small smile. “Perks of a family-run business. Family always comes first.”

My random collection of thrifted and upcycled kitchen chairs had been brought over from my apartment. Logan grabbed my medical bag and led me over, sitting down first so that I could sit straddling his lap.

I waited patiently as he unzipped the bag and pulled out all of my testing supplies.

“I know this sucks for you,” he said as he inserted the test strip into the meter. “I know it scares you, and I wish like hell you didn’t have to walk this road. But is it weird that it’s my favorite part of the day?”

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