Chapter 3 - THE QUEENS SAFEHOUSE
The small two-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, smelled of chicken noodle soup and damp clothing. Maya sat on the edge of her worn sofa, her hands trembling as she held a mug of chamomile tea that had long since gone cold.
In the small bedroom down the hall, the three toddlers were finally asleep. Noah was curled up with his worn stuffed dog, while Ivy and Owen lay side by side, their small chests rising and falling in peaceful rhythm.
Maya stared out the window into the rain-slicked alleyway.
She couldn't get the image of Sebastian out of her head. Four years. Four years of pain, of nights spent crying silently in the bathroom so the babies wouldn't hear her, of calculating pennies to buy milk and diapers. And today, seeing him standing there in his five-thousand-dollar coat, surrounded by power and wealth, looking at Noah with those same gray eyes...
Suddenly, a quiet, rhythmic knock echoed against the heavy wooden front door.
Maya jumped, her heart leaping into her throat. She instinctively reached for the heavy iron skillet sitting on the kitchen counter.
"Who is it?" she called out, her voice trembling.
"Maya. It's me. Please open the door."
Sebastian’s voice was stripped of all its former arrogance. It sounded raw, broken, and desperate.
"Go away, Sebastian!" Maya yelled softly, coming closer to the door but keeping the chain latch engaged. "I told you to leave us alone! I’ll call the police!"
"The police won't protect you from what’s coming, Maya," Sebastian’s voice came through the thick wood. "Please. I am alone. No guards. No guns. Just me. You need to know the truth. You need to know what they did to us."
Maya hesitated. Through the narrow crack enabled by the chain latch, she looked out into the dimly lit hallway.
Sebastian was standing there. His expensive coat was soaked through with rain. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead. He looked smaller, stripped of his syndicate aura, his face pale and eyes rimmed with red. He looked like the boy she had fallen in love with in college—the quiet, intense law student who used to share cheap pizza with her on the fire escape.
Slowly, with shaking hands, Maya unhooked the chain and pulled the door open.
Sebastian stepped into the narrow entryway. He didn't try to touch her. He didn't push his way in. He stood on the welcome mat, rain dripping from his hem onto the linoleum floor.
"You're tracking water everywhere," Maya whispered, trying to mask her terror with annoyance.
"I'm sorry," Sebastian said quietly. He pulled a thick paper file from inside his wet coat and set it on the small kitchen table. "You were right, Maya."
Maya blinked. "What?"
"You were right about everything," Sebastian said, his voice choking up. "You didn't abandon me. My family destroyed us. Viktor Vance intercepted your letters. He threatened you. He paid off the hospital administration to keep your records hidden. My grandfather... and my mother... orchestrated the entire thing."
Maya felt the breath leave her lungs. "Your mother? Sebastian, your mother died twenty years ago."
"She's alive," Sebastian said, the words bitter as ash on his tongue. "She’s been living in Connecticut. She was the one who ordered Viktor to keep you away from me. She thought... she thought having a wife and children would make me weak. She wanted me to be a monster so I could run the family business."
Maya sank onto one of the wooden kitchen chairs, her legs giving out beneath her. "Oh my God..."
"I spent four years hating myself, Maya," Sebastian continued, stepping closer and falling to his knees right in front of her chair. He didn't care about his designer trousers or the dirt on the floor. He looked up at her with tears spilling over his dark lashes. "I thought I broke your heart because I was a coward. I thought I pushed you away to save you from mobsters, but the real monsters were living under my own roof."
Maya looked down at him. The rage that had sustained her for four long, painful years suddenly began to melt into a profound, crushing sorrow.
"Why are you telling me this now, Sebastian?" she asked, tears flowing freely down her face. "What does this change? The kids are four years old. They don't know you. They know a life of small apartments, cheap toys, and a mother who works until her hands bleed. You live in a world of blood, mafia wars, and billionaire alliances. We don't fit into your life."
"Then I'll destroy my life," Sebastian said fiercely, taking her small, rough hands in his massive, warm palms. Maya tried to pull away, but he held her gently, desperately. "I don't want the syndicate, Maya. I don't want Vale Enterprises. I don't want the money if it costs me you and my children. I will burn every contract, hand every ledger over to the FBI, and walk away with nothing."
Before Maya could respond, a sudden, loud CRASH echoed from the street below, followed by the deafening sound of automatic gunfire.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Maya screamed, instinctively leaping from her chair.
The glass window in the living room shattered into a thousand glittering shards as bullets tore through the plaster walls, destroying the framed pictures and sending wood splinters flying through the air.
"DOWN!" Sebastian roared.
In a fraction of a second, his mafia instincts kicked in. He tackled Maya to the floor, covering her body with his own as a hail of lead tore through the apartment.
From the back bedroom, the terrifying sound of three toddlers screaming in pure terror pierced the chaotic noise.
"NOAH! IVY! OWEN!" Maya shrieked, trying to crawl toward the hallway.
Sebastian grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes fierce and focused. "Stay low! Maya, look at me! Stay low and crawl to the bathroom! Put them in the tub!"
He reached into his jacket, pulling out a sleek black 9mm handgun he had hidden despite his promise.
Through the shattered window, through the rising smoke and dust, Sebastian saw two black SUVs parked on the street below. Men in tactical gear were pouring out, armed with assault rifles.
It wasn't the police.
May you like
It was the Hart family enforcers—sent by Clarissa’s father to execute the hidden heirs before Sebastian could officially legitimize them.
"They want the kids, Maya," Sebastian growled, his jaw locking into an expression of unadulterated savagery. "And they are going to die for coming here."
