Chapter 11

LOGAN

Even at work, I can’t concentrate on anything. I’m distracted by thoughts of my new bride.

I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing by marrying her or if I’ve made a mistake. Sure, her father needed the money, but does that mean I’m taking advantage of her situation?

Cold sweat breaks over my neck. Her ex used her when she was most vulnerable. I’ve unknowingly done the same thing. There’s almost no difference between that bastard and me.

That’s going to change.

I’m going to have to take this slow. We can’t be making love in the dark like I’m some kind of a monster. Is that why she insisted on keeping the lights out? It could also be some kind of a kink. I had to test it out again.

I recalled the way she had insisted on fixing my tie. She’d gone up on her toes and done the knot skillfully. There was something very domestic about it.

She also brought me my coffee upstairs to the study when she could get the maid to do it.

Frankly, I’m not sure why she was doing all that. Regardless, it seemed to give me some warm fuzzies, being cared for and looked after. I’m kind of liking this marriage thing.

The things that went down between us were ugly, and I had put it all behind me or at least tried to. Maybe she has revenge planned out. She wants me to pay for what I did all those years ago and this is retribution.

She could make me fall in love with her only to break my heart in the end, and I’m not sure if I have the willpower to stop her.

***

When I get home, I’m headed back to my study when I hear her voice drifting from the open door. I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but I decide to do it anyway.

Maggie is on the phone, video-chatting with her friend, Zoe. She doesn’t have many friends, but I’m guessing this is the one she went to college with.

I met her briefly at our wedding. She’d brought her fiancé as her wedding date. The man seemed as nice as a comfy couch.

“Don’t you think it was too fast?” the woman on the other end asks her.

“Nothing was in my hands,” Maggie answers.

“Of course, it was. Do you love him?”

I lean more heavily against the open door, anticipating her answer.

“I used to have a crush on him since I was like sixteen, but that’s it. Logan and I are married because one, Chase needs a dad, two, my daddy’s bankrupt, and three, Logan needs an heir.

“He’s never going to fall in love with me, and I guess I’m okay with that.”

“Maggie, I really don’t know what to say.”

“So don’t say anything.”

“You and he are like eighteen years apart. How’s this going to work?”

“It will.”

“In a few more years, he’s going to sleep at 8 p.m. sharp.”

Maggie laughs. “He already does that sometimes.”

“Is the sex at least good?”

I want to keep listening to her, but I feel cold sweat breaking against my neck, and I’m so scared of her answer that I back up from the door.

I’m a chicken. I should have stayed and listened to her. At least I would know the truth, and now there’s just the what-ifs.

I walk past the room and climb the stairs to my study.

What else did you expect, Logan? Did you want her to magically fall in love with you? After what you said to her in the past?

When I open the door to my study, I’m appalled to find Chase on the floor with a stack of papers spread out in front of him.

He has his fist closed around a bunch of colorful crayons. He stops scribbling on it aggressively and shows me a picture.

“Logan look, I drew our house!”

I’m not furious. There’s hell brewing inside me waiting to erupt.

These were papers signed by some important clients for an upcoming conference and now they are a bunch of trash.

MAGGIE

I’m in the middle of explaining to Zoe about the amazing sex I’ve had with Logan when I hear the loud screeching of my son from somewhere close by.

“Zoe, I’ll call you back later.”

I hang up and make a run for the stairs. I hear the sound coming from Logan’s study. I’m scared that Chase slipped and fell or got hurt.

Chase likes exploring Logan’s house. It’s like some kind of a game for him, and since the house is so big, he gets lost at times.

But he’s smart enough to find his way back, and that’s the only reason I allow him to go on his little explorations.

When I open the door, I find a red-faced Logan yelling at Chase, who’s bawling his eyes out.

As soon as Chase sees me, he comes running. “Mommyyy…”

I lower myself to his level to hug him. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“Don’t ask him. Ask me!” Logan screeches.

I’ve never seen him this furious, so I’m taken aback by his harsh tone.

He picks up some papers from the floor and shows them to me. “Look at this!”

They seem like some important documents, but I can’t see much because Chase has drawn a tree and a house on it and some figures beside it.

“I’m sorry about this. I didn’t know he was here.”

“You’re sorry?” He scoffs. “I’m fu—I’m screwed, Maggie. These are the documents I need for tomorrow, and your son ruined them!”

Chase hugs me tightly, crying over my shoulder. “He was sleeping when I went back to our room. I didn’t realize he would wake up so soon.”

“Right, because you were too busy talking shit about me to your friend.”

“I…I wasn’t. Wait, how do you know I was on the call?”

“Do you even realize what he does when you’re not around?”

“What did he do?”

Logan storms out of the room, and a minute later, he comes back holding a shirt that has huge cut-outs of a gingerbread man on it. Another T-shirt has stains of spilled ink.

“The artist is your son. Bet you’ve got excuses for this too,” he says.

I rub my temple. Honestly, I’m embarrassed for being held accountable for Chase’s mischiefs. I’m a bad mother. That’s the only answer to this.

“I’ll pay for the damages.”

“You’ll pay me back? I don’t want your money, Maggie. I want Chase to stop ruining my life!”

Chase cries harder.

“He’s just a kid. Why are you yelling?”

“I told you from the start that I don’t need the child to cause any trouble, but he’s doing all this on purpose. Do you realize that?”

“Chase, baby, why don’t you go to your room?”

He looks at Logan and then at me. He’s so scared that he’s shaking. He doesn’t want to be here.

When Chase leaves and the door closes behind him, I continue, “Don’t you dare talk to him like that!”

He laughs again. “Or what? What are you going to do?”

“Nothing. I’m stuck here, remember?”

His icy blue eyes turn a shade darker. “Just keep him out of my sight, and we’re good.”

Somehow, I think this is the real Logan, not the soft-spoken perfectionist that everyone sees. Behind that broody nature, he hides a storm that he’s unleashed before me.

“You want me to make sure that Chase never sees you?”

Logan nods. “That’s right. I’ll sit down tomorrow with him, and we’ll talk about where he’s allowed to go and where he isn’t.”

“He’s just a kid.”

“Yes, but he’s not mine.”

It hurts when he says that, and I know it’s some bitterness left from our past that’s forcing those words out of him. As soon as he says it, he regrets it, but now it’s too late to take back his words.

“You’re right. He’s not your son, but I hoped that you would still treat us as a family.”

I walk out of the room and slam the door behind me. I don’t expect him to follow me, and he doesn’t.

When I go back to our bedroom, I open the suitcase that I unpacked a week ago and start dumping my clothes into it. I feel humiliated, and I’d kill myself before I let another man make me feel that way.

I know I probably haven’t done a good job raising Chase. I’ve made mistakes, and that’s the reason he is the way he is, but he’s still my son, and I love him.

I don’t want him to feel unloved or think that his mother prefers the man she just married.

After I’m done packing, I go to Chase’s room and wake him up. I start packing some of his clothes too.

Chase’s eyes are tear-stained as he looks up from the bed. “Where are we going, Mommy?”

“We’re going back to grandpa’s house, baby.”