Chapter Four

Brynn

I knew I wouldn’t be alone for long.

Years had passed since I last laid eyes on Leo, but he hadn’t changed much. His dark hair, although now sprinkled with gray, was always perfectly in place and the sharpness in his gaze remained the same. What had changed, though, was the dynamic between us. I had the upper hand now, and it was clear from the tension radiating off him that it drove him insane.

The door to my office creaked open, and Leo strode in with Sig trailing behind him like a shadow. Sig, ever the observant one, gave me a nod, silently asking if this was okay. His eyes flicked to Leo, then back to me, assessing. I returned the nod and moved behind my desk, taking my seat in the large leather chair that dominated the space.

Leo stepped in fully, his eyes roaming the room, but Sig didn’t follow. He simply shut the door behind Leo, leaving the two of us alone.

I leaned back in my chair, hands resting on the polished wooden surface of my desk, watching Leo as he took in my office. The dark green walls seemed to absorb the tension in the room, though they did nothing to quell the thrum of power I felt in this moment. My desk was simple but sturdy, a reflection of my tastes—clean, elegant, and designed to last. Expensive paintings adorned the walls, mostly abstract, chosen to evoke calm or contemplation, depending on the light. In front of the desk sat two plush armchairs, inviting but also firm enough to remind whoever sat in them that they weren’t here to relax.

Leo’s gaze finally landed on me. “You always loved this shade of green,” he said, his voice soft but charged with something I couldn’t quite place.

I tilted my head slightly, a small smile playing at the corner of my lips. “Yeah, you’re right.” My voice remained even, betraying nothing.

He moved to one of the armchairs but didn’t sit. Instead, he stood in front of it, hands slipping into the pockets of his tailored pants, his eyes never leaving me. There was something different about him, something in the way he was trying to measure the situation. Leo was always the one with control, and now that it was me holding the cards, he didn’t quite know how to act.

“Nice office,” he added after his gaze swept over the bookshelves. “Romance novels?” His brow arched slightly as he read the spines of the books lining the shelves.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “What, surprised I don’t fill my shelves with textbooks or legal volumes?” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the desk. “You forget, Leo, I have many interests.”

His smirk was almost nostalgic. “I suppose I did.” He finally sat down, his posture tense. “But this... this is different.”

I leaned back again, studying him. “A lot has changed.”

He scoffed quietly, shaking his head. “You’re telling me.” His eyes hardened, and I saw the frustration simmering just beneath the surface. “So, are we going to talk about it?”

It. The unspoken elephant in the room.

I let the silence stretch a little longer than necessary, watching as Leo’s patience thinned. “We can talk about many things, Leo,” I finally said, my tone deliberately measured. “But first, tell me—how does it feel?”

He blinked, clearly not expecting the question. “How does what feel?”

“Being the one in the dark for once.” My voice was sharper than I intended, but I didn’t mind. I wanted him to feel the shift in power.

His jaw tightened, and I saw the flicker of annoyance cross his face. “I’m not in the dark,” he said, but even he didn’t believe his own words.

I raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. “Oh really? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you have no idea what’s going on. And it’s eating you alive.”

His lips pressed into a thin line, and I thought he might lash out. Instead, he took a slow breath, his gaze narrowing. “Fine. You’ve got me. I don’t know everything.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “But I’m here now. So why don’t you enlighten me? Tell me how the girl I knew years ago turned into a woman I have no clue about.”

“Another thing you’re annoyed about,” I said, watching Leo closely. “You thought you had your eye on me all these years, but you didn’t.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Not so much annoyed as just wondering how I got the information I did.” He leaned back in his chair, casual, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. “You were a secretary for Mark James at Wayne Plastics.”

I smiled, just enough to let him know there was more to the story. “I was, for a time. But then... things happened.”

Leo spread his hands in front of him, a small gesture of impatience. “And those things would be what?” His voice sharpened, his frustration peeking through.

“Well,” I said, leaning back in my chair, “there are a lot of little things, but they all come back to Jason James.”

Leo narrowed his eyes at me, clearly not recognizing the name. “Am I supposed to know who that is?”

“Mark’s brother,” I explained, tipping my head to the side. “He happened to come into the office about two years after I started working for Mark.” I watched his face for any sign of recognition. “You might know him by a different name, though.”

He leaned forward slightly, his patience thinning. “You know I don’t like guessing games, Brynn. Tell me what in the hell you’re talking about.”

I sighed as if this was something I really didn’t want to explain, though I’d been waiting for this. “Guy Maranga, Leo.”

His whole demeanor shifted in an instant. His back straightened, and he leaned toward me, his eyes wide. “How do you even know the name Guy Maranga?”

“I was married to him for eighteen years,” I said calmly. “Before he died, and I took over his operations.”

If I’d wanted to shock Leo, I’d done it. He looked like I’d punched him in the gut. The color drained from his face, and for once, he didn’t have a quick retort. He just stared at me, processing.

I could have knocked him over with a feather.

Leo Banachi was a big player in the Midwest; hell, in all of North America, people knew his name. His reputation alone made most men either want to work with him or steer clear of him entirely. But Guy Maranga? He was a name that struck fear into people on a global scale.

“You were married to Guy Maranga?” Leo finally managed to say, his voice low, almost disbelieving.

I nodded. “For eighteen years,” I repeated.

He blinked, still trying to catch up. “And now... you’re running his operations?”

“Yes,” I said simply, letting the weight of the statement hang in the air.

Leo ran a hand through his hair, visibly shaken. He looked like he needed a moment to process the bombshell I’d just dropped on him. Guy Maranga was the man you knew about but prayed you’d never cross paths with. He didn’t have to advertise his power; people just knew. And now, Leo was realizing he had me all wrong. For years, I had been operating in the shadows of his world, and he hadn’t even realized it.

“Guy Maranga is dead?” Leo asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

I nodded. “Yes. But no one knows that. That’s how he wanted it to be. Until the time was right.”

“And you’ve been running things ever since?”

I could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to piece everything together. He was probably equally part shocked that I had been married to the most feared man in the world and that I had successfully taken over his empire without anyone knowing.

“For two years. You didn’t see that one coming, did you?” I asked, leaning back in my chair, watching him squirm.

“No,” he admitted, his voice strained. “No, I did not.”

“All those years you thought you were keeping tabs on me, keeping me under your thumb,” I said, the hint of a smile playing on my lips. “And you didn’t even know who I really was.”

Leo’s eyes darkened, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. The realization that he’d been outplayed—by me—was hitting him hard.

“I wasn’t trying to keep you under my thumb,” Leo said, his voice quieter now, almost pleading. “I was trying to keep you safe and away from my world.”

I tilted my head to the side and let out a laugh, sharp and short. “Oh, really?” I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “And so after you got me out of your dangerous world, though I think you just couldn’t handle losing our baby, I took up residence with Guy Maranga. From the mafia boss of the Midwest to the kingpin of the entire world.” I shook my head, unable to help the bitter smile that followed. “Quite the step up, don’t you think?”

Leo’s face tightened, his lips pressing together in a hard line. He wasn’t used to me laughing at him, not like this. But what did he expect? That I’d be grateful for the half-truths and shadows he’d left me in for years? He thought he’d kept me out of harm’s way, but the truth was, he couldn’t handle looking at me after I lost our baby.

“I didn’t know about Guy,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “I had no idea you’d gotten involved with him. Fuck, I don’t know a damn thing about the man. No one does.” He wasn’t going to touch the fact about him booting me after I lost our baby. Why address the real problem, right?

“Because you didn’t bother to really look,” I shot back, leaning forward slightly. “You left me in the dark, Leo. You walked away, thinking you were protecting me, but all you did was make me fend for myself even more. So what if you set me up with a job and an apartment? That wasn’t what I wanted.”

His eyes flickered, and I saw a crack in his fa?ade. He knew I was right. He had walked away thinking it was the best thing for both of us, but in reality, he’d left me vulnerable. Alone and broken.

“I thought you’d be safer without me,” he said, his voice low as if he was speaking more to himself than to me.

“Safer?” I repeated, the word almost bitter on my tongue. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me after you left? The people I had to deal with? The choices I had to make? And then Jason—no, Guy—he showed up, and before I knew it, I was entangled in something far bigger than anything you could’ve imagined.”

Leo ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “I had no clue about Guy. Mark never even hinted that his brother was Guy Maranga. I thought you’d have a chance at a normal life if I wasn’t around.”

“Normal?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “You think I could ever have a normal life after everything I’ve seen, after everything we went through together?”

His silence was all the confirmation I needed. He knew, deep down, that I was right. There was never going to be a normal life for me, not once I’d gotten involved with him, with his world. But instead of facing that, he’d run.

“You were always good at fooling yourself, Leo,” I said, my voice softening slightly. “But you can’t hide from the truth forever.”

He exhaled slowly, the weight of my words hanging heavy between us. “I thought I was doing the right thing,” he said quietly. “But clearly, I was wrong.”

I watched him closely, waiting to see if there was any more fight left in him. He looked... tired. Defeated, even. This wasn’t the same Leo I remembered. The Leo I knew always had a plan, always had control. But now? Now, he looked like he was finally realizing just how out of control everything had become.

“And what would you have done differently?” I asked, genuinely curious. “If you had known about Guy and if you knew what I was getting into—what then?”

Leo met my gaze, his eyes dark with regret. “I would’ve come for you,” he said simply. “I would’ve pulled you out of it, no matter the cost.”

I wanted to believe him. A part of me, buried deep beneath the years of anger and betrayal, wanted to trust him again.

“And how do you think that would’ve gone, Leo?” I asked. “Do you really think Guy Maranga would’ve just let you walk in and take what was his away?”

His jaw clenched. “I would’ve found a way.”

I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest. “It’s a nice thought. But you and I both know that’s not how it would’ve played out. Guy wasn’t the kind of man you could just walk away from. Not without consequences.”

Leo’s silence was answer enough. He knew exactly what kind of man Guy had been. Hell, everyone knew. That was the whole point of Guy Maranga. He was the man you didn’t cross, the one you didn’t even want to be on the wrong side of.

“Brynn...” Leo started, but his voice trailed off. He looked at me, his eyes filled with something I couldn’t quite place. Regret? Pain? Or maybe just the crushing weight of all the missed chances between us.

I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. I didn’t want to drag this out any longer than it had to be. “Look, Leo, what’s done is done. You left. I moved on. I did what I had to do to survive. Guy and I came to an understanding after a while, and now he’s dead. There’s no point in rehashing the past anymore.”

“Did he hurt you?” Leo asked, his voice tight with concern.

There were so many ways someone could be hurt. The hurt Leo was thinking about was physical. He wasn’t the type to consider emotional scars, especially not where Guy Maranga was concerned. If Leo ever acknowledged the mental toll, then he’d have to realize he was guilty of it, too.

“Guy and I came to an understanding,” I said again, my words measured. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the full truth either.

“He hurt you,” Leo growled, his jaw tightening as he leaned forward, his fists clenched. He wasn’t asking anymore.

I looked away, feeling the weight of those early years settling like a stone in my chest. The first few years of my marriage to Guy had been rough, to put it mildly. We were both hot-tempered, neither of us willing to back down from a fight. And when Guy fought, he didn’t use words.

I didn’t need to say it. I knew Leo could read it on my face.

“Guy fought with his fists,” I admitted quietly. “It wasn’t good, not at first.”

Leo’s expression darkened, a low growl rumbling in his chest, but he stayed silent, waiting for me to continue.

I let out a slow breath, feeling the old memories crawl up from the depths. “Things changed when he got sick. When Guy was diagnosed with lung cancer, something shifted. He stopped... he stopped using his fists. We stopped fighting like that.”

Leo’s eyes softened for a brief moment. “And before?”

Before. That was a loaded word. I could still remember the feel of Guy’s hands on me, but not in the way Leo had imagined. There had been fear, yes, but there had also been understanding. As twisted as it sounded, there had been a mutual respect that grew between us over time, especially in the later years.

“Before wasn’t good,” I said, my voice steady. “But after the diagnosis, things changed. Our fights became less frequent, and his hands... they never touched me again in a hateful way.”

I glanced at Leo, seeing the conflict in his eyes. He wanted to hate Guy, to see him as nothing more than a monster. In some ways, he wasn’t wrong. Guy was ruthless. But our relationship, as broken as it had been, had evolved into something else.

“Our marriage wasn’t one of love,” I said softly. “But in the end, it was one of friendship. He trusted me and relied on me. We had an understanding.”

Leo shook his head with disbelief etched across his face. “I should’ve come for you,” he whispered.

I smiled faintly. “It wouldn’t have changed anything.” Guy wouldn’t have given me up to Leo. Guy knew of my past with Leo, and even in those first years of my marriage when it seemed like Guy hated me, he never would have given up something that he thought belonged to him.

Leo stared at me for a long moment, the tension between us heavy.

Leo

Never in a million years would I have thought I’d hear the words: Brynn was married to Guy Maranga . It was surreal, like something out of a bad dream. She wasn’t wrong when she said she went from the mafia boss of the Midwest to the kingpin of the entire world. The weight of it hit me like a freight train. Guy Maranga was leagues above me—not just in power, but also in ruthlessness. His name alone was enough to send chills through the underworld. People feared him in ways they didn’t fear me, and that wasn’t an easy thing to admit.

If Guy hadn’t already been dead, I would’ve killed him the second Brynn told me he hurt her. I couldn’t shake the image from my head—Brynn, stuck in some twisted marriage to that monster, suffering silently. It ate away at me. I had thought walking away from her all those years ago was the right call, that I was protecting her by keeping her out of my world. But now, knowing what she’d been through? The truth was a knife in my gut.

I’d failed her.

I really believed she was better off without me. Not only had she been getting deeper into my world, but she’d suffered because of me—suffered a loss so terrible it still haunted me to this day. If only I had taken her to the doctor the second she said something didn’t feel right, maybe our baby would’ve made it. Maybe things would’ve been different.

“So, Guy dying changed things? Is that why I’m here?” I asked, my voice rougher than I intended, trying to push past the emotions threatening to bubble up.

Brynn shook her head, her smile soft but unreadable. “You’re here because Candace is two steps away from finally taking you out.”

I blinked, thrown off by the shift in conversation. Brynn leaned back in her chair, her eyes studying me carefully as if weighing how much to reveal.

“For years, Guy and I watched her and Brandt,” she continued. “Candace was the brains behind everything, but Brandt always fucked things up. For a while, they laid off you, but it was like they were taunting you and your men. Pushing you just enough to keep you on edge, but never enough to be a real threat.” She shrugged casually as if we were talking about a minor inconvenience. “We never thought they were anything more than an annoyance for you.”

I cut her off, my confusion mounting. “Wait, wait. How long have you known about Brandt being Candace’s brother?” That revelation had only come to light a couple of months ago on our end.

Brynn paused, her brow furrowing as she seemed to think it over. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, her eyes narrowing in recollection. “I think it’s been at least ten years,” she said slowly, like she was sorting through old memories. “I can’t even remember how Guy discovered it, but he did. He always had a way of knowing things before anyone else.”

Ten years. Ten fucking years she’d known. Jesus Christ.

I didn’t even know what else to ask. It felt like the ground had been yanked out from under me. All this time, we’d been playing catch-up, always a step behind Candace and Brandt, and Brynn— Brynn —had been watching the whole thing unfold from the sidelines. She knew. She’d always known.

I clenched my fists, trying to reel in the frustration. I wasn’t sure if I was more pissed that she hadn’t told me sooner or that I hadn’t figured it out myself. Brandt had been a thorn in my side for years, always just out of reach, always one step ahead.

“Things changed, though,” Brynn said, her voice softer now, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts. “When you killed Brandt.”

“The fucker should’ve died a long time ago,” I growled, my hands gripping the armrests of my chair.

Brynn didn’t flinch at my outburst. She just nodded and her expression was unreadable. “Yeah, he should have, but killing Brandt set off a chain reaction, Leo. You rattled Candace’s cage. Now she’s after you, and she’s not going to stop until she has her revenge.”

I leaned forward, my eyes narrowing on her. “And you’ve just been sitting on this information? Watching from the sidelines while Candace has been plotting my downfall?”

Brynn held my gaze, her expression calm, almost too calm. “You weren’t ready to hear it. And frankly, Leo, you wouldn’t have believed me if I had told you. You were too focused on Brandt, too blind to see the real threat.”

She wasn’t wrong, and that only made the truth sting more. Brandt had always been the more visible problem, the loud, reckless brother. Candace was my longtime secretary. But now, knowing what I did, it all made sense—the quiet manipulations, the way she moved behind the scenes, never quite coming into the light, and Brandt always knowing where I was.

“So what now?” I asked, the frustration simmering just beneath the surface. “What’s Candace’s next move?”

Brynn leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and tapping her fingers lightly on the armrest. “That’s the thing about Candace. She’s unpredictable. She won’t come at you directly. She’ll chip away at your foundation and make you doubt everything. When the time is right, she’ll strike.”

I sat back with my mind racing.

“I can help you,” Brynn said as her voice cut through my thoughts.

I looked at her, my eyes narrowing. “And why would you do that?”

Her smile was faint but genuine. “Because, Leo, despite everything, I don’t want to see you taken down by her. And because this world? It’s a lot bigger and more dangerous than it used to be. You’ll need all the help you can get.”

I didn’t want to trust her. But as I sat there, staring at the woman I’d once loved, I knew I didn’t have much of a choice.

“You better not be lying to me, Brynn,” I said, my voice low, laced with warning. I couldn’t afford to be played, not now.

She didn’t flinch, didn’t so much as blink. “I’m not,” she said, her voice steady, sure. She stood up, eyes still locked on mine, and added, “We’ll leave in the morning.”

I cocked my head, curiosity creeping in. “Am I allowed to ask where we’re going?”

Brynn had the upper hand. She had way more power than I ever did now. As far as the world knew, Guy Maranga was alive, still pulling the strings behind the scenes. What they didn’t know was that Brynn was the one pulling them. She was the one orchestrating every move under his name.

“I don’t want to tell you what to do, Leo,” she said, leaning against the edge of her desk. “I’m not interested in bossing you around. From now on, you’ll know as much about everything that’s going on with Candace as I do.”

It was a strange shift in dynamic hearing Brynn say that. She wasn’t the same woman I’d walked away from all those years ago. She wasn’t the same person who needed protecting. I could see the steel in her eyes now. She was calling the shots, and I had to come to terms with that.

“Then where are we going?” I asked, still unsure.

A sly smile played on her lips; the kind that made my gut tighten with suspicion. “I’ve heard about Wyndemere from my men,” she said. “Maybe it’s time you show me around.”

Wyndemere. My home.

“We’re going back to Wyndemere?” I repeated, my disbelief evident. “Candace will know the second I step foot back in Wisconsin with you. She knows about you,” I pointed out.

Brynn winked at me, a spark of mischief in her eyes. “She knows about Brynn from over twenty years ago. She’s got no clue about who I am today.”

I realized what she was getting at. Candace thought she knew Brynn, the woman from the past, the one who’d been in my life before everything had fallen apart. But that Brynn was long gone. Now, she was Guy Maranga in every sense that mattered. She was more powerful, more dangerous than Candace could ever imagine.

And that’s exactly how Brynn planned to take her down.

We were heading back to Wyndemere, and we were going to let Candace walk right into a trap. Brynn had become the kind of person Candace couldn’t even see coming. While Candace was busy playing her game, Brynn was playing something else entirely, and I was starting to realize just how dangerous that made her.

Candace had no idea what was coming.

And honestly, neither did I.