Page 46 of Mafia Daddy

“Ready?” Maxim asks, that low, slightly amused rumble in his voice.

I nod eagerly and roll first. The game starts off light and fun. I somehow manage to snag Boardwalk and Park Place early, and before long I’m building hotels while Maxim’s properties are mostly railroads and the occasional orange street.

I keep catching him making what look like deliberately suboptimal moves… letting me buy things he could easily block, not pushing as hard as I know he could.

“You’re going easy on me,” I accuse, grinning as I collect another fat stack of rent from him. “I want your A-game…”

Maxim leans back against the couch, one arm draped along the back, looking far too relaxed for a man who runs half the city. “Maybe I just enjoy watching you win.”

The warmth in his eyes makes my cheeks heat.

I take another sip of the hot chocolate he made me earlier and try not to melt completely. We play for almost an hour, trading playful banter and fake arguments over whether landing on Free Parking should really give me that much money.

For the first time since I was handed over, I feel… normal. Almost happy.

Then Maxim’s phone vibrates on the table.

Maxim’s expression shifts the second he sees the screen. Michael. I know what that means before he even answers.

The night has come alive, just like he warned me it would.

Maxim takes the call, voice dropping into that cool, commanding tone I’ve come to recognize as his Pakhan voice.

The conversation is short, clipped, mostly in Russian, but the meaning is clear.

Duty calls.

When Maxim hangs up, he leans over and presses a soft kiss to my forehead. The tenderness of it after everything we’ve done makes my chest ache in the best way.

“I have to go out for a while,” he says quietly. “But Yuri will be here very soon. You two can hang out. Just… behave.” His eyes linger on me with that familiar mix of warning and heat. “No funny business.”

“I’ll try,” I promise, offering him a small smile.

He kisses my forehead again, then stands and grabs his jacket. A few minutes after the door clicks shut behind him, there’s a knock. I open it to find Yuri standing there with his easy grin, arms full of snacks he must have brought from somewhere.

“Evening, roomie,” Yuri says cheerfully, stepping inside. “Uncle Maxim said you might need some company tonight. Luckily, I was close by.”

We settle on the floor near the half-finished Monopoly board, but neither of us is interested in continuing the game. Instead, Yuri helps me unpack some of the new squishies that arrived earlier from the department store. We line them up like a colorful army: the big rainbow octopus, the tiny strawberry, the unicorn Maxim picked out for me.

Yuri picks up the octopus and squeezes it with obvious delight. “These are perfect. I have a whole collection at home.”

We fall into easy conversation as we play with the squishies, squishing them, stacking them, making them have little battles. The topic drifts naturally, the way it does with people who just get it.

“So… Maxim knows about the Little stuff?” I ask eventually, hugging the unicorn to my chest.

Yuri nods, squeezing a blue dinosaur squishy. “Yeah. He’s surprisingly cool about it. As long as it never interferes with family business or puts anyone at risk, he doesn’t care what I do in my private time. He even helped me set up a safe space in my apartment once when I was having a really bad time. He’s not a Little himself, obviously, but he gets it. Or at least he tries to. I think he might be a Daddy, but that’s his business.”

I feel a rush of comfort at his words. Knowing Maxim isn’t secretly judging that part of me—the part that needs stuffies and soft things and structure—makes something tight in my chest loosen.

“I wish he was here right now,” I admit quietly, looking down at the unicorn. “To see me like this. In full Little mode.”

Yuri smiles softly. “He’ll see it eventually. He’s not the type to run from things that matter to the people he cares about.”

My new buddy’s words settle warmly inside me. I take a deep breath and look around the living room. “Hey… do you want to build a den? Like a proper blanket fort? And have a midnight feast inside?”

Yuri’s face lights up like I just offered him the best idea in the world. “That would be awesome!”

We raid the apartment for supplies: every soft blanket, throw pillow, and cushion we can find.