Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
It was a thought Steele had never had before, apparently. He looked dumbfounded, but Axel was looking at Logan with stars in his eyes. That’s when I knew everything was going to be okay.
This particular fight was over.
I wasn’t worried for when Garrett and Sharon would arrive. They couldn’t fight this.
The next morning a detective took Sabrina’s statement. She said what we all knew she would, but afterward, Steele gave his statement.
Sam gave hers.
I gave mine.
Logan was next, adding what he saw when he got to the room.
The same detective came to our house that afternoon and took Maddy’s statement. She kept to her story, and when the detective left, a myriad of mixed emotions battling over her face, Sam and I had another huge talk with Maddy.
No charges would be pressed against our daughter, but that didn’t mean we were out of the storm. Maddy was her own storm, all by herself. These sociopathic tendencies would need to be addressed.
So we were going to do that. It didn’t matter how long it would take, how hard it was going to be, we’d do it. That was always a nonnegotiable.
When it came to family, we were all in.
56
MASON
A few days later.
Three SUVs pulled to the side of the road beside me.
And instead of not knowing who was inside like the last time similar SUVs circled me, this time I fully knew.
This time, I was the one who asked for this meeting.
I waited where I stood, on a long stretch of road, out in the middle of nowhere. There’d be no cameras. No witnesses who could risk overhearing or overseeing this meeting because what I was here to give Kai Bennett was something I never wanted to be tied to.
The front passenger door to the middle SUV opened. A guard got out of the vehicle, giving me a look before scanning the area. I knew the drill. He was a big tall motherfucker, dressed in a business suit, and all the side bulges under his coat were his weapons. He didn’t check me over, except for the one look up and down before he must’ve been appeased.
He opened the back door, and Kai Bennett got out.
He’d been focused on his phone, only looking up when his door opened.
He handed it to the guard, before giving me the rest of his attention. Crossing the small stretch of space that separated us, he gave me a slight nod. “Mason.”
The first names felt weird to me. I enjoyed using last names. It allowed distance between myself and that other person. If it was someone I didn’t like, I didn’t need to use their first name. That gave a sense of familiarity. But responding with his last name didn’t feel right either. I ended with, “Kai.”
He gave me another scrutiny, flicking over me before he cleared his throat. “You wanted a face to face. Insisted on it. Why am I here?”
I got it. He was a busy man. Busy. Powerful. Dangerous. All the reasons why I’d asked him, and knowing Kai Bennett was direct and appreciated the whole no-bullshit approach, I pulled out a thumb drive.
His eyes fell to it. “There are such things as a Dropbox online. You can put all sorts of information in there and can even password protect the thing.”
“Call me old-fashioned. This is shit you don’t want online where someone could hack it.”
He held out his hand and I dropped it down. “You told me that you’d find who used your name to manipulate my father. That’s giving you the real culprits.”
“Culprits? I found the person who used my name. The same person who planted her brother in the same school as your daughter.” He held up the thumb drive. “Why are you giving me this? I’m aware that someone put Sabrina Brickshire in the hospital. She’s recovering from a stabbing, I believe? Nasty injury. An inch over and she would’ve nicked something vital.” He stared at me, a blank wall that gave me nothing. “Pity.”
“That’s my wife’s sister.”
“Your wife’s sister who plotted and was successful in manipulating your own father’s suicide. There’s no love lost. You can’t tell me you’d rather the girl was dead.”
He was a wall, but so was I. I stared at him, knowing he was looking for something inside of me. I gave him nothing. “My wife has a bleeding heart.”
That got my first reaction from him. The end of his mouth twisted up. A hint of dark amusement showed before all of it was gone. “I’m sure.”
Gritting my teeth, I kept with the business at hand. “A secret society that goes by the name of The System considers you a threat. One of the founding members is also a past enemy of mine. My wife and I had a hand in putting him in prison, along with destroying the secret society that preceded this new one. They’re the ones who used your name against my father.”