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)
God. I didn’t think I could hate this guy any more…
He began walking away.
I took out my phone, and a flood of calls and texts were coming in. I hadn’t silenced it, so that meant he had a cell jammer on him.
“Mason,” he said.
I looked up.
His eyes were dark with promise. “I will find out who used my name to force your father into that position.” Another layer slid away, another mask, and I could see the killer inside of him, the monster who had conquered the mafia world. “When I do, I’ll handle my own retribution.”
“Is that a promise or a threat?”
“It’s just what I’ll do. No one uses my name as a manipulation.”
He returned to his vehicle. Within seconds, all five SUVs were gone.
My phone began ringing.
22
MASON
Sam’s call came through first, and I hit accept. “I’m fine.”
“What?” she asked.
I stopped walking. “You’re calling to make sure I’m okay, right?”
“No, but now I’m wondering why I would’ve been doing that. Are you okay? What happened?” She made a frustrated sound. “Never mind. You need to come home.”
I picked up my pace again. “That’s where I was heading. What’s going on?”
As soon as I got into the Escalade and the phone transferred over, I could hear noises in the background. “Is that—is someone yelling?” I drove through the gate and looked over. There was no guard. I made a mental note to have someone look into all four of those guards—and fire them if they were still breathing somewhere. Actually, that seemed imperative, so I pulled over and sent Channing a text to see if he could look around the place.
Sam huffed. “I don’t even know what I’m seeing.”
Channing: What am I looking for? Aren’t you there?
“Try to explain,” I clipped out, typing on my phone at the same time.
Me: Four bodyguards. Did my daughter not contact you?
Channing: She called, but I couldn’t answer. She didn’t leave a message.
Channing: Like their bodies?
“So you know Mark and Cass broke up last summer?” Sam was saying.
“I didn’t.” My phone buzzed again.
Channing: Mason. Wtf?
Me: Emergency at the house. I’m still trying to figure it out. Lmk.
I tossed the phone and gunned the engine.
Sam had quieted. It took me a full block to realize that. “Sam?”
“Sorry. I got distracted. This is—I can’t really believe this, but I think it’s happening for real this time.”
“What is happening?”
“Mark and Cass are breaking up.”
Who the fuck are… It took me a second. Mark. Sam’s stepbrother. Malinda’s biological son. And Cass. I wished I could forget about her again. “They’re still together?”
Sam snorted, lowering her voice, “Well, you know things have been rocky for the last few years. Cass was really trying to win over Mama Malinda, and we thought Mark would pull out a ring. I mean, he’s like bachelor age at this point—”
“Sam.” I had whiplash from all this—and what happened to Maddy? “Is Maddy home?”
“Maddy?”
“Yeah. She left the office a little while ago. Is she okay?”
Sam quieted for a beat. “Why are you asking if our daughter is okay?” Her voice rose. “Did she do something again? We just grounded her a day ago.”
I huffed out a laugh. “She’s home?”
“Yeah. She got here about twenty minutes ago, said you had to stay back to talk to some KB person. She said he was a shareholder, and that’s when Mark showed up with his bags. He announced he was moving in for a while—”
I groaned. “No. No more people.”
“—like this house isn’t built as a hotel. It’ll be fine.”
“He’ll bring his shit to our house. Like what’s her name.”
“Cass.”
“What?”
“You asked what her name was.”
“No,” I bit out. She was distracted, and I was trying to come down from having a goddamn threatening heart-to-heart with a fucking crime lord. Not a good combo. “It was a phrase—never mind. Maddy is okay? That’s my whole point.”
“She’s fine. Mark came in, dropped his hockey bag, which reeks, and went straight to the liquor cabinet. Your daughter immediately began popping popcorn. No joke. Mark was here for five minutes before Cass showed up. They’ve been going back and forth, and they do not care that we’re here. Apparently Cass is done with waiting for a ring and wants to get pregnant. I’ll be honest. Cass is our age. I’m shocked she’s waited this long. I’m kinda Team Cass right now, but also, what the fuck? Why didn’t she leave him if she wanted a ring and kids? Has she met my stepbrother?”
I…had no idea what to say to that or if I fucking cared.
“Okay. I’m going to break this down for you. Mark apparently has commitment issues. Although, there could be an argument that maybe it’s Cass. She’s never been a nice person, but moving on from that, they had a pregnancy scare last summer. I did not know that.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Mark panicked. Cass wanted to keep it, and she seems destroyed about it.”