Mason Book 2

LAUREN

I saw it, even if he thought I didn’t. Mason was slowly but surely driving me up the wall with his sudden overprotectiveness.

I tried to understand where it was coming from, but getting the truth out of a man who’s spent a lifetime keeping his cards close to his chest was no easy task.

Being his wife didn’t give me the right to force him to change. I’d learned to accept that Mason was different, and I loved him all the more for it.

But I needed to talk to someone, so I turned to Gale. He claimed he was as clueless as I was, and I chose to believe him.

Still, I knew something was off. Something had made Mason so worried that he’d assigned two bodyguards to me. I couldn’t even take a breath without them knowing about it.

I couldn’t hang out with my friends without the uncomfortable presence of four grown men hovering around us. It was driving me nuts. My freedom had been clipped.

I felt like I was trapped in an invisible cage.

I knew Mason meant well, which was why I kept quiet.

I wanted to see how long he could keep this up, but I wasn’t going to let him treat me like a prisoner indefinitely.

But when he texted me to pack a bag for Arden and me for a business trip to Italy, I felt a surge of annoyance.

I didn’t text him back, and I didn’t pack any bags. Irritation and restlessness buzzed under my skin all day.

As soon as he walked through the door, I confronted him. “We’re going to Italy with you? Did I read that right?”

He didn’t answer, just picked up my jeans from the floor and placed them on the bed as he loosened his tie.

“Yes, I have a meeting with a client.”

I came up behind him, and he turned to face me. His eyes were intense. “We can’t go with you. I have work, and Arden has school—”

He cut me off by gently stroking my face, tucking my hair behind my ear. The room was cold, but his touch was warm.

“It’s only for five days, Lauren,” he said, as if pulling our son out of school and me leaving work was no big deal.

“What’s going on with you? Tell me,” I pressed. I was struggling to breathe, trying to make sense of his behavior.

“Why are you so scared that you’re keeping me locked up?” I didn’t mean to say it like that, but that’s how I’d been feeling for the past few days.

His smile was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.

“Locked up? I’m sorry you think our home is a prison.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I whispered.

Mason didn’t respond. He just touched my hair, lifting a strand to his face and inhaling as if he were smelling it.

I brushed his hand away, but he caught my hand and avoided my gaze.

I moved closer to him, making sure he was paying attention. “You’ve added two bodyguards who won’t even let me go to the bathroom alone.

“You won’t let me pick up Arden from school anymore, and I can only have lunch with my friends at home.

“You’re constantly texting and checking up on me every time I leave the house!”

He looked amused, but there was a tension in his face. “I’m trying to protect you, Lauren. Can’t you see that?”

I was struggling to breathe, and my voice came out breathy.

“Protect me? From what? Ginny’s in prison. There’s nothing to protect me from.”

He didn’t react. Was he still scared of her? It had been three years since we’d heard from Ginny. She couldn’t hurt us. She had no way of hurting our family.

Mason had made sure she wouldn’t have any visitors in prison who could harm us.

I searched his face, the face I knew so well, but it gave nothing away.

“We’ve been through a lot, but the worst is behind us. You need to stop being paranoid.” I tried to touch his cheek, but he pulled away.

Suddenly, he let go of my hand and stepped away. “The trip to Italy could be fun. I think Arden would enjoy it.”

His dismissal stung. It hurt so much it felt like a physical wound. I turned and stormed out of the room, my shoes echoing on the marble floor.

In our four years of marriage, there had been times when he’d hurt me. Times when I’d wanted to hate him but couldn’t. We’d hurt each other, but we’d always found a way to make things right.

We’d learned to accept our mistakes and work through them. But this wasn’t a simple fight. This was something else, something bigger.

It felt like something was slipping away.

Something, or someone, was coming between us and our happiness.

And Mason, he’d rather keep me safe than care about my feelings. I realized he’d do anything to protect his family, even if it meant losing everything.

Even if it meant pushing me aside.

He was built to protect. His priority was his responsibilities, but I was scared that he’d choose protection over love.

I was terrified that one day, he’d let me go.

***

I opened my eyes slowly, but all I could see was the blurry outline of the bed I was lying on. I closed my eyes again.

My head was pounding so hard it felt like it had been split open. I tried to check the time, but something felt off.

I opened my eyes again, and the first thing I saw was a ceiling that wasn’t mine.

I sat up quickly, the sheets falling away. My heart pounded in my chest as I realized I didn’t recognize my surroundings.

A wave of fear and panic washed over me as I realized I wasn’t in my own room. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that I was half-naked.

I tried to remember what had happened, but my mind was a foggy mess. Nothing made sense. Something was off.

The last thing I could recall was leaving to pick up Arden from school.

I managed to get off the bed on shaky legs and took in my surroundings. The room was shabbily decorated with lime green wallpaper that was peeling off in places.

There was a small closet, a dresser, and a chill that seemed to seep into my bones. The only window let in a sliver of sunlight through the parted curtains, telling me that at least I hadn’t slept through the entire day.

I found my blouse discarded on the floor and quickly put it on. I grabbed my shoes and bag, not wanting to think about what might have happened.

My trembling legs and spinning surroundings were enough to tell me something was wrong. Why couldn’t I remember anything?

I stumbled out of the room, my heart pounding as I searched for my car in the parking lot.

I didn’t bother to read the name of the motel. All I wanted was to get out of there.

Finding my phone in the car, I saw that the battery was dead. That didn’t help my nerves.

But at least, from the car radio clock, I knew I had lost an hour of my time.

All I could think about was Arden being left alone at school. Maybe someone already picked him up, I thought, trying to calm myself down.

But what would I tell anyone? I couldn’t tell anyone. I woke up half-naked in a cheap motel. How could I explain that? Mason would lose it.

He always tried to keep me safe. This would send him over the edge.

The school parking lot was empty. I wasn’t surprised. I rushed inside and ran down the quiet hallway.

I almost ran into one of Arden’s teachers, Mrs. Collins, who was coming out of another class.

“Goodness,” she exclaimed, clutching her chest before adjusting her glasses.

She looked relieved to see me but also a bit annoyed. “Mrs. Campbell, I tried calling you so many times.”

“I’m sorry. My phone died.” I ran my hands through my hair. “Has Arden been picked up?”

I knew someone would have. Amelia would worry. Amelia would wonder why Arden wasn’t home, and she would call the school.

She would come to pick him up. I knew that. So why was I worrying?

“Oh, the poor child has been waiting for you for an hour! We were told that you would be late, but I had no idea it would take this long.”

Was he still here? And they were told I was going to be late? Who told them? I didn’t remember calling the school, but I also didn’t remember anything that happened an hour ago.

“I’m—”

“It’s a good thing he has company,” she continued.

I frowned. “He has company?”

“Oh, yes. They’re in his class right now.”

“Who? Who is it?” As I asked, I was already walking away from her, heading to Arden’s class. My legs were trembling with unease when I walked into the class.

The first thing I saw was a man in black standing by the doorway.

I barely gave him a second glance when I saw Arden sitting in his seat, playing chess with another man, who was nodding at every move he was making.

As if he knew I was in the classroom, he looked up.

“Hello.” And there he was, seated on a chair in his tailored suit, flashing a big smile at me. He was a large man with a mean look. His beard was short and gray, his blue eyes dull.

The smile—the features were enough to tell me who this man was, and I was so shocked I froze like a ball of ice. Then I recovered when I realized the danger Arden was in.

“Get away from my son.” My voice was cold and laced with fear.

Arden whipped his head around, saw me, and slipped out of the chair.

“Mommy!” He ran to hug me, but all I could do was put a hand on his shoulder, my eyes not moving away from the man who leaned back and crossed his arms in a powerful pose.

I could hear my breathing, sharp and gasping. I can’t do this. I can’t face him. I just can’t. Shaken, I turned to leave the class.

“You’re leaving,” he stated from behind me. “But you just got here, and you haven’t said hello to your father.”

It was that word that snapped something inside me, and I found myself turning around so fast, shaking and furious.

“I had a father, and I buried him,” I told him, my hands clenching on my jeans, white-knuckled, and even that wasn’t enough to stop the trembling that started at my feet and went all the way up.

He was amused at my response, and he looked so much like me it was sickening. It was enough to make me want to scratch at my face until we didn’t have the same features.

It was enough to make me want to bleed out on the floor so that his blood didn’t run through me. That was what I wanted, to erase a man I wanted nothing to do with—a despicable man.

“Victor, right?” He arched a brow, now playing with a chess piece. We stared at each other, neither saying a word.

It felt like he wanted me to walk into his trap because there was no way he wouldn’t know my dad’s name, the husband of the woman who took me from him.

I didn’t say anything, just turned to walk out and forget about this, even though it was not going to be possible.

I was blocked by one of his men. I held onto Arden tighter, gritting my teeth. I instantly knew what he wanted. A sit-down.

He wanted to speak, but I had nothing to say to him, and I also knew he wasn’t going to let me go.

“Eric, would you mind taking my grandson for a little walk?”

When Eric reached out to take Arden from me, I instinctively pulled back, glaring at him. If he dared to lay a finger on my son, I’d kill him. I didn’t give a damn about the consequences.

“Lauren, I promise you, Arden will be fine. We need to talk about something important, and it’s not something he should hear. Let Eric take him for a few minutes.”

I didn’t respond, but I had to remind myself to breathe. I still wouldn’t let go of Arden. I didn’t trust him. I knew exactly what kind of man he was and what he was capable of.

He’d built his career on destroying families, and now he was targeting mine. It was my duty to protect Arden from these monsters.

Eric didn’t even glance at me as he pulled out a piece of candy from his pocket and offered it to Arden. “Want some candy, little man?”

Arden slipped from my grip and moved towards Eric.

Before I could snatch him back into my arms, Eric had already distracted him with something outside the classroom. When I tried to follow them, another man blocked my path.

I should have screamed when I saw him again, but I was desperately clinging to the last shreds of my control. Anthony had been watching me, seeing me panic and tremble in fear.

He probably found it amusing to see me in pain. He probably didn’t give a damn that he’d just destroyed everything good in my life.

After a few moments, I managed to ask, my voice shaking, “What do you want?”

No response. It was as if my words were on a delay. “I said, what do you want from us?”

“I want you to sit down, Lauren.”

He gestured towards the empty chair, and as if to persuade me, he added, “Don’t make me say it again. I came here in peace, so let’s keep it peaceful.”

“You can go to hell.” My voice was raw, filled with nothing but pure emotion.

Fear was consuming me. Every instinct was screaming at me to run. I tried to turn and leave, but before I knew it, I was walking straight into danger.

I sat down, my hands falling lifelessly into my lap. I tried to convince myself that this was nothing, that I wasn’t facing my worst nightmare, but I was lying to myself.

Terror had just knocked on my door, demanding to be let in, and by sitting down, I’d willingly invited it inside.

“You look so much like your mother.” There was a sad smile and a look of longing on his face. “You have her eyes. Did you know that?”

My mind was spinning with this unexpected revelation—my mother, my birth mother, who had been dead for years.

He was telling me I had her eyes, and I didn’t know how to feel about that—angry that she wasn’t here or furious that she’d given me a father like Anthony.

He may not have raised me, and I may not carry his name, but he was still my blood.

“Why are you here, Anthony?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

“I’m here to make up for lost time.”

With a lot of effort, I managed to keep my voice calm when I said, “I want nothing to do with you.”

He tilted his head, a sly smile on his face. “That’s too bad because I want to get to know the daughter who was taken from me, and I want to get to know my grandson, too.”

It wasn’t a choice, it was a statement, and it took my breath away.

“We’re fine, thank you.” My voice was barely a whisper. “Arden already has a grandad.”

He leaned forward, taking my hand in his cold one. I looked down at our hands, how wrong they looked and felt together.

“Who are both dead. Need I remind you, Lauren? Besides, I’m your father—your real father and—”

I knew he was deliberately trying to provoke me with the past, but I refused to rise to the bait.

I pulled my hand away, the skin burning from his touch. I wanted to wash it, scrub it until there was no trace of him left.

“Save your bullshit, okay? You came, you saw me, and now you’re going to leave. I hope I never have to see you again.”

“My dear daughter, I think you’ll change your mind after this.” He patted something on the table that I hadn’t noticed before. It was turned over, so I couldn’t see what it was.

I didn’t want to touch it, didn’t want to taint myself with anything that belonged to Anthony, but something told me I didn’t have a choice. I slowly realized that when it came to him, the only choice was his.

Anthony wasn’t looking at me now. He was busy moving the pieces on a chessboard while I turned the paper over, but it wasn’t a paper.

I felt like my life was flashing before my eyes. My breathing became ragged. I started making strange noises, but I didn’t hear them.

My right hand slowly lifted from my lap and clenched into a fist as if I was holding onto something, but the only thing I was holding onto was my life, which was barely hanging by a thread.

I didn’t realize Anthony was watching me until I heard him say, “A little push in the right direction, something you’ve left me with no choice about, Lauren.”

Another hit the table with a heavy thud. It shouldn’t have sounded heavy, but it did.

I turned a dazed, uncomprehending look at the man who’d just ruined my life without a shred of remorse. Between him and Ginny, she was the lesser of two evils.

“What did you do to me?” I was in shock. I felt cold.

My mind was blank. All I could see was myself lying on the motel bed I’d woken up on, unconscious and in the arms of another man whose face was blurred in the picture.

We were both naked, but the sheets covered us. The picture told a story, and anyone who saw it would draw the same conclusion.

He did this. Anthony. He was the reason why I couldn’t remember the last hour. How could he? How could anyone be this cruel? Did he not consider the consequences?

When he was planning my downfall, was there ever a moment when he felt even a tiny bit of guilt?

Fear was a bitter taste in my mouth. I knew what was happening. I knew what it meant for me, for my marriage, for the life I’d built.

My terror was deep, paralyzing, turning my muscles to jelly.

“Why…why…” I couldn’t get the words out. The pain was like a monster gnawing at my insides. I blinked, trying to clear the tears that blurred my vision.

He turned the picture over, but it was already burned into my brain. It would be there every time I closed my eyes. It would haunt me.

“Here’s the deal: You’ll meet with me once a week, and you’ll be nice. You and Arden will have lunch with me, and your husband doesn’t need to know.

“If you don’t, I’ll have to share these pictures with him.”

His voice held a smile when he continued. “I’ve heard a lot about the power of love. Want to test yours, Lauren?

“Think your love and marriage are strong enough to survive?”

I sat there, a silent scream shaking my body. He had me right where he wanted me, and he knew it.

I took a slow breath. “You call this peace?” My head hurt. My body hurt. Everything hurt.

“I call it plan B,” he said cheerfully. “I don’t like the word blackmail, so let’s call it a deal—a deal between a father and his daughter.

“You surprised me with the hatred in your eyes and voice. Mason took you from me, and even knowing the truth, you chose him.”

His eyes flashed, his lips curled. “I was robbed of raising my daughter. I was robbed of being a father.” His hand sent the chessboard flying, and I jumped at the noise.

I jumped at the sound of the chess pieces scattering, like pieces of my heart that wouldn’t be put back together.

“Mercy.” He pointed a finger in the air. “I showed him mercy, for you, my daughter. He would have been dead like that woman who dared to hurt you.

“He would have died a horrible death, alone and scared, and the last thing he would have seen is my face.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded, my voice rising. He didn’t answer. I started to shake my head, trembling. “No…you didn’t. You killed Ginny?”

Darkness clouded my vision. The room felt like it was closing in on me, and I couldn’t breathe.

“Ginny had it coming,” I heard him say, but I wasn’t really seeing him.

I couldn’t see anything.

“She thought she could play the game, but she didn’t know her time was already up. When you have friends in high places, it’s easy to get into a prison cell and kill someone.

“Don’t mistake this, Lauren, I neither forgive nor forget. If you want your husband safe, you’ll do as I say.” His last sentence was so close I could feel his breath on my skin.

I stood up quickly, knocking the chair over. I ran for the door and out. No one stopped me. I put Arden in the car, and in a moment, I was driving.

I drove carefully because every movement was a struggle. Twice, I almost crashed but forced myself to keep going.

I pulled into the driveway at home. I managed to get out of the car without falling. With shaky legs, I held Arden’s hand as I walked, my steps unsteady, my vision fading.

Every movement was harder than the last.

Before we reached the front door, I stopped and squatted down to Arden’s level. He looked at me with his pale gray eyes.

“Want to play a game?” I asked, forcing a smile. He nodded eagerly. “The game is called: how to keep a secret.”

“I can keep a secret!” he exclaimed, bouncing a little.

I touched his cheek. “The man you met at school, let’s not tell Daddy about him, okay?

“If you keep that secret, on your next birthday, I’ll get you whatever you want. You want a pony, right?

“But Daddy says I’m not old enough for a pony,” he said, his little chin trembling.

“Well, Daddy wants to see if you can keep a secret first.”

“I can!”

We left it at that.

When I got to my room and closed the door, I stripped off my clothes and ran to the bathroom. I walked into the shower and slowly sank to my knees.

I could hear my own ragged breathing echoing. Slowly, painfully, I pulled myself up to turn on the shower.

Cold water poured over me, a chill I didn’t react to.

I hugged my knees to my chest as a sob broke free, drowned by the sound of the water hitting my body, mixing with my tears.

Ginny is dead.

I didn’t know if I was crying from grief or something else. All I knew was that I was crying for someone I thought I didn’t care about anymore. I kept telling myself I didn’t care, but I did.

Despite everything, she was someone to me. She was someone I once called my mother, someone Dad and I spent years missing.

I would never forgive her for what she did to Mason and me, but she didn’t deserve to die. She shouldn’t have died.

Suddenly, an arm slid around my back and another under my knees. I looked up quickly, my eyes red and swollen.

Without a word, Mason lifted me easily into his arms and carried me out of the shower and to bed. He laid me down gently, and I curled into a ball, shaking and sniffling.

The bed dipped as his arms closed around me from behind, and he squeezed me so hard I couldn’t breathe for a moment.

He slowly turned me to face him and pulled me into his embrace, holding me tightly. My face was buried in his chest, and my naked body was pressed against his.

I could smell his familiar scent that usually calmed me down, but it didn’t work today.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper as he held me tighter. “What can I do to fix this? How can I stop hurting you?”

I bit down on my fist, trying to keep the sobs from breaking free. He thought he was the one causing me pain. How could I make him understand that it wasn’t him? How could I explain anything without risking losing him?

How could I break it to him that the past he’d managed to escape from, that dark chapter of his life, was back to wreak havoc on our happiness? How could I even begin to tell him that our lives were about to change?

I wanted to shield him. I wanted to keep him safe from all the things that could hurt him, and my biological father was one of them. Anthony wasn’t afraid of Mason. If he was, he wouldn’t be here.

To blackmail me was to declare war on Mason, and Anthony knew that. This was a war I didn’t want. I didn’t need it because, in the end, I would be the one who got hurt.

I forced my voice to soften as I asked, “Can you feel it? That things are changing?”

Mason fell silent for a moment, then admitted, “Yes. Things are changing, things I can’t control.” His voice was heavy with the weight of his words.

His hand tightened in my hair, tilting my head back. I looked into his eyes, dark and intense, while mine were filled with pain.

“But you know what won’t change? How I feel about you.”

Then he leaned in, lowering his head, and kissed me. “This won’t ever change, Lauren. You and me—we’re going to keep fighting for this, okay?”

My breath was coming in short gasps, and my heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst out of my chest.

That was the choice I’d already made. To fight for us. Even if it meant lying to him, I would lie to keep our family intact. He wouldn’t find out about Anthony. I would keep him safe.

I would face everything alone for him because this was my battle.

This time, I would be the one to protect him.