21. Mason
21
MASON
W hen it was time to leave that night, I had Maddy go first.
There were separate entry and exit gates, and as the exiting gate opened for her to pass, the entry gate began opening as well. Maddy leaving shouldn’t have done anything to open that gate, but as she went through and paused on the other side, four black SUVs raced through the entry gate and whipped around to circle me.
I wanted to gun the acceleration, but I couldn’t. Maddy blocked me without realizing it. If the gate swung closed, it would’ve come down on me. I considered ditching my vehicle and running for hers, but another SUV drove in, wedging its way sideways so it was between myself and Maddy.
I was effectively blocked in.
Her brake lights were going off and on. I cursed. She probably didn’t know what was going on or what to do. My phone began ringing through my dashboard. It was Maddy. I hit accept and ordered, “Go!”
“But Dad—”
“GO! Now.” I laid on the horn.
She took off. “What do you want me to do? Where do I go?”
“Go home.”
“But—”
A man got out of one of the SUVs and leaned back against his door. He did nothing except stand there. Everything dried up in me because I recognized his face. Kai Bennett. He was here, and right now, he was waiting for me. His hands were folded over each other. I didn’t know if this was certain death or something else. I closed my eyes, for one second, and sent a prayer that it wouldn’t be the last time I talked to my daughter.
“Maddy.”
“Dad—Daddy?”
“I want you to go home. Call Uncle Channing.”
“Uncle Channing? Why? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, honey. Just tell Uncle Channing that KB made contact. He’ll know what that means. He’ll take it from there.”
“KB? Who’s KB?”
“I love you, Maddy.” I reached forward and ended the call. Fuck . My heart raced.
Kai Bennett was waiting for me, standing outside his SUV. I’d Googled this fucker, and there should’ve been way more images of him online than there were. He also should have been in his sixties, not just a few years older than me. He had dark features. Short black hair. He was powerful and feared. He was mafia, the real deal. There was a real possibility I could die at the end of this talk with him. And unlike the other enemies I’d faced against, this time, his men would shoot and they would kill me. I’d be just another execution to them.
The phone started ringing. Logan. Maddy had called him before Channing.
I declined the call, leaning forward to see if I could glimpse the guard at the gate. We had four guards. Where the fuck were they?
Knock, knock.
One of Kai’s guards was at my window, and seeing he’d gotten my attention, he stepped back, folding his hands in front of him. I put my vehicle in park and opened the door. Broad. The guy had more muscle than I did, and he was an inch taller. Clad in a business suit, wearing leather gloves, and I could see bulges under his jacket. Those were guns. More than one.
“Turn your vehicle off, please, Mr. Kade.”
So fucking polite. I hesitated, though, meeting Kai Bennett’s dark gaze before swinging around to the front. The entry gate had closed now, and it was supposed to be reinforced so no one could break through it. They weren’t flimsy gates. My dad hadn’t been messing around, but the guards were another thing.
Kai Bennett watched me with an impassive curiosity as his eyebrows furrowed just slightly. He didn’t make a move. He didn’t look alarmed either, just the slightest bit impatient as he continued to wait for me. As I reached over to turn the engine off, I heard doors opening.
Men got out of the other SUVs, all wearing the same uniform. Business suits. Tall. Broad. Fit. And with bulges under their jackets from their guns. But no one moved closer. Some fanned out, spreading through the parking lot, walking in the opposite direction.
“Let’s go.” The first guard moved to grab my arm.
“I wouldn’t, Thomas.”
We both froze, hearing Kai Bennett speak. His eyes were on his guard’s hand, which was two inches from making contact. His voice was a warning, but not an urgent one. It was as if he were here to cross an item off his to-do list.
“He’s a professional athlete, and if my research is correct, skilled enough with fighting that you’d be surprised at his reaction. I never told you to strong-arm him, so don’t.” His gaze shifted to me. “Kade, I’m here as a respectful formality.” He thought a moment. “That’s the best way I can put it. I mean you no harm, nor your daughter, which is why we waited to move in until she was in the clear. I hope you take that into consideration with the decision that’s weighing on you right now.”
I grunted, not liking this fucker. “What decision is that?”
“Whether to disarm my man, jump into your vehicle, and take your chances with my men out there or give in and have this meeting with me. You’re weighing the options because you know who I am. You know what I do. You know there’s just as much of a chance of you walking away from here alive as having a bullet lodged in your brain.” He gave a small nod. “Like I said, I am here as a respectful formality. Nothing else. I wish to have a conversation, to inform you of a few misconceptions you have about me, and then we’ll be on our way. I’m hoping that’ll be the end of this, but I suppose that depends on what you decide to do in the next few moments. So, Kade. What will we be doing today?”
I really, really did not like this guy. Way too smart. Way too smooth. Way too fucking arrogant. I ground my teeth against each other because he also could back everything up, and we both knew that.
I reached in and pulled out the keys.
“Hand them to Thomas, please.”
I’d started toward him but paused at his order. I positively loathed this guy. I handed them off.
As soon as Thomas had the keys, he moved behind me, shutting my door and nudging me forward. “Just walk to him.”
I held my hands out. “I have no weapons on me.”
Kai Bennett lifted his chin. “We know.”
I frowned at that, because how? Once I was closer, he stepped away from his vehicle and motioned with his head. “Let’s walk around the parking lot. I’ve been flying a lot lately and could stretch my legs.”
There was nothing about this guy that would’ve prepared me to meet him. This was the reason my father killed himself? The threat of this guy coming after us? No matter what the books said, I supposed I could see it. I’d known dangerous men in my life. Rapists. Murderers. None of them could touch this guy. It was his intelligence. There was a cold aura to him, a way of thinking that had made him a mastermind. That’s what made him more lethal than the other bad men I’d known—Budd Broudou, Park Sebastian, Jared Caldron. All of them were criminals, and all of them were imprisoned because of me.
Those guys were nothing compared to this guy.
“Come. Let’s walk.” He started off, watching until I fell in step, a few yards separating us. He continued to study me until there was a little distance between us and his guards, enough space to give us a modicum of privacy.
“You killed my father and you feel safe enough to walk with me?” I exhaled sharply. “I don’t know if that makes you foolish or just arrogant.”
His gaze never left me, and his mouth turned down at my words. “The reason I’m here… Your private investigator was the first to catch my attention, her digging into me. She’s not as discreet as she thinks she is, but she wouldn’t have been a problem. We gave her enough information to bait her. She’ll find out soon that the trail we left for her leads to a dead end. She’s gotten information on me. I’ll give her that, but not enough that she feels confident. When you meet with her, her file will be a lot thinner than you or she will want.”
Okay. That was annoying. “You killed my father. You don’t think I’m going to send a PI after you? You’re my enemy. I need to find out everything I can about you.” I stopped to face him. Enough with the walking bullshit. We weren’t friends out for a stroll.
He faced me, regarding me coolly. “That’s the second time you’ve brought up your father’s death. What would lead you to the idea that I killed your father?”
I was going to kill this guy. One day, somehow I would. “Other than the fact that he told me you were coming after him? My father is my source, you smug prick. Right before he shot himself.”
There was no reaction in his gaze. Nothing. Not even a blink. “Until six days ago, I had no idea who James Kade was. So no, Mason Kade, I am not the reason your father shot himself.”
That statement hit me in the sternum. That didn’t make sense.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
All the air left me. I didn’t want to believe him, but why seek me out?
There was a ring of truth to his words.
“It would be safer for me to not believe you. Someone coming after my father would probably tell me that—”
“Do you know who I am?” he cut me off, an edge of impatience in his voice. His eyes flared. “I am not looking for you to stroke my ego. But I’m not sure if you’re aware that I don’t need to waste time with bullshit manipulations like a meeting as this if I were coming after your father’s company. I’m assuming that’s why you think I killed your father? I didn’t know the man so there’s no other reason I could fathom I’d want him dead.”
I studied him, listening to him. There was truth in what he was saying.
“A man like me, if he were going to forcibly take over your father’s company, I would kill all the shareholders in one night. I’d have lawyers ready for them to transfer their shares to me, and they would sign them away because if they didn’t, I would kill their families. I would have all the official employees already in my pocket so when each one of them were killed, I would be able to walk into your company the next day knowing it was mine. That’s how I would take over your father’s company if I chose. So trust me, I’m not the villain in this particular instance.”
“Something tells me you’re always the villain in any instance.”
His eyes flashed, now showing some anger. “To be quite frank, I’m annoyed that I had to come here and have this conversation with you. Again . I have no interest in Kade Enterprises. I looked into your family a little bit after we became aware of your private investigator. I looked into you. Your father. Your mother. Your wife. Your brother. Your friends. I hope you don’t take offense to this, but there’s nothing you have that I would want. Kade Enterprises is a good business. It’s doing well. The other part of my scenario is that the way I would force my way into your company or your father’s company. It’s a losing situation for me. This company is too public. You are too public. I don’t like media coverage about my family. I do everything I can to stop it, but if your name was attached, your wife’s, all the plethora of other little celebrities in your group, I wouldn’t be able to contain that press storm.
“That would be my downfall, which you would eventually realize. That’s why I’m assuming your father chose to go the route he did. With the first leak in the press, I have no doubt that your government would leap at the chance to step in. They would think of it as a way to take my family down. Now, that battle, I would win, but all you need to know is that any fight to take over your father’s company would not be worth it for me in the long run. It would be a pain in my ass, to be frank. By the time I beat your government, the company would be useless to me. I’d have to declare bankruptcy on it and then I would have to tear it apart. That would be the only financial gain I might acquire at the end. The ends would not justify the means. Not to me. Not in this case.”
I frowned. “You’ve put a lot of thought into that.” I was a little bowled over by everything he laid out. None of it had crossed my mind.
He laughed and shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I knew all of that within five minutes of looking into your father’s company and into you.”
“It was enough to warrant a personal visit from you.”
“You’re mistaken again.” An edge returned to his voice. “A phone call would’ve been adequate to let you know your father had been misled, that I’m not the enemy you’re looking for. But it was your other interested party who really got our attention—not just mine, but my brother’s. Both of my brothers. You don’t know my brothers, but generally they’re happy if I leave them to manage their own personal lives.”
My frown deepened. “I only sent my PI. I don’t know who else—”
“Your little hacker.” His words clipped out with bite. “Your PI’s been snooping around for six days. Your hacker took one day to royally piss off my brothers. He or she hacked into their personal accounts—theirs and their significant others. He couldn’t get into mine, and if he had tried getting into my wife’s, I wouldn’t be coming to you about him. He would already have a bullet in his head. Or her head, whoever your hacker is.” The impassive bullshit was gone. He’d dropped the mask and let me see how serious he was. His eyes narrowed, very much promising death. “I saw the look in your eye. You know who I’m talking about. Right now, your hacker’s been immobilized, unable to dig any deeper, but that hold on them will only last another day. They will be able to break free by tomorrow morning, and I’m telling you that if they continue going where they should not be going, we will have them executed within the day.”
Fuck .
“And if you think we won’t be able to find out who your hacker is, that will be a mistake. I came here to see for myself if you were aware of this person, and you are. We have two options now. I’m assuming you won’t willingly give up this person’s identity, so either we torture you for their identity or we let you handle it from here. What is your choice, Mr. Kade?”
Holy shit. If I could murder this guy right here and now, that would be my choice. No brainer. I’d pull the trigger in a heartbeat, but that was the difference between him and me. He’d chosen to pull a trigger. I still hadn’t. That had kept me on the path that led me here, where I would win in a fight if we went to the press.
A shudder worked its way through me, but I suppressed it. I might have a monster inside of me, but this guy was a stark reminder of why I wouldn’t let that monster take over, not fully. Sam was right. I needed both sides. The normal side, but also the side that thirsted for violence when I was here.
“Consider it done,” I told him.
His eyes narrowed, and then he nodded. “Good.” He started back to his vehicle.
I let him get two steps before I said, “I know Cutler Ryder.”
He turned to frown at me, his head cocked to the side.
“He’s a good man. I know there’s some sort of connection to your brother, but I don’t think Cutler knows who your brother really is.”
His nostrils flared. “The hockey player. In Kansas City.” I could see him calculating before his eyes went blank. “You could tell him, but I’ll lay out what will happen. That is my brother Tanner you’d be pissing off. He also likes your friend being his friend, but you’re correct. I don’t believe Cutler Ryder knows about Tanner’s family business.”
“And if I educate my friend?”
“You’d be killed.”
I sucked in some air, not expecting that. “My brother thinks less than I do,” he continued in the same careless tone. “He would react, and he’d be wrong to do so, but he would kill you and he wouldn’t care about the fall-out. While I wouldn’t agree with him, I would back him up, because that’s what we do for each other. I believe it’s the same in your family.” He paused a moment. “Do not make a trip to Kansas City or even a phone call.” A hint of a smirk showed. “After all, I do what I do, and you do what you do. One of us has no problem with murder. Now.” He nodded toward the pocket where my phone was. “I’ve no doubt you should call your family and let them know you’re safe.”
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.