56. Mason
56
MASON
A few days later.
T hree 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.”
Maddy stabbed Sabrina only a few days ago. Garrett just arrived at Fallen Crest, being there to help in the future care for his second daughter. An agreement was made that we wouldn’t go to the police as long as she would be committed to a certain deconditioning facility. We’d done our research. I’d gone to Zeke to ask for his assistance in verifying that this particular facility did what they said they did. That there was no secret abuse happening. That the reputation truly was stellar, which the facility broadcasted as their company line.
It was. Zeke validated everything.
After my meeting with Zeke, and after I needed to give him enough information about The System and why we needed Sabrina’s treatment to be hush-hush, he’d taken the initiative to look into the secret society. The amount of information he unearthed on the members was astounding.
He handed it over to me, on that thumb drive, and told me to use it as collateral.
I’d asked him at the time, “Why are you giving me this?”
“It’s my apology. To you. To your family. For bringing Kai Bennett to you personally.” A darker emotion flickered over his face. His mouth strained before he shoved it away. “It took me a while to understand why you tortured me, but I understand now.”
“I wanted to make sure I got the real truth from you. If I’d just asked, I couldn’t know if it was true or if you were telling me what I wanted to hear. You stalked me and my family. You crossed the line of normal boundaries and because we don’t know you, it made us uneasy. We have a right to feel that way.”
His entire face flinched before he shut that down. He spoke, monotone, “You tortured me to break me. You wanted to destroy the image I had of you.” His jaw clenched. “It worked, but I don’t think it worked in the way you wanted. I see the real you now. I see the darkness inside of you. So yeah. In a way, the torture achieved what you wanted, but it also didn’t. I know now what you’re capable of doing.”
The way he was looking at me, I didn’t think I’d need to worry anymore about stalking. I was choosing to focus on the matter at hand. “This is for Kai Bennett?”
He clipped his head in a nod. “Yes.” So brisk.
He was business-oriented. Professional. My brother cared about the guy. I had to hurt him to push him back, but how he was currently treating me was how it should’ve been from the start. Where we were strangers because we didn’t know each other.
We were starting on the first line again. Where we went from here, who knew but I felt that he’d proceed with caution. Just like I always fucking did.
I said to Kai now, “It’s a gift from the hacker, and an apology for going where he shouldn’t have gone.”
I had a feeling I amused him, but there was no reaction from him. There was no reason to give me that feeling. Nonetheless, I still felt like I had.
He put the thumb drive in his pocket. “We’ll go through it. I’m assuming you’re hoping I’ll go after whoever’s on here in place of seeking retribution against your wife’s little sister?”
The casual way he said all of that put me on edge. “They’re the real threat. Not a brainwashed little girl.”
A hint of a grin appeared again, but faded just as quick. “Don’t insult my intelligence, Mason. I’m quite aware how dangerous that ‘little girl’ is, along with the other one you’re really protecting.”
My body went cold.
He studied me again. The wall he kept in place fell away, but it only showed a sense of curiosity more than anything else. “You didn’t have to lie, say the thumb drive was an apology from your hacker. I’m assuming it was actually meant to be an apology to you, not me. He already sent an apology. If you speak to your hacker, you can tell him that my wife appreciated the information he sent our way. The people she worked with do good in this world. He helped them a great deal. Though, if your hacker ever invades any account that belongs to my family in the future, I might not kill him as quickly as I would’ve before, but I won’t hesitate to send the FBI to his front doorstep. I don’t think Mrs. Allen would appreciate that.” He dipped his head to me. “With that said, have a good life, Mason. It seemed you had a good father. I am sorry for how he passed away.”
I felt off-balance, learning that he knew Zeke’s identity, but his guard opened the back door.
He dipped inside, and the three SUVs pulled away just as smooth as they arrived.
I wanted to destroy who helped take my father away. I was doing it how I could, with the options given to me.
I did that. I gave a criminal lord the information on who helped to hurt my family.
In a way, the gun they helped load and put in my father’s hands, I simply turned it around and gave it to a bigger monster than them.
I was okay with what I just did.