26. Mason
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Mason
I never thought I’d be the kind of guy standing outside a town hall, talking strategy like we were about to go to war. But here we were.
The people of Medford were gathering inside, their voices low, uneasy.
Normally, town meetings were about things like whether the fall festival should have a bigger pumpkin patch or if Old Man Carter’s chickens were a “public nuisance.”
But tonight?
Tonight, we weren’t talking about pumpkins or poultry.
We were talking about Hank Lawson. And how we were gonna stop him from gutting our town like a fish.
I crossed my arms, rocking back on my heels as I watched folks disappear through the double doors. My brothers stood beside me, all of us quiet, watching, waiting.
“This is a mistake,” Owen muttered, his jaw tight. “Lawson plays dirty. I don’t know if this will work.”
Ethan let out a slow breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’re going to make it work.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, he won’t fuck with us twice.”
But we all knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Lawson wasn’t gonna back off because we told him to. He was the kind of man who only understood power.
And right now, he had all of it.
“So how do we tackle this?” Ethan asked.
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “We make it personal.”
Owen frowned. “It’s already personal.”
“Not just for us,” I said. “For them.”
I gestured toward Main Street, toward the places that made Medford what it was. The Brewed Bean Cafe, where Samantha worked her ass off to keep her mom’s dream alive.
Sweet Maple Bakery, where Mrs. Cooper had been feeding this town since before I was born. The Starry Night Theater, where kids put on Christmas plays and old couples slow-danced during jazz nights.
“This isn’t just about us,” I went on. “Or Aurora. Or even Grady’s Auto. Lawson’s betting that people are too scared to fight back. That selling out is easier than standing up. We need to remind them what they’re fighting for.”
Ethan was quiet for a moment, his brows drawn together in thought. Then he nodded. “You're right. We need to get everyone on board, make them understand what's at stake.”
I felt a flicker of satisfaction until Owen cut in, his voice low.
“And what happens when Lawson decides he's done playing nice?”
A slow smirk pulled at my lips. “Then we stop playing nice, too.”
Ethan shot me a knowing look. “Mason.”
“I’m not saying we go picking fights,” I said, holding up my hands. “But I’m also not gonna sit around waiting for him to make the next move. We push back. We find out what he's really after. Aurora’s uncle didn’t just leave her the bookstore, there’s more to this, and Lawson knows it.”
Owen exhaled through his nose, rubbing his temple. “I hate that you might have a point.”
Ethan glanced back at the town hall doors, where the last stragglers were heading inside. “Then we’d better figure it out fast.”
I nodded. “Damn right.”
As we stepped into the building, I felt something I hadn't in a long time. A fight was coming. And for once, I wasn’t running from it.
Inside the town hall, the air was thick with tension.
Folks were packed into the rows of old wooden chairs, murmuring to each other, their faces a mix of concern and defiance. The usual warmth of Medford—the easygoing, small-town camaraderie—was gone.
Replaced by something colder. Something angrier.
Ethan, Owen, and I stood near the front, facing them.
I wasn’t much for speeches. That was Ethan’s thing, being the responsible, level-headed one. And Owen could get a whole room to listen without saying much at all.
Me? I cracked jokes, I flirted, I made sure people had a good time.
But this wasn’t a good time.
This was our town, our people, and it was slipping through our fingers.
Ethan spoke first.
He didn’t clear his throat. Didn’t hesitate. Just raised his chin, met everyone’s eyes, and started talking like he was already carrying the weight of the town on his shoulders.
“You all know what's happening,” he said, steady. “Hank Lawson has been buying up land, pushing people out, and now he's using threats to get what he wants.
“My shop was vandalized. Aurora’s bookstore was damn near burned down. And I know for a fact some of you have gotten offers you didn’t ask for. Ones that came with an unspoken warning if you didn’t take them.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd. I saw some guilty glances, people shifting in their seats.
Lawson had already gotten to some of them.
Ethan let the silence settle before he continued.
“This isn’t just business,” he said. “It’s a takeover. Lawson isn’t looking to help Medford; he's looking to gut it. He wants our land, our businesses, and when he's done, there won’t be a town left worth living in.”
Someone called out, “What the hell do we do about it?”
Ethan nodded, like he’d been expecting the question.
“We stand together,” he said simply. “We make it clear that Medford isn’t for sale. We refuse to back down. If we do that, we take away his leverage. Lawson thinks he can pick us off one by one. So let’s show him what happens when we don’t let him.”
Applause broke out. A few people even stood up.
Then Owen stepped forward, and the room quieted again.
“I know some of you are scared,” he said, voice even. “Maybe you think it’s easier to take Lawson’s deal. Just sell and move on. But let me ask you something. How many of you have family buried here?”
The room went still.
“How many of you have kids in the same schools you went to?” His gaze swept across the room. “How many of you have memories in this town you don’t want bulldozed over?”
A few nods. A few murmurs.
“Lawson doesn’t care about Medford,” Owen continued. “But we do. We built this place. Our parents built this place. So if you think selling him your land is just a business decision, you're wrong. It’s handing over your family’s history. And once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.”
More murmurs now. People sitting up straighter, whispering to their neighbors. Owen didn’t give them time to stew in it.
“We hold the line,” he said. “That's how we stop him.”
Then it was my turn.
I wasn’t like Ethan with his plans, or Owen with his quiet authority. But I knew how to read a room. And right now, I could see the cracks, the doubt, the fear.
So I gave them something else.
“You know, for most of my life, I didn’t think I was the kind of guy who needed to put down roots,” I started, shoving my hands into my pockets. “Always figured Medford would be here when I wanted to come back. Like a bar tab you can settle whenever you feel like it.”
Some chuckles, but quiet ones.
“But these last few weeks have made me realize something.” I let my gaze sweep across the room. “This town? It’s not just buildings and businesses. It’s people.
“It’s the folks who show up when your car won’t start. The ones who bring you soup when you're sick. The ones who will, without question, drop everything to help their neighbors.”
Heads nodded. People were listening now.
“Lawson doesn’t understand that,” I said. “He thinks Medford is just a piece of property. But we know better. This town is alive. It’s history and heart and stubborn-as-hell people who don’t take kindly to outsiders telling us what we can and can’t do.”
A few cheers. I stepped forward, letting my voice drop just enough to make them lean in.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to let some arrogant son of a bitch waltz in here and take that away from us.”
The room erupted. Applause. Stomping feet. The kind of fire that meant people were ready to fight.
And then slow, deliberate clapping from the back of the room.
A cold, slimy feeling hit me before I even turned around.
There he was. Hank Lawson. Leaning against the doorway like he owned the damn place.
“Well, well,” he said, stepping forward. “Quite the performance, gentlemen. Almost makes me believe you stand a chance.”
The energy in the room shifted. That spark of defiance started to waver in his presence.
Ethan squared his shoulders. “What do you want, Lawson?”
He smirked.
“Oh, I think you know.” His gaze swept the room. “I hear a lot of talk about standing together, about fighting back, but let’s be honest—how many of you are willing to risk everything?” He spread his hands. “Because that's what it'll take. I’ve got money, lawyers, and time. How much of that do you have?”
Silence.
He took another step forward.
“I get it. Medford is your home. Your past. But I’m here to offer you a future.” His eyes landed on me. “I’m here to bring Medford into the future. Is it not time that this place had some money injected into it? That it was brought forward into the present? Surely you don’t all want to live in the past forever.”
That hit like a punch to the gut.
I stepped up to him, closing the distance. “You don’t own this town, Lawson. And you sure as hell don’t own us.”
His smirk widened. “No,” he said, voice lowering. “But Medford owes me.”
A chill ran through me. What the hell did that mean?
Lawson clapped me on the shoulder, all casual, like we were old friends.
“Think it over,” he murmured. “I'll be in touch.”
Then he turned and walked out, leaving behind a room full of people whose fear had just been replaced with something else.
A dangerous, lingering question.
What did Medford owe Hank Lawson?
The moment Lawson walked out, the tension in the room shifted. The fire I’d built up with my speech dimmed, flickering under the weight of doubt.
People weren’t clapping anymore. They were whispering, exchanging uneasy glances. I could feel it creeping in, fear.
Nancy Hayes, standing near the back with that calm, knowing look she always had, was the first to speak up.
“He's right about one thing,” she said, arms folded. “We don’t have money. We don’t have lawyers. Even if we fight, how do we win?”
Charlie Dunn nodded. “We’re just regular people. We don’t have the kind of power he does. If he drags us through lawsuits or buys up enough land, what then?”
The murmurs grew louder, doubt spreading like wildfire.
Ethan crossed his arms, jaw tight. “We’re not rolling over just because Lawson’s got deep pockets.”
“You say that, Ethan,” George Cooper called out, frowning, “but fighting him means dragging our families into something dangerous. My wife and I already got an offer for our property, and if we say no, what's stopping Lawson from making our lives hell?”
I clenched my jaw. That's exactly what he's already doing.
Owen, standing solid beside me, spoke up. “You're afraid. We all are. But fear is exactly what Lawson’s counting on. If he can make you believe you’ve already lost, you won’t even try to fight.”
People shifted, uneasy but listening.
I ran a hand through my hair. “Look, I get it. No one wants trouble. But what do you think’s gonna happen if we don’t stop him? Medford won’t be Medford anymore.
“You think Lawson’s gonna keep our businesses, our history? Hell no. He's gonna turn this place into another overpriced, soulless pit where none of us belong.” I exhaled sharply. “And you wanna know the worst part? He thinks he deserves this town. Like we owe it to him.”
That hit home.
People frowned, whispering again, but this time, I could tell they were angry.
“But how?” Ryan muttered. “How do we stop a man like that?”
That was the million-dollar question.
I wished Aurora was here. She’d be on our side.
But she wasn’t here; she hadn't been around for a while now.
This battle was clearly taking it out of her.
Ethan’s voice cut through my thoughts.
“We start by sticking together. By making sure Lawson knows Medford isn’t for sale.” He looked out over the crowd. “If you want to keep your home, your business, your town , you need to make a choice. We stand, or we surrender. And if we surrender, we lose everything.”
A heavy silence settled over the room.
Harriet Cooper spoke up. “I don’t want to lose everything my husband and I built here. But we need more than just anger. We need a plan.”
“I can help with that.”
Lila Harper’s voice rang out from the middle of the crowd, where she stood, arms crossed, between Jaxon and Colt like a battle formation.
“If there’s one thing I know, it’s how to rally people behind something worth fighting for. Lawson’s got money, but we’ve got something he doesn’t—this town, and the people in it.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd.
“I’m in,” Nate Harper said, gruff but firm. “Medford’s not just a place to me. It’s home.”
More people started nodding. Voices rising.
Maybe we could do this. Maybe Lawson wasn’t as untouchable as he thought.
I just had to make sure we gave them a reason to believe we could win.