MASON
My dad hadn’t wanted the meeting at his house, where Analise was, and that had been fine with us. We’d met at his office instead. I’d handed over the copy of the files I made for him, and he’d said he’d take care of the rest. I hadn’t asked what would go down or how he’d use it. I knew he would, and I also knew James Kade had questionable connections. Probably better not to know.
With the meeting over, Logan, Nate, and I traipsed back outside, all quiet. I glanced at Logan as he bypassed me for the front passenger seat. We’d learned a year ago how far on the other side of the law our father could travel. He’d helped keep a crime boss off our backs. But this—something was nagging me.
I reached for the door handle on the Escalade and was about to open it when someone stepped out of the shadows.
“I can see I didn’t do my job very well.”
Caldron and a bunch of his guys surrounded us.
I stepped away from the door. “Excuse me?”
He held a bat in his hands and gestured with it to the office building. “That was you taking that copy of Quinn’s files to your dad, right?”
“What makes you think that?”
These guys were here to stop us. I don’t know how Caldron knew, what business it was of his, but if they were going to stand against us, I knew my dad wasn’t safe either. I caught Logan’s gaze and jerked my head toward the building. He nodded and began easing his way backward. He’d get James to safety—or try.
“No.” Caldron pointed at some of his buddies. “Block him. We don’t want the rich daddy dearest to get away scot-free, not after we wipe the floor with his sons.”
“This is getting old.” Nate growled, stepping toward some of the guys.
I did a quick count and stopped after I hit more than twelve.
“You came out in full force, Caldron.” I turned back to him. He was the leader. He had all the answers. “Why don’t you show some decency and say why?”
“Yeah.” Logan stepped back toward us, but four guys hurried around to block him from getting to us. “How do you know about any of this? What do you know about Quinn? And why the fuck are you here?”
“That’s right. Your rich prick of a father was supposed to ‘take care of me,’ wasn’t he? Well, he did. He transferred me out to another job location. I was there last month when suddenly I got a call saying I was fired.”
Logan and I shared a look. James wouldn’t fire Caldron. There’d be no point.
He saw the look. “Oh yeah. That right there says I’m right. I got ‘handled’ just like I’m here to ‘handle’ you guys.”
“Who fired you?”
Caldron looked at me, his arms folding over his chest. The bat hung down at his side. “The person who hired me to go after your asses.” He pointed the bat at everyone around him. “That’s what we’re doing here—what I was hired to do in the first place.”
“And that was?” I was getting tired of his chatter. A deep anger began to boil inside of me.
“Yeah.” Logan shoved at the guy closest to him. “Get to the fucking point.”
Caldron smirked, and I smirked back, but I glanced over at Nate. All the attention had been focused on us. Even the guys who were “watching” Nate hadn’t been watching him. I caught a quick flash of light from his phone. He stashed it back in his pocket and nodded to me.
He’d called the cops.
It was the old system we had in place for times like this: Logan and I drew everyone’s attention, and Nate called for backup. Sadly, our backup had to be actual law enforcement this time. These guys weren’t just here to hurt us. They were here for blood.
We needed to hold them off long enough, or we were dead.
Logan rolled his shoulders and gave a small dip of his head. He was ready.
I squared off against Caldron. I wanted to fight, but I wanted answers, too. “Who really hired you? You’re not after us because of Budd, are you?”
Caldron started laughing, tipping his head back like a hyena. “No, no. You guys did me a favor with him. Since he’s out, I’m the guy in charge. With him gone, I’m on top.” A serious look settled in his eyes, and I knew I was looking into a murderer’s gaze. “Quinn hired me the same day he and your daddy had a meeting. He knew I was already working for your dad. We were supposed to do the landscaping for that hotel they’re opening. Quinn thought I could keep an eye on you, but your dad messed that up. He postponed the landscaping. We don’t start until this next week, now that everything’s almost done with the hotel. But it doesn’t matter, because this is the real job he hired me for. I was supposed to keep you from getting too close to his son.”
“To Adam?” That was why he kept trying to attack us. “That’s why you went after Sam so much?”
Caldron nodded, swinging the bat like he was warming up for batting practice. “Yep. She’s your weakness. Keep going after her and you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on whatever your daddy put you up to. You’d be too focused on keeping your girl safe.”
He paused a moment. “My guess is your dad stuck you with little Quinn to watch him, right?”
I didn’t offer a response, and he shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter if you don’t confirm it. I know it’s true, just like I know I got a call an hour ago to be on the lookout if you made a move. I’m thinking you coming to your dad’s office at midnight was the move. Am I right? I know I am. I also know there was a breach in security at some offsite location Quinn uses. I know your girlfriend had a cozy chat with Quinn Jr.’s fiancée, and that same fiancée broke down crying to Quinn Jr. earlier this afternoon. Now,” he spread his arms, “I have no clue what you made a copy of, but that’s what I was told to get from you. Since we got here too late and it looks like you’ve already delivered it, we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”
“You mean the bloody way.”
“Whichever way you want. Either your daddy brings it out to save your asses, or we step over your bodies to get it. It’s up to you.”
I heard sirens in the distance, but they were almost coming too soon. I wanted this guy’s blood on the ground. I wanted it all over, and I wanted to be the one who broke him in half. We’d had enough. I didn’t need to hear any more to understand what had gone down.
“I would’ve thought you’d get tired of this, Caldron.”
“What do you mean?” His eyes twitched, just briefly.
“This. You. Me. Fighting.” I grinned, knowing it didn’t reach my eyes. “You losing.”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “That’s what you think is going to happen?”
Logan and Nate shifted. They were ready to fight.
I stepped away from the Escalade. “I know that’s what’s going to happen. I always beat you, Caldron. I always will; no matter how many guys you bring with you.”
He moved back, as did his guys. It was like I had an invisible force protecting me. But if I’d heard the sirens, they must’ve, too.
“What?” I asked. “You know you can’t finish this fight before those cops show up?”
“Who says they’re coming here?” He tossed the bat up, catching it like he was going to swing at a baseball. He held it above his head.
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“They have to prioritize their calls,” he said. “It’s a small police department. I’d think a burning nursing home would take priority over a text about brawling from someone’s cell phone.” He looked right at Nate. “I saw that, you know.”
“You set the nursing home on fire?” Nate paled slightly.
“They’ll get everyone out, I’m sure.” Caldron didn’t sound like he cared. “But that leaves us to our merry selves.” He dropped the bat and caught it again, right around the handle. He hefted it back up. “How about we get this show on the road?”
And he swung.
I blacked out after that.
The bat swung down. I saw my hand catching it, saw Caldron on the ground. His face was bleeding. His eyes were swollen shut. There were hands at my shoulders, and I was swinging.
Time skipped.
Two guys were on me. I ducked down, ramming my shoulder into one of them. Someone’s arm cracked, and he screamed in pain as it bent at an indecent angle.
More lapses in time.
Nate was on the ground. Three guys kicked him.
I pulled one away, slamming him into the pavement.
Time jumped again.
Logan threw a punch, and a guy’s head snapped backward from the blow. Another guy swung a bat, about to hit Logan in the back of the head—another blackout. I came to again, and that same guy was unconscious.
I was holding his bat.
More blackness.
“Mason.” I heard Logan’s voice in the distance.
There was a buzzing sound. I looked around. What was that?
“Mason.” Suddenly, the buzzing sound vanished, and Logan was right there. His voice was too loud, and he was clawing at my hands. “Mason, stop!” He sounded panicked. My brother never panicked. He kept pulling at my hands, and I looked—they were wrapped around a guy’s throat.
Logan reared back and rammed his shoulder into me. He knocked me backward, but I’d let go of the throat already.
What had I…?
I didn’t want to know.
I shook my head. There was a cloud there, a haze settling over everything. I didn’t feel like myself, and I surveyed the parking lot and felt sick.
There were bodies everywhere.
Nate sat on the ground, his face covered in blood and only one eye open. He was holding his shirt to his head. The end was soaked in blood.
I looked for Logan. He was right in front of me, and he was bleeding all over, too. He fell into me, and he began to slip to the ground, but I caught him. Wrapping an arm around his back, I eased him down and sat next to him.
My hands were already bruising. They were covered in blood, but there was blood everywhere. Even the Escalade had blood on it.
“Logan.” My voice was hoarse. “What did we do?”
He grunted from pain as he tried to stretch a leg out. “We fought. That’s what we did.”
The sound of someone walking over broken glass came from behind us. I didn’t look. My body was beginning to scream in agony. Everything hurt.
James stepped in front of us, taking everything in. He sucked in a breath. “What happened?”
I wasn’t sure. I kept quiet.
Logan glanced to me, then said, “Quinn knew you sicced Mason on his son. He sicced Caldron on us. We were supposed to be distracted.” He had to stop to spit out blood. “He failed at his job.” He looked up at our dad, his face misshapen and bruised. “You still have that copy, right? We didn’t do all of this for nothing.”
James held up the flash drive. “It’s here.” At that moment, a squad car lit up the parking lot in red and blue. “I was going to use it as leverage against him, get him to back down, but it looks like it’s going to the district attorney instead.”
Two cops got out and stopped a few feet from their car. They looked all around, and one slowly raised his hand to his radio. He called for an ambulance as James said, “Let me do all the talking. If you say anything, it’s to ask for your lawyer. You got it?”
He looked down at us to make sure.
We nodded, and he strode forward, meeting the policemen halfway.