"Logan!"

I jumped at the shrill sound that came around the corner. Helen was calling.

He chuckled and grabbed my arm. "Come on, little Kade. Prepare to be entertained." Then he saluted Heather. "Off you go, Jax. You're always welcome in my bed, but not here. No fornicating allowed, her mom's rule. See you later."

Heather rolled her eyes and grabbed Becky's arm. "See you, Sam. Call me."

I nodded as she dragged Becky behind her. The door shut with a heavy thud behind them, but then Logan curved an arm around my waist. He didn't immediately take me to the kitchen. Instead, he held me in a hug for a moment and let out a deep sigh. His shoulders dropped and his head rested on my shoulder.

He'd been acting. The entire jovial side of him had been a facade. I hugged him back. "How bad is it?"

He flinched from the question but drew back. His wall fell and I reeled as I saw the torment in them. "It's not good, Sam. It's not going to get better either."

Oh no.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

When I walked into the room, everything was wrong. I knew it. I felt it. I could see it. Helen was impeccable. She was dressed in a white business suit with a skirt and matching high heels, a lethal tip at the end. Her hair was swept up in some fancy bun to the side, but it was the pressed red lips and the cold ice in her blue eyes that sent the first reverberations through me. The second wave was sent from James as he stood between the kitchen and dining room. He leaned against a counter with his tie undone and his shirt pulled from his pants. The suit looked like it could've come from a GQ magazine, but it was wrinkled and wrung into knots as he lifted his hands to ring out his collar. From how it was already loosened, I knew he'd been doing that more than a few times. Then the third repercussion hit me from my mother herself. She stopped her pacing when she saw me, but it wasn't warmth that came to her, it was the lack of it. Even Helen noted it with a snort. She extended her hand to me. "And the root of the problem has made her appearance."

All jokes were gone.

Mason shoved his chair back and rounded the table. He took my arm and moved in front as Logan went and hopped onto the table. He flashed me a grin, more to reassure me than anything else, as he propped his feet on a chair in front of him. Then he leaned back on the table with his arms outstretched behind him, his eyes alert as he scanned the rest of the room.

That was the fourth.

Logan was alarmed. Logan was never alarmed.

The last reverberation was Mason as I touched his arm. It was cement. I felt his back and the rest of him was the same. He was rigid as stone. But he hadn't let me see it when I came around the corner. There'd been a look of amusement. I hadn't seen it when it fell away to the real emotion underneath. I'd been distracted by the tension in the room. Now I closed my eyes as the shock still rocked inside of me. Logan and Mason were both on edge.

I sucked in a breath. This wasn't going to end well. Then I opened my eyes and focused once more.

Here we go.

"Where were you, Samantha?" my mother clipped out. Her hands rested on her hips and her eyes bugged out. She looked ready to shriek again.

It clicked in me. I wouldn't fear her. The rightful anger was back again. She wouldn't scare me away no matter how intimidating she might've been. I wasn't eleven anymore. I shrugged as I moved to stand beside Mason. His hand curled around my waist. He anchored me against him.

She sucked in her breath. "Answer me."

"Why?" Logan sat forward on the table. His elbows rested on his knees now and his shoulders hunched down. He was getting ready for a fight.

"What do you mean why? She's my daughter."

He rolled his eyes. "Are you sure about that? You don't treat her like any family I've known."

"Logan," his father murmured, shaking his head. "Stop."

"Why?" Same question, same reaction. He wanted instant irritation.

A low growl came from Analise.

He was getting it.

"It's not your place." James sent him a pointed look and then transferred his gaze to Mason, who gripped my waist tighter.

I sunk into his side, grateful for the rock he had become for me.

Helen cleared her throat and refolded her arms over her chest. "This is not entertaining anymore." She fixed her ex-husband with a sneer. "Now that the prodigal daughter has returned, I'd like to continue our discussion as to why my sons got kicked out of your home and not her daughter."

Analise showed her teeth, it was so unlike the socialite she wanted to become since we moved into the Kade mansion. She resembled a caged animal, and it was the truth. My mom had been backed into a corner by Helen. We were all staring at her, waiting for her.

"Because." James hung his head.

"Because?" Helen tightened her mouth and lifted her chin another centimeter. "Just because? Are you toying with me, James? Our sons chose to stay here because of school. They didn't want to live in Los Angeles, and you agreed it was the better arrangement. A small town had a better environment for them. Then I hear from my sister that you've kicked them out? Mason is living with that Monson child—"

Logan grinned.

Mason bristled. "Don't start, mom."

"—and I hope to God that Logan's been with him the whole time because he hasn't been with me."

James looked back up. "I sent him to you."

She threw her arms in the air. "For one day! I got him for one day and then he took off with Charlie and Matt. They said they were going to Nate Monson's home. I thought they meant Calabasas. I had no idea they were coming here. I should've been informed when Nate moved back here." She turned towards Mason. "You should've told me."

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