Mason's shoulders stiffened. "It's not going to happen like this, mom. Go upstairs. We'll be up in a few minutes."

There was a silence that filled the air with more tension.

Then she sighed. "You're not going to budge, are you?"

"And you're not going to come over and move me."

"You're as stubborn as me." She bit out a laugh that resembled Mason's. "I don't know if I should curse your genetics or mine. Fine. Be upstairs in five minutes, not a minute late or I'm coming back down."

When the door shut, he looked back and grimaced. "She's been after us all week to call you. She's the real reason we didn't call."

I drew my knees against my chest and hugged them tight. "Why does she want to meet me so much?"

"Now it's because of this, but it was about revenge against your mom before."

"Revenge?"

He ran a hand over his face and looked exhausted. His shoulders slumped and he let out a deep sigh. "My mom's not dumb. She's known about Analise since she was poking around dad. And knowing that the guy she's been seeing is your biological dad, I'm not too surprised. My mom can be calculating, Sam."

I swallowed over a painful knot. "Why did she want to see me before so much?"

He stood and started to pull some clothes on. As he poked his head inside of his shirt and tug it down, he remarked, "I think she wanted you to like her more than your mom. Logan and I haven't been quiet. She knew you weren't happy with Analise any more than we were. But now…" He trailed off as he looked towards the door.

"But now," I prompted.

He shook his head and bent to grab my clothes. He handed them over as he sat beside me again. "I have no idea."

As I fitted my bra on and reached back to clasp it, I muttered, "I bet she thinks I'm like my mom now."

He didn't respond.

I looked up and saw the pity in his eyes.

"Don't," I hissed at him. "You don't feel sorry for me, not now after all the crap that's happened to me."

The corner of his mouth curved up. "You don't know my mom."

"I know you respect her." I held his gaze for a long drawn out moment. "I know you love her and you want to protect her."

"I did." He leaned forward and kissed me. "But that was before I realized something."

"What's that?"

He stood and waited until I pulled on my underwear and jeans to tug me beside him. Then he drew me in his arms for a tight hug and spoke against my shoulder, "I'm pretty sure my mom went after your bio dad to get back at your mom."

I lifted my arms and hugged him back. "Why do you think that?"

"Because in my mom's thinking, Garrett's the only guy your mom couldn't get."

"Why do you think that?" I leaned back and looked up.

He ran a finger down the side of my face in a gentle caress. "It's something I might do, if I was pissed off enough."

"If that's true, then…" A stone dropped to the pit of my stomach and a cold feeling started to sweep through my body. "Then you're right. I should be scared of your mom."

He grinned down and lifted me so I wrapped my legs around his waist. Our eyes met and held as his hand spread out over the bottom of my back. He leaned forward and nipped at my lips. I grinned and caught him in a deep kiss when he did it again.

When he started to walk out of the room and to the elevator, he sighed against my lips, "I won't let her do anything, Logan too." He breathed against me again. "I think that's why she's so mad. We won't let her hurt you."

When the elevator rose to their floor, he set me on my feet. The door opened and he took my hand in his. "You ready for this?"

I gave his hand a squeeze.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

When we entered the top suite, I drew in a deep breath and let go of Mason's hand. He glanced back, but I shook my head. I needed to do this on my own, somewhat. Logan sat on a couch in the corner. He had two bags of chips on the table in front of him, a small television in his corner, and a cooler beside him. His smile couldn't be wider on his face and when he saw our entrance, his hand slid into the cooler. It came back up with a beer and he started to chug half of it down.

"Are they here?"

I flinched at the tone of their mother. When no one answered, she came around the corner. Her hand was raised to fix an earring in place. When her eyes lit on me, her hand fell down in slow motion. She straightened and crossed her arms over her chest as she lifted her head high and her shoulders were squared.

For a moment, I was speechless. She was beautiful. She had a model's body, tall and lean with long legs. She wore a white business skirt with a pale pink cashmere sweater over it. A necklace of white diamonds rested above her cle**age. They matched the diamonds in her ears and I caught a flash from her wrist. My eyes couldn't get any bigger at the sight of the diamond bracelet there. Even her pale pink high heels shimmered from the diamonds on their straps.

She had golden blonde hair, which looked streaked from sunlight and that rested high in a loose bun. Tendrils fell to the nape of her neck and with her clear blue eyes; she looked the image of a goddess. But her lips had formed into a sneer as she took her time to study me in turn.

Her wrist flicked at me with irritation. "This is Analise's daughter?"

Logan choked out a laugh, but guzzled some more of his beer.

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