Going into that house, stalling Sebastian so that Mason could upload the flash drive—no. Not even that. I was different. I just felt it in me. Sebastian was going to rape me, and he might’ve if Mason hadn’t been there for me, but it wouldn’t happen again. I knew I wouldn’t allow that. If I were in a room with my enemy, I’d be watching everything. How he moved, what facial expressions he had, where he looked, how he said things, and yes, most definitely if one bottle of water was left in the refrigerator. I’d be aware of my surroundings. That was one lesson Sebastian taught me, but I knew there were more.

Garrett was a person. He was a fuck-up dad, but he was a person. That’d been another lesson. And the other main lesson: I was going to be okay. No matter what happened. I just escaped a near-rape, and it hadn’t changed me. From all the crap I’d been dealt over the years, that was almost nothing. Still. I might start carrying a bat with me, or maybe it was time I learned more than a few moves of self-defense.

I think it was time I became a badass fighter like Mason.

Having that thought, I glanced at him from the side of my eye. All that time in the arena, learning those defensive and attack moves, I rubbed my lips together. It might take a while for me, but the whole training process would be fun. Hell, it’d be delicious, and I couldn’t wait to start.

Garrett informed us that Sebastian was blamed for the e-mail leak. He denied until he was blue in the face that it was him, putting the blame on us, but my biological father vowed Mason was nowhere near the house. There was no way Sebastian could blame this on him. As for me, apparently I had been scanned when I came through the front door by some hidden machine. No flash drive was on my body, so they knew it wasn’t me.

Then we heard the best part.

Sebastian raped a girl his freshmen, sophomore, and junior years of college. That wasn’t the good part. It was the evidence The Network had on him. In true casting-out fashion, all that evidence was leaked to the authorities. And that meant Sebastian was going away to prison for a long time.

When he would be released, Garrett informed us that more blackmail information would be released. Sebastian did more than rape a few girls, and if he saw the outside of a prison, there was more information that would send him right back.

In short, Park Sebastian was screwed. Literally.

We never had to worry about him again, and we were home for holiday break. That meant an entire month of being here, having Mason next to me every night, and not worrying about next semester. Right now, hearing Malinda laughing above me from the kitchen as Logan’s laugh followed a second later, I was happy.

I was content.

Mason asked from the bathroom doorway, his toothbrush in hand, “You okay?”

Was I? I smiled at him and didn’t hold anything back. “Hell to the yes. I’m more than okay.”

He lifted up an eyebrow before grinning from the corner of his mouth before he putting away his toothbrush, and coming back to the bed. “You and me, we’re okay?”

We lied to each other. It was wrong. I said I wasn’t going to do it. So had Mason, then we did it, but we were protecting each other. I needed to remember that, and I sat up, pulling the bed sheet against my chest as I reached to touch the side of his face.

He was mine. No one else’s. We weren’t perfect, but we would do whatever it took to protect the other. I didn’t know another couple who could say the same thing. A surge of love filled me, and I nodded, feeling choked in the throat. “We’re good. We’re great.”

He took my hand in his and leaned down, resting his forehead to mine. He murmured, gazing deep into my eyes the entire time, “You’re strong, Samantha. You kick ass. You don’t flinch when someone’s coming at you, and you’ll go back. You’ll always go back, no matter the consequences, if it means protecting someone you love. I am lucky to have you. I am lucky that you love me.”

I was feeling the tears coming. I pulled back, my smile almost taking over my entire face. Holy shit. I didn’t think I could love him more than I did at that moment. “No more lies, right?”

He grinned, laughing softly. “You would’ve thought we had learned, right?”

“Yeah.”

His forehead moved against mine, a gentle brush as he nodded, echoing my word quietly, “Yeah.”

Screwed up or not, I knew we’d be fine. We always would. I was thinking about pulling him down to the bed with me when someone knocked on my door. Mark’s voice sounded through it, slightly hesitant, “Uh…Sam? You have a visitor.”

Mason sat back, still gripping my hand. He asked me, “He’s not talking about Logan?”

That didn’t sound right. Logan didn’t get announced by others. Logan did the announcing. I started to climb out of bed and called out, “I’m coming. I’ll be up in a bit.”

Ten minutes later, still dressed in my pajamas, but refreshed for the day, I stepped into the kitchen, holding Mason’s hand behind me. Malinda looked over, a worry line sticking out from across her forehead.

I frowned. She’d been laughing twenty minutes ago.

I cast Logan a look. He wasn’t paying attention to us. He was standing, staring at whoever was at the front door with a scowl on his face. When he realized we were there, he said, “The code word is strangle. You say it, and I’m there for you. I’m not letting her hurt you again.”

Her? Then I remembered what James said to me after Mason met with the board for Logan’s punishment hearing. He drew me to his vehicle …