Deception. Betrayal. Mistrust.
It seems the closer Rayne gets to the truth, the more she finds herself wanting to run away from it. It's complex and terrifying-more than she ever fathomed.
New family members, good and bad, pop out at her like a br...
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𝗜t took three months to pin them down.
Mason leisurely stalked into the basement room of one of the mafia warehouses, carefully stepping around his targets. He kept his feet light in this soundproof room, practically a ghost, as he listened to the man and woman bicker in hushed whispers, unable to detect his presence.
"It's your fault, you dumbass," the woman said.
"You're the one who let the kids out," the man argued.
The sound of their frazzled words and worn breaths were like music to his ears as they struggled against the bonds on their ankles and wrists. The man was right: they had made the mistake of keeping their eyes turned away from the children of Baystate Hospital, and because of it, when Mason and his husband had stumbled upon them, the two targets were forced into action.
Three months ago, they had stolen the children and hid, taking Mason's anger with them.
Unfortunately for them, Mason knew better—he knew that they were not lowly enough hitters that their organization ran only out of one location. Mason and Kai had spent the last few months dismantling their program in the state of California until they were led to them directly.
It was as Mason lurked around them like a predator that their plans reached their conclusion.
"Shut up already!" Maria whisper-yelled.
"You know it's them! Those men—!"
"I don't know anything, you nimwit!"
Hector squirmed in his bindings as Mason came to a stop in front of them. Maria shoved her brother with her shoulder, telling him to pull himself together without words. Mason wasn't wearing anything to help him see in the blackness, but he could outline their faces and the shapes of their bodies more than they could with their blindfolds.
Hector was a burly man, stacked with muscle and green eyes that had the ability to haunt a child's nightmares. Maria was skinny and small—like a squirrel trapped in an attic—but it was clear that she was the brains, and her brother was the rapist muscle.
Mason grabbed a metal chair from the corner of the room and dragged it along the floor, allowing the two of them to finally understand that they were never alone like they assumed. Their blind eyes turned to no avail as he placed the chair in front of them.
"Who's there?" Hector called out.
"Show yourself, coward!" Maria demanded.
Mason remained mute.
Sitting backward in the chair, resting his elbows along the seating, he glared at them with interested eyes, wondering why he'd allowed such feeble creatures to be the bearer of his life. He wondered how he'd allowed such simplistic people to be in charge of his trauma and guilt.
"Blindfolds," Mason spoke for the first time.
A small smile touched his lips as Kai ambled from the dark corner of the room, his limp from his still-healing leg present. Mason observed with seductive eyes as his husband rounded each of their forms and slicked their blindfolds from their eyes, revealing the obscurity of the room.
