Page 122 of Pucked Around and Found Out

“Please. Let me do one thing right.’

I stare at him for a long moment.

Thinking about Xaden in custody. About him being helpless while something happens tonight. It shouldn’t be like this, I should be able to trust my own brother and take his word but Mase isn’t the person I once knew. He isn’t the brother who would hold me while I cried over our father being absent and not having our mom around.

He’s no longer the guy who would make sure I’m okay and try to cheer me up if I had a bad day. He’s the guy who turned his back on me and left me to rot in hell for a year so he could pretend like he didn’t take the lives of four innocent people. He’s now the guy who let the world believe his little sister drove drunk and let everyone make me into a fucking meme.

“How do we get out without anyone noticing?” I ask.

Relief floods his face. “The same way I got in. Window. There's a trellis. My car is parked two blocks away, I had someone leave it there this morning.”

I look toward my door, hearing the voices downstairs still discussing strategy. If I leave now, they might not notice for twenty minutes. Maybe longer.

“Okay,” I say. “But I'm taking my phone. And if anything feels wrong⁠—”

“You call your protector,” Masen finishes. “I know.”

He moves to the window and opens it carefully. The climb down is terrifying, my hands shaking, my pregnant body making balance harder.

But I make it.

Masen follows, moving slower, clearly still hurt. We run through the tree line, keeping to the shadows. Two blocks away is a car. We climb in and Masen starts driving.

“Twenty minutes,” he says. “That's all this will take.”

The mansion looms ahead, my childhood home, dark and empty. It looks more like a glamorous prison now. This place was once my home, my safe haven and now when I look at it, all I see is a cage. Steven and Masen both chose to lie to me about who they really were. I never saw the evil inside each of them until it was too late.

Masen parks around back and we go in through the kitchen entrance.

“The study,” he says, leading the way.

Every instinct screams that this is wrong, that I should turn and run. But I follow him anyway.

Through familiar hallways. Past family photos that feel like lies. The smiles aren’t real, they can’t be. How could the three of us look so happy when two of them were living a lie. Well, I was wearing rose colored glasses and thinking the world was my oyster.

I thought my life was perfect, I was so excited to go to college with the guys and Kenna and finally be able to be with Kellan. I had it all planned out. We would marry after we both finished school, I would travel with him while he played hockey for the NHL and we would have a couple kids. KennaDee would be their godmother, Mase and Cas the godfathers.

It was a fucking lie!

The study door is open. Masen walks in first, heading straight for the painting behind Dad's desk.

I stay in the doorway, watching.

This room has always felt cold and devoid of any warmth but now, knowing I’ll never see my father sitting behind the desk it feels… forsaken. Many times I would pass by this room and see my father sitting at that desk and feel a sense of pride. I was so proud of him for chasing his dream of becoming a senator. He worked tirelessly and always remained focused. I remember thinking Mase was so much like our dad, he was driven and always pushing to be better at hockey and never once settled. Steven always said, to be the best, you have to beat the best.

He removes the painting revealing the safe, then places his thumb on the scanner. He leans forward for the retinal scan. The safe clicks open.

“See?” he says, reaching inside. “Told you⁠—”

He turns to face me.

And pulls out a gun instead of documents.

My blood turns to ice.

“Masen—”

“There are no documents,” he says, his expression shifting from desperate to something cold and hateful. “No information about Xaden. No rescue. Just all Dad’s records.”