Page 90 of Broken Empire

Hopefully,Masondoesn’t freak out too much when he comes back and finds out thatI’mgone.Ijust need a change of scenery right about now.

MASON

Ilie awake in bed,in the early hours of the morning, just watching my girl as she sleeps peacefully.Seeingher in my arms again is one sight thatI’llnever get tired of.

Justthinking about how many timesIcame close to losing her always fucks with my head, so this moment of peacefulness means more to me than anything else in the world.I’mjust hoping and praying thatIcan help her get better and keep her cheerful for the rest of our lives.AllIwant is for her to be filled with nothing but happiness.Idon’t want her to feel an ounce of sadness ever again.

Yesterday, for her birthday,Itried to do everythingIcould to make it special, and she seemed to enjoy it a lot.Itmade the constant ache that lives in my chest lessen a little to see her excited and delighted, as she enjoyed all her gifts.

Ihaven’t seen her that carefree in a very long time.Itkills me every timeIsee the sadness in her eyes and again whenIsee her struggling to keep it together.IwishIcould do something to make her forget all the things that are hurting her.

Eventhough she was smiling, things were still a bit tense between her and everyone else, me included, whenever she remembered that she was still mad at all of us.

Ihave to give her props though for being such a good girl and pushing it all aside for a few hours to enjoy her birthday.I’mglad that we were able to make it something for her to remember.

Thoughmy main aim was making her happy,Idid have another reason to keep her occupied yesterday.Ihad other things going on behind the scenes, but she didn’t need to know that.

Everythingwas finally in place, as it should be.Wefinally gave everything we had over to theFBI.JustasIpredicted, it turned into a shitshow pretty fast, andIwanted to keep her away from all that.

Logically,Iknow thatIcan’t keep her sheltered from the news forever, butIwanted her to enjoy the day without my father andEmiliaovershadowing it.Ilet out a quiet sigh asIthink about everything thatIhave to do today.It’sdefinitely going to be a long-ass day.

I’vealready gotten reports from my men that there have been reporters camped out outside theKingmansion where my father lived, since the story broke late yesterday afternoon.

Theonly reason they aren’t camped out in front of my gate is because they don’t know we live here yet.Imade sure to hide the purchase behind shell corporations, so it wouldn’t link back to me.

Idon’t want to have to put my girl through having to deal with those asshole reporters.Though,Ihave no doubt that sooner or later, they’ll figure it out.Ihave protective measures in place so they won’t be able to bother her in any way.

Thelast updateIheard from my men was that my father was already picked up by the feds and taken down to their offices, where he’ll no doubt be placed in jail for his crimes.Thereis no possible way he should be able to walk away after all the evidenceWinter’sdad,Aiden, gave them.

Onthe bright side of things, there is no way he’s getting out of there to ever be a free man again.Weall know that the law can be fucked up sometimes and people who should be locked away for eternity end up getting out.Inmy father’s case, they won’t have the time to decide whether he’s guilty or not because he’s going to be dead way before then.

Wintermoves in my arms, making a cute little kitten sound as she stretches a little and turns away from me to snuggle into her pillow.Asmile forms on my face asIcan’t help but think how adorable she is.She’sstill asleep, which is a good thing, becauseIneed to take care of some things soon.

Ilook over at the clock on the bedside table and see that it’s already eight a.m.It’stime to get moving.Ilean over her to give her a kiss on the forehead beforeIquietly get off the bed.

Ibrush my teeth, shower, and get dressed, being as quiet asIcan.WhenI’mdone,Ihead downstairs and into the kitchen to see thatGrayandHunterare already up.They’reboth sitting at the table eating breakfast.

“Goodmorning, dickheads,”Isay to them both.

“Morning, asshole.Gladto see you’re still alive and not looking any worse for wear,”Hunter, the ass, says, laughing.

“Morning, bro,”Graysays.

“Stopstarting shit this early in the day, you ass!”Igrumble atHunter.

“Ican’t help it.It’slike the only settingIhave when it comes to you.”

“Luckyfucking me then,”Isay, rolling my eyes.

“Duh.Youshould be honored by my presence.”

“Whythe fuck me?Noone is impressed with your ass.Don’tforget, your sister currently hates your ass too.”

“Ugh!Don’tremind me, asshole,”Huntersays, pouting. “You’repretty dressed up this morning.Goingsomewhere?”

“Yes.Tothe office.Ineed to oversee some shit.”

“Youneed backup or anything?”

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