Page 130 of Mason

No.

And I won’t.

Not until Shelby opens her eyes.

Mia exhales, shaking her head. “She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”

I don’t answer right away.

Because I don’t have an answer.

Not one that makes sense.

Not one that explains what Shelby is to me—what she’s become.

Instead, I turn my head just enough to meet Mia’s eyes. She’s searching me. Studying every broken, ravaged piece of me, like she’s trying to put together a puzzle with too many missing parts.

And then—she softens.

“She’s going to be okay, Mason.” Her voice is quiet, unshakable. “I know she will.”

I wish I could believe that.

I want to.

I turn away, swallowing down the lump in my throat. “I don’t deserve another loss.”

She doesn’t answer immediately, just looks back at Shelby, then sighs.

“You’re not going to lose her, Mason. You’re not going to lose any of us.” Mia doesn’t look at me, just keeps her gaze ahead, her voice steady, even. “I’ve always known, you know.”

“What?” I look at her, confused.

“That you’re my father.”

Everything inside me freezes.

The weight of those words slams into me, so sudden and unexpected I can’t fucking move.

I turn to her, but she’s still staring ahead, like she’s not even aware she just ripped open something inside me.

I clear my throat, working my jaw. “How?”

She lets out a short, humorless laugh. “I overheard them talking when I was twelve.”

My fingers tighten. “Your parents?”

She nods.

“Mom and Dad thought I was asleep,” she says, voice lighter than I expected. “I had snuck out of bed to get something from the kitchen, and I heard them arguing. Mom was telling Dad how grateful she was to him for ‘raising another man’s child as his own.’”

A dry, humorless chuckle escapes her lips. “I stood there in the dark, just… listening.” She shakes her head. “I didn’t understand. I didn’t want to understand. So I just pushed it down. Set it aside. Refused to believe it.”

I let out a slow breath. I don’t know what the fuck to say.

Mia looks down at her hands, flexing her fingers like she’s holding something invisible between them.

“I was an angry kid, Mason.” Her voice is softer now, raw in a way that makes my chest ache. “It was right around the time everything was changing—my body, my mind, my whole fucking life. I was confused, and hearing that? It just made me angrier. At you. At them. At everything. Because I didn’t understand it.”

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