Page 97 of Mason

But I’ve already made her mine in every way that matters.

And if I fail her now—if I let her disappear into the same black hole that’s swallowed too many women in this world—then what the hell am I good for? What kind of man am I?

I couldn’t protect Sophia.

Couldn’t save Tommy.

Almost lost Maxine for good.

But I canget her back.

Iwillget her back.

My shoulder pulses with every heartbeat, but I don’t feel the pain anymore. All I feel is the rage—the kind that lives under your skin and sets fire to your ribs. The kind that doesn’t rest until it’s repaid in full.

Marco finishes wrapping the wound, cinches it tight.

“You’re gonna need stitches,” he says.

“I’ll bleed later,” I mutter.

29

SHELBY

The van is a coffin on wheels, and I’m the body rattling inside it.

Every reckless turn sends me slamming into the cold metal walls, my bound hands useless against the brutal physics of it. My shoulder collides first, then my hip, then my skull—a sickening thud that leaves my vision blurring at the edges.

I won’t give them the fucking satisfaction of screaming.

The rope around my wrists burns, biting deeper with every shift, but pain is a distant thing now—secondary to the sharp, biting clarity of survival.

Because I know what it means to suffer.

I know what it means to be powerless.

I thought I was done with that.

When David Eddy died, I thought I was finally free. Free of the torment. Free of the shadow that had stalked me, poisoned my life, turned every breath I took into a countdown to the next cruel game he wanted to play.

His death was supposed to be the end of my suffering.

But I was so goddamn naïve.

Because here I am. Bound and helpless.

Again.

And this time, it’s not some abusive, manipulative bastard from my past pulling the strings.

It’s the world that Mason Ironside exists in.

A world I never really understood—until now.

A phone rings.

I cock my head, straining to hear, every muscle in my body tense with focus. One of my kidnappers—the one with the scar across his eyebrow—snatches it up, pressing it hard to his ear.

---