Page 94 of Make Them Cry
Another video.
Anotherfuckingdeepfake.
Me. River. Kissing. Tangled in sheets. Her moan, my voice, the bed, the fucking watermark of her old apartment in the background.
Son of a bitch.
Juno gasps. “Gage…”
“I see it,” I grind out. “It’s fake.”
River’s phone buzzes a second later. She blinks down at it mid-conversation, goes pale, and shoots me a panicked look across the café.
I’m already out of the car.
Already storming toward her.
THIRTY-ONE
RIVER
Gage crosses the street like a thunderstorm on legs.
Controlled. Deadly. Hot as sin.
He doesn’t break stride. Doesn’t blink. Doesn’t look anywhere but straight at Mason, like he’s already decided what the outcome of this conversation is going to be.
And judging by the way Mason shifts in his seat like he’s about to shit himself—I’d say he knows it too.
“Gage—” I start to say, rising to meet him, but he’s already there, already beside me, already a wall of heat and muscle and male fury wrapped in tactical calm.
“Step away from her,” Gage says, voice low and firm.
Mason raises his hands. “I’m not here to start anything.”
Gage’s jaw ticks. “Too late.”
His body brushes mine as he shifts between us, shielding me like I’m breakable. And maybe I am. But with him here, I feel anything but.
Mason stands slowly, palms still out. “I didn’t know who else to go to.”
“You had your chance,” Gage snaps. “And you chose Cathedral.”
“I didn’tchooseanything,” Mason bites back. “They came to me. They threatened me. They made it clear—either I gave them access to River’s files or they’d burn my life down.”
I suck in a breath. That… that checks out.
Gage doesn’t budge. “You leaked her credentials.”
“I didn’t use them!” Mason says quickly. “I swear—I just handed over some outdated metadata from an old project. I thought—” He runs a shaky hand through his hair. “I thought if I gave them just enough, they’d leave me alone.”
“They never do,” I say quietly.
Mason’s eyes snap to mine. “I know that now. That’s why I reached out. They want something big. Something I don’t understand. But they’re watching me again. I saw someone outside my place last night.”
Gage growls under his breath. “You’re lucky we don’t leave you out here for them to find.”
“Then don’t,” Mason says, lifting his chin. “Let me help.”
