Page 69 of Bad Boy Billionaire Protector

“I’m not leaving her side,” Mason replied.

Dad squeezed my hand. “He takes such good care of you, sweetheart. You’ve found a good man in him.”

I beamed at them. Of course, no one would have imagined that this was the way my family would be introduced to Mason for the first time, but he had clearly won them over.

Later that day, I was moved to the general medical floor since I was in stable condition and Mason sat with me. He had time to catch me up on everything that had been going on when I was in a coma.

“So, what’s been happening?”

“Well, Professor Owens is in jail along with other members of the inner circle.”

I let out a deep breath. “So, it’s finally over? I can move on with my life? What a relief.”

“Yeah. It’s all over.”

“I don’t think I want to go back to Stanford to finish my studies.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“There are too many bad memories there. I need to move on somewhere else. What about you? What happens with you now?

“I have a shit ton of paperwork to complete for the case and I have to go back to my home office to do it. I’ll no longer be Christos Ianthos, grad student at Stanford. I’ll go back to my regular job, finishing paperwork and carrying out interviews for the case.”

I looked at Mason, suddenly scared that this was going to be the last I saw of him.

“Don’t worry. It’s just temporary. I’ll be back in a couple weeks. And we’ll talk every day. I promise.

I heard a commotion at the door, voices speaking to each other. I looked up.

Adam was standing in the doorway.

I blanched, feeling like I was about to pass out.

Mason stood up, shocked. “Adam! What are you doing here? They let you out of Witness Protection already? You should have called me!”

He got up and hugged Adam, who held on to him for a long time.

“Hey bro, don’t tell Dad or Hermione yet. I want to be able to surprise them.”

What? What did I just hear? They’re brothers? What the hell…?I couldn’t wrap my head around what I was seeing and hearing.

“I won’t say anything. I’ll let you take the lead. Man, it’s so good to finally see you.”

Adam hugged Mason again before he turned to me and smiled. “Amber.”

“Adam.”

I smiled back at him and we stared at one another, drinking in the sight of each other. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes. Adam was alive. He was here. His eyes had dark circles around them and his hair was cut short. He looked a little older, but underneath it all, he was still the same handsome man.

He slowly walked towards me, sat on the side of my bed, and hugged me for the longest time. He shuddered as he tried to hold himself together, but pretty soon the tears were rolling down his cheeks. Then I started crying. I could only feel joy, grief, relief, and guilt all tangled in a mess of emotion. But no matter what, it felt so good to be in his arms again. I never thought I’d get to see him again. I sobbed loudly as I held on to him, wanting to comfort him as he let it all out.

I saw Mason’s face as I held on to Adam. He looked stricken. And guilty. And uncertain. It suddenly hit me that I had heard correctly. They were brothers. He had stolen me from Adam and I didn’t think he had told him that we were together yet. My heart leapt into my mouth. I didn’t know what to do.

Adam pulled back and held my hand.

“I’m so sorry to have put you through all of this. I know you’re probably wondering why I faked my death. The FBI asked me to do it to help with their investigation into Professor Owens. I had been doing some amateur sleuthing because one of my friends had died under suspicious circumstances, and I knew it was related to The Order. So, when I came to Stanford, I did my best to get into the inner circle to find out what happened to my friend. I caught the attention of the FBI and they asked me to fake my death because the professor suspected that I knew something about all the deaths. The FBI wanted me to be a key witness when it came time to prosecute the professor but it was unsafe to stay around the school in the meantime. It was my involvement that made them bring Mason in from the San Diego office to go undercover. I had kept him in the loop since this was FBI business and I didn’t know what to do. Mason and I have been in contact the whole time, but no one else knew I was alive. Not my mom, or my dad or my half-sister, Hermione.”

“So, you’re brothers?”

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