Page 68 of Mason

“No. The last thing I remember is giving Jo her birthday cupcake, and then it all gets fuzzy. Tell me what the fuck happened.”

“Keith said you’d called him to come over, that it was an emergency. It took him about two hours to reach you, though. The roads were bad. He pulled up to the drive and found Gage sprawled out, lying in the snow beside the front porch.”

“Gage?”

“One of Jackson’s men.”

Mason nodded, not bothering to hide the wince. He had a perpetual headache.

“The front door was wide open, and he found you lying right inside, a bloody mess. He called 911 and then he called me. Someone beat the shit out of you with a pipe. They really went at your head. You had cranial bleeding, cracked skull, not to mention they had to remove your spleen. Fucker kicked you over and over. It’s a wonder your kidneys didn’t get damaged. I’m guessing he knocked you out with the pipe first, or you’d have fought back.”

Mason didn’t remember any of it.

“And Jo?”

“She was gone from the house. She’s the first person Keith looked for.”

“He took her.”

“Yeah,brat, he took her.”

“How long?”

“Counting today, she’s been missing for nine days.”

Mason started cussing, and his blood pressure spiked.

“Calm down, Mason. If you don’t relax, they’ll knock you out again. You’re healing from major injuries.”

“I need out of here. I have to go find her.”

“No, you’re going to keep your ass right where it’s at.” Viktor laid a gentle hand on his chest. “You can barely sit up. The doctor said you’re going to have to relearn to walk, at a minimum. You’re in no shape to go anywhere.”

“I can’t just sit here while that bastard has her!”

“Yes, you can.” Kade came into the room. “I know what you’re going through better than anyone. Angel was taken twice. I had to sit there and let the people around me work so we could find her. And we are working, Mason. I’ve got every single person in our firm working on this. I pulled everyone from their assignments.”

“I called Conner. He’s on his way back from Chicago. Took me several days to get in touch with him, but he’s coming home. He can track anyone, Mason.”

Viktor was right. If anyone could find her, it was Conner.

But sitting here, helpless? He wasn’t sure he could take that either.

“What do the police know?”

“Forensically, nothing. I had the firm go over Dimitri’s security feed. We see the guy walk up to the door, but his face is covered in a ski mask. We saw him hit you, and then he went inside. We switched to the inside cameras, but there isn’t a really good one at the angle you fell, so we didn’t see that much. He came back out twenty minutes later, carrying Jo over his shoulder. He didn’t get into a car. He walked into the woods. I’m assuming he had a car waiting on the next street over, as you can cut through the woods and come out on the other side of the neighborhood.”

“We need a better fucking compound. One with walls.”

“I’m agreeing with you there,brat. We’ve already talked about it. Having each other close is great, but we need better security than our neighborhood currently provides. We’re discussing options.”

“The police will be by this morning,” Kade told him. “I kept them away as long as I can, but they need to question you.”

“I don’t remember shit.”

“I know, and the doctors aren’t surprised at your memory loss, given the brain injury. It might come back, but don’t push it. You can do more damage if you do.”

Mason wanted to beat his hand against the headboard, but lifting it proved to be too hard, and he collapsed back against the pillow. “Fuck me.”

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