Page 70 of Mason

“Cursed?” Kade cocked his head. “Why do you say that?”

“Look at the evidence. Lily got kidnapped and almost killed in a high-speed chase. Angel got kidnapped by a psycho twice. Becca got locked in the bathroom with one of Dimitri’s obsessed exes. Sara got beat and held hostage at gunpoint by her ex, and now Jo has been taken. We. Are. Cursed.”

Both his brothers stared at him. There wasn’t any argument against that logic. They were all fucking cursed, and their women paid for it.

Not long after that, the police came and asked their questions, most of which Mason couldn’t answer. At least this detective wasn’t as belligerent and accusing as Harper. Granted, Mason was lying here with a bandage around his head from surgery and more bruises than could be counted. He’d have a scar on his cheek from where the pipe had busted it open.

They wouldn’t tell him anything about Jo. He told them he was her fucking fiancé and they had better start talking, which only made them close up even more.

Once they left, Kade made a few calls.

And Mason’s fear and anger intermingled until he couldn’t tell where one began and the other left off.

A knock on the door disturbed the hushed quiet of the room. Dimitri and Nikoli came in, Mateo and Delia with them. Delia ran right for him, and Mason grunted when the girl landed on top of him.

“Malyshka, Uncle Mason is sick. You can’t be manhandling him.” Viktor tried to pull his daughter off Mason, but the little girl wasn’t budging.

“Hey, Peach.” Mason grinned down at the little girl, trying to show her he was okay. Tears were streaming down her face.

“You wouldn’t wake up.”

“I had to sleep for a little while so my brain could heal.”

“Are you healed,Tio?” Mateo, Kade’s son, peered at him from where he stood next to the bed. Unlike his cousin, he stayed reserved, cautious. And it broke Mason’s heart every time.

He’d been raised and abused by the Mexican cartel Kade had worked to take down. He’d killed the brother of the head of it, and that man in turn had taken Mateo, forcing the hospital staff to tell Angel and his brother the boy had died, being born at only twenty weeks’ gestation.

And as much love and care as the Kincaids gave the boy, he’d bear scars from that time for the rest of his life, and there was nothing they could do about that.

“I’m getting there, kiddo.”

“You promise?” Mateo chewed at his lip, a sign they’d come to realize meant he was stressed out beyond the point of no return.

“Come here, kid.” Mason patted the bed beside him. “I can’t really lift my arms right now, but get your ass up here.”

“Language,” Viktor scolded, but no one paid him any mind. He had a thing about cussing in front of women and children, but they all liked to point out he did it anyway.

Mateo climbed up and sat on the bed beside him, his bright green eyes intense.

“Let me tell you something, and you can take this to the bank. It takes more than an asshat with a pipe to take me down. I’m hurt, but I’m getting better, and when I get out of this bed, I’m going to hunt him down.”

“And kill him.” Mateo’s soft words were accented by the coldness that entered his eyes. It scared the hell out Mason.

“No, Mateo. We don’t kill people. That’s wrong. I’m going to beat the shit out of him, though.”

“He hurt you. He hurt Jo. Why is killing him wrong?TioTomás always killed those who hurt him.”

Tomás happened to be the fucker who’d stolen him, and Mason beat back his rage at the man’s name.

“We don’t kill unless it’s necessary.”

They all turned to see Conner standing there, his jeans and polo shirt looking worn, like he hadn’t changed his clothes in days.

He came into the room, stopping to drop a kiss on Mateo’s and Delia’s heads. “You look like shit,brat.”

“Thank you, wiseass.”

Viktor and Conner, while identical twins, were so dissimilar these days, it was easy to tell them apart. Conner’s hair had grown out until it was shaggy, the black glinting blue in the sun streaming in from the windows. He was leaner than Viktor, but somehow he seemed bigger. Maybe it was the dangerous vibe he gave off.

---