Page 147 of House of Payne
There’s a bright light in my field of vision, and it takes a few tries for it to clear. Slowly, I blink and lift my hand. I run it over my face, pausing when I feel a small bruise over my left eye. I squeeze my eyes shut and think past the pounding in my ears. A few moments later, my eyes fly open, and a gasp falls from my lips.
I remember being dragged into a room with a single light bulb, and a cacophony of voices. I have a vague recollection of someone yanking back my head and pulling off a blindfold.
Did I look into a phone, or was that a dream?
Why would they make you look into a phone? That doesn’t make any sense. They had Noah and your dad, remember?
I’m on my feet and across the room before the room finishes shifting into place.
My eyes skim over the bars on the windows, the adjoining bathroom, and the batch of clothes on a king-sized bed.
Somebody has been expecting me.
Out of one cage and into another.
Where are Noah and my dad?
“What the fuck?” I let my hands fall to my sides and press my ear to the door.
Silence.
“Okay, don’t panic,” I mutter. “This is a mistake. I’m nobody. I’m…”
Mason’s latest conquest.
Shit.
Why hadn’t I thought of that before I raced out to play hero and save my dad?
Because you know Mason would’ve taken some convincing, and time was of the essence?
Except if there’s one thing I know about Mason, other than the fact he’s a stubborn and infuriating ass, it’s that he doesn’t like being made a fool off. On principle alone, he might’ve helped me save my father and Noah.
Or at least that’s what I tell myself.
But after our last conversation, I’m not so sure.
It’s one thing for him to step in where you’re involved, you’re an investment, after all, and I doubt he wants that going sideways. Your dad and Noah, on the other hand…
I give a slight shake of my head and try to push the thought away.
Whatever is unfolding between Mason and me, he wouldn’t have gone out on a limb for my dad.
Not after he warned me about the world he lives in.
I bang my fists against the door. “Let me out. I’m not who you think I am. I’m just trying to pay off my father’s debt.Please.”
My pleas are met with more silence, and I feel like I’m going to be sick.
I bang harder. “What did you do with my father and Noah? You can’t do anything to them. They’re not a part of this.”
The words sound false even to me.
The second my father signed that contract, a chain of events was set in motion, and the minute I made a deal with Mason, I made sure therewas no going back.
I’m the reason we’re in this mess.
Panic and fear claw their way inside me as I yell myself hoarse. Over and over, I bang on the door until pain races up and down my arm.
