Chapter Fifty-Three
Mason, Kelley, Lee and Marella had moved to St. John's City a week earlier having opted to rent a house instead so they could all live together. The move had been an emotional one for Carey, as she cried and hugged each one of them, except Lee. He'd patted Carey's back until they all burst out laughing.
“Are you settling in okay?”
Mason shifted in his seat and pressed the phone closer to his ear with his shoulder as he changed Grace’s diaper. “Yes Mom, we’ll be fine.”
“Have you found a nanny yet?”
“Jesse’s sending over four vetted resumes for us to interview.”
Carey sighed audibly. “Vetted? Are you guys the mafia now?”
Mason laughed and Grace’s eyes widened slightly at the sound. “No, we’re just being careful. Charles threatened Kelley and he’s not taking any chances, especially with Grace here.”
“Call me if you need anything or if Grace needs anything.”
“We’re fine, really. I love you, stop worrying about us. The only thing lacking here is my sex life.” Mason closed his eyes the moment the words left his mouth.
“Dear God, Mason, your sex life? That’s what got you a daughter.”
“She’ll need siblings, Mom. I’m just being realistic.”
Carey started to laugh. “You almost had me, Mason. Take care of my little angel. I love you too.”
The phone call ended and Mason smiled as he put the phone down on the changing station and finished dressing Grace. “Grandma doesn’t know what it’s like not having a sex life at eighteen, does she?”
Grace gurgled and Mason picked her up. “Yeah, you won’t know either for at least thirty years.”
Lee started to laugh from behind him. “Good luck with that one.”
“I’m sure Jesse can find me a gun, an untraceable one.”
Lee walked into Grace’s room and took her from Mason. “Is someone ready to eat?”
Grace smiled and her little hand reached out to touch Lee’s nose. “I’d say that’s a yes.”
Lee left the room with Grace in his arms and Mason could hear him talking to her all the way down to the kitchen. There he heard Marella as she took over with Grace while Lee got her food ready. Lee preferred to do it himself since Marella’s cooking could poison a half-starved hyena.
Mason had hugged the toilet for two days after eating the lunch Marella had prepared one day and he swore that day never to let Marella near the kitchen except to make coffee.
Mason paused in front of Kelley’s room, his door was ajar and he could hear him talking inside. “I know it’s not ideal but it’ll have to do … yes authorize it … I don’t care about the money, Blaire, I want it done … have Jane call me … yes, we’re going to burn their system to the ground … I’ll call you when it’s done on my side … I have to go …”
Mason took a step backwards and hurried back into his room and raked a hand through his hair. What the hell was Kelley busy with and more importantly, was it legal? Blaire was the harder twin, less conscious of morality and more impressionable than Blain. Kelley knew it too. Blaire suffered from a hero complex when it came to Kelley, thought Kelley was the greatest thing since sliced bread and would never say no to him, no matter what it was for.
“Hey …”
Kelley leaned in his doorway and Mason turned to face him. “Hey. I was just about to go down for dinner.”
“You want to hit some social scenes with me?”
“Sure, Lee owes me a babysitting stint.”
Kelley smiled and nodded his head. “We’ll eat dinner first before Lee slaughters us both.”
“Kelley …”
“Yeah?”
“Everything’s fine, right? You’d tell me if it wasn’t, right?”
Kelley smiled again, his face transforming from menacing to friendly. “Everything’s fine, Mason.”
They ate dinner at the dining table and Marella put Grace to bed. Mason and Kelley cleaned the kitchen while Lee lounged on the sofa flicking through the channels. Mason wasn’t entirely convinced by Kelley’s answer but other than telling him that he’d listened in on his conversation Mason had to take his word for it.
He was slightly pissed off that Kelley wasn’t sharing whatever he was doing but he’d give him time. Sometimes Kelley did things like this, went off on his own and gave orders to the underlings and only told them after the fact, after he’d gained the success. He doubted it was something that would ever change with Kelley.
“Ready to go?”
“Let’s hit the streets.”
They drove in Kelley’s Escalade and Mason looked out of the window as Kelley took back streets to the club scene in St. John’s City. They’d been there for three weeks and classes started on Monday. Kelley’s started on Thursday and he’d watch Grace until they found the proper nanny.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Mason turned to glance at Kelley. “Make it a grand and I might feel like sharing.”
Kelley laughed as Mason grinned at him. “Look at you trying to shake me down. I’m almost proud, Mason James.”
“Piss off, everything I know about shakedowns I learned from you.”
Kelley’s face took on a serious look and he shifted his gaze from the road to Mason’s before focusing on the road again. “Kelley … what the hell’s going on? And don’t give me that bullshit that everything’s fine.”
“Mase …”
Mason gave Kelley a look. “Don’t bullshit me, Kelley.”
Kelley sighed and Mason could see him having an internal conversation and he didn't like being excluded. “I’m working on acquiring a tech company, they do cloud hosting. Blaire got into their system earlier today and planted a bug.”
“So you’re going to bankrupt them and then buy them out?”
“Not exactly. I’m going to ransom their software and deal with the CEO, buy out his shares which will give me a seat on the board. I have some stuff on him, a whole folder actually. We’re busy negotiating the deal.”
Mason looked wide-eyed at Kelley. “Who are you?”
“JenCorp is part of my long-term plan for Yorkdare Bay.”
“How? Does Lee know?”
