“Yes,” Julian said.
“No,” Cole replied at the same time. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Julian. “I understand that you care for her, but she belongs to me. I make the decisions when it comes to whether she stays or goes in a situation like this. Mason or I do.”
But Mason got the feeling he wouldn’t be making any decisions when it came to Kitten after the next few moments.
Julian sighed and seemed to consider Cole’s words, and after a long moment he assented. “All right. I can see there seems to be a proper bond in place now. I will step back. Please understand my prying is only because I care about the people involved.”
“And the prying I get the feeling you’re about to do?” Cole asked, his voice tight. “Is that because you care?”
“Yes. It is. I care quite deeply about all of you, though Mason will likely blame me for outing him.”
He couldn’t help it. Sarcasm was his shield and his sword in times like this. “Don’t worry about it, Lodge. I’m pretty sure I outed myself when dear old Dad caught me with my tongue down the boy next door’s throat.”
“Mason,” Cole said, his voice a warning. “I wasn’t the boy next door and there’s no place for you to be a smart-ass right now.”
Mason shrugged. Cole wouldn’t care to discipline him after Julian pounded whatever nail he had into Mason’s coffin.
God, he wished Kitten wasn’t here to see it, but she should know what her Master was really like. She should know that when the chips were down, Cole wouldn’t choose them. Or maybe he would. Maybe he would choose Kitten because she was a female and loving her wasn’t as much trouble as loving another man.
He would do it. When Cole struck him down this time, he would take his cue from his Master. He would find some woman and settle down because living a half life was better than living in the purgatory he’d been in for years. He would ignore his impulses and never set foot in a freaking club again. He would force himself to be normal because being himself always got him in trouble. He would move far away and after a while, he would be able to forget.
“Cole, I’m very sorry to say I was right about Mason. Remember when I told you I thought your prior actions would come back to haunt you?” Julian asked, settling in behind his desk. In the afternoon light he looked something like a mob boss about to request a hit on a former employee. He had just the right look of regret coupled with a fierce will.
“I do, but you’re wrong. Mason and I might not be one hundred percent fine, but I’m going to make it up to him.” Cole gave him the faintest hint of a smile, but Mason saw the affection in his eyes.
Oh, god, that made it so much worse. He could see everything he could have had. He could have had the right to walk over there and take his place with them, but fate seemed to have found a way to cut off his balls again.
“When you asked Chase and Ben to look into the situation, they found some problems with Mason’s story,” Julian began.
“Big problems, buddy,” Chase said with a sigh. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out about the bank accounts? You couldn’t seriously imagine I wouldn’t be able to link them to you. For god’s sake, they’re in your name, Mason.”
“Bank accounts?” He had one. It had roughly five hundred bucks in it. He’d used all the rest of his money. He’d had a nest egg at one point in time, but he’d run through it. Living in the city wasn’t cheap. He didn’t even have a savings account anymore. They’d shut it down due to poverty or some shit.
Chase rolled his eyes and took a seat across from Julian. “Yes, multiple accounts. Cole, Mason told us he was broke but according to my calculations, he’s worth roughly one point five million at this point.”
“What?” Mason couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Cole frowned. “Yes, I’d like to understand how that happened. Mason, why would you lie about that?”
And there it was. Cole stared at him with that pious, never-done-anything-wrong look in his eyes. Judgment. Cole was damn good at judging him and Mason was always found wanting. He wasn’t about to cry and defend himself this time. “Why would I lie? Because I’m good at it. Really, it’s a hobby of mine.”
“No,” Julian replied. “You’re quite bad at it or you would have known that Chase would find those accounts and the man who deposited the money into those accounts quite quickly.”
Now that he’d accepted the inevitable, it was kind of fun to see it play out. It was like a bad play and he didn’t even know his lines. “Oh, I’m really interested in finding out who gave me one and a half million out of the kindness of his heart.”
“It wasn’t kindness, was it?” Julian asked. “It was all about business. Cole, are you having trouble with leaks in your organization? Is someone working behind the scenes to wrestle the company away from you?”
The room seemed to drop about fifty degrees with Julian’s question. Holy shit. This was about Cole’s company. His baby. His legacy from his parents. If Cole believed Mason was trying to hurt Roberts Corp, he would stop at nothing to destroy him.
“Yes,” Cole replied quietly. “I find myself in a fight I didn’t even know was happening. I just recently learned that my minor stockholders are being approached and convinced to sell to seemingly various buyers but they’re all shells of a bigger entity.”
Shit. “Someone’s trying to become the biggest stockholder so they can take your seat?”
Whoever it was, the minute they gained the majority share, they could take Cole’s place as president according to the bylaws of the company. All a person needed was majority stock and then the president would call a meeting of the board and they would very likely take over the CEO position as well. Whoever it was couldn’t force Cole off the board, but Roberts Corp would effectively cease to be his company.
“Dad took the company public because we needed capital. I’ve always meant to buy back that stock and become privately held again, but the timing wasn’t right. After what happened with Emily, I threw myself back into work and I needed the money to buy the properties and the companies I wanted to take over,” Cole explained.
Mason had followed it all in the business journals for a while. He’d looked for every article that even vaguely mentioned the company. Cole had gone on several raids of smaller companies, swooping down to liquidate and take apart his competitors. “Do you think someone you gutted is looking for revenge?”
Cole shook his head. “No. This is about a piece of land I own in Colorado. It’s a jewel of a property.”
Shit. “The mall property? The one the board wanted to use for retail space?”
He’d negotiated the deal himself. He’d bought up land from small farms and one large ranch that had gone under. It was big enough to rival the Mall of America. It could be a tourist destination. It could also ruin the land and all the land around it.
“Mason, your acting skills have gotten much better,” Julian said, his fingers steepled as he regarded Mason. “Are you trying to tell Cole you didn’t plan this? You were his lawyer for years. You would know where to hit him. You would know exactly what a man needed to take over that company.”
He would. He would absolutely be the person to conspire with if one wanted to take over Roberts Corp. No one knew it like he had. No one else knew the ins and outs of the business and more importantly just how to keep under Cole’s radar until it was too late for him to do anything about it.
It was a neat trap. “Who did I get this money from?”
“Do you know a Robert Hays?” Julian asked. “I can see from the look on your face that you do.”
Bob Hays was a board member. Mason had worked with him for years. Hays had worked with Cole’s father and he always took a hard line when it came to profit. He was one of the members who protested when Cole wanted to spend money to clean up a property or to cede land to the government for preservation. He’d once tried to convince Cole to send in hunters to kill off any possible evidence of endangered species in one particularly lar
ge lot of forest land. He was a shark, but he’d always been loyal to Cole. “Yeah, I know him.”
“He sent you five payments over the last year. Did it take you that long to figure out exactly how you wanted to take your revenge? Did you come up with the plan or did Bob?” Julian asked, his eyes hawkish.
It wouldn’t do him any good to respond. He had no doubt that Julian could prove everything. And yet, he couldn’t help himself. “I didn’t come up with anything and I don’t know how that account came to have my name on it.”
Cole stepped away from Kitten and walked to Julian’s desk. “Can I see this account?”
Julian gestured to his laptop. “Chase’s file is right there. I’ll forward it to you, but you can read the highlights now. I think you’ll agree it’s quite informative.”
Julian ceded his chair and allowed Cole to peruse the file. The room went quiet while Cole read the damning items. Kitten found her way to Mason and suddenly she was standing beside him, wrapping her arms around him.
One last hug. It was all he would get from her. It was stupid, but he gripped her so tight and wished he had a private moment with her. He would kiss her and memorize her so when he found his perfectly bland vanilla woman who couldn’t know him, he would be able to remember the one woman who could.
“It’s going to be all right,” Kitten whispered.
He shook his head, utterly unable to speak. God, he wanted her. He wished he’d never met her because now he would mourn two loves, and grieving over Cole had damn near killed him.
“Mason, is any of this true?” Cole asked finally.
Mason disentangled himself from Kitten and put a bit of distance between them. He didn’t want Cole to associate Kitten with him any more than he already would. She deserved a good life, and Mason couldn’t give it to her. Hell, Cole would likely lose a bundle fighting this takeover, but Mason had no doubts that he would make another fortune if he had to. It was simply who Cole was. “Are you asking me if I wanted revenge on you?”
“I already knew that, but we can start there.” Cole’s voice was so wretchedly calm, as though he didn’t really care about the outcome of Mason’s answer.
“Yes. I wanted revenge on you. I wanted to break you. I wanted to make your life hell, Cole.” It was nothing less than the truth.
“Mason!” Kitten gasped as she shook her head. “Mason, you can’t mean that.”
Cole stood. “Of course he can, pet. Mason and I talked briefly about this last night before you joined us. I told you in the beginning that this wouldn’t be easy. I hurt Mason. I nearly destroyed him. I understand his need for revenge.”
Kitten’s eyes welled with tears. “Master, Mason wouldn’t do this.”
She didn’t know him very well. “I intended to steal you away, Kitten. I was going to drive a wedge between you and the Master so you would leave with me when I was ready to go. I was going to make him feel his loneliness for years to come.”
“You weren’t very good at it.” Cole chuckled a little. “I gave you every opportunity to drive that wedge because I was so hesitant with her. So why did you smooth things over every single time? Are you incompetent, Mason? Did you think giving me good advice about how to love her would somehow make her go with you?”
He couldn’t even get revenge right. He was a pathetic waste. Every time he’d try, he would see what she needed and it wasn’t to be used as a pawn in a game. Hell, if he was honest with himself, he’d just wanted to come home after a few days. He’d wanted to forget everything but how much he loved them.
Cole came to stand right in front of him, his big body blocking out everything else. “Mason, I want you to look me in the eye and answer my question. Did you conspire with Bob Hays to take Roberts Corp away from me?”
He brought his eyes up and was ready to tell his Master to shove it up his ass. He couldn’t. He just couldn’t. “No, I did not, Master.”
“All right.” Cole put a hand on his shoulder. “I need you to help me figure out who’s trying to set you up. Whoever set up that account is very likely the person who’s selling me out.”
Mason felt Kitten’s arms go around him again, but he was dazed. What had just happened?
Julian had the faintest hint of a smile on his face. “Cole, are you telling me you don’t believe the evidence Chase discovered?”
“I’m telling you that I believe Mason.” Cole turned back to him. “Are you still planning on trying to take Kitten from me, love?”
Mason shook his head. “I can’t handle her myself, Master.”
It was nothing less than the truth. He didn’t even want to handle her all by himself. He wanted his family. He wanted Cole and Kitten and a bunch of insane children who would make his life hell and worth living. Hope welled inside him and it felt so much better than anything he’d felt before.
Cole stepped up and gripped Mason by the nape of his neck, bringing their foreheads together. “I will never choose anyone or anything over you again. Not my pride or my honor. Certainly not myself. I make this vow to you both. You deserve your revenge, Mason, but I’m asking you to forego it. I’m asking for your forgiveness because I can’t live without you.”
Mason let go of his anger because it had nothing on the love he felt. “I forgive you, Master. I love you so much.”
Cole wrapped him in a hug and he felt Kitten at his back. He breathed deep, trying not to cry in front of Julian, but it was hard because he’d finally come home.
Cole released him and covered his mouth in a swift kiss. “And you’ll have to talk to our sub. She thought we were going to pimp her out to other Doms this afternoon.”
Just like that his rage was back. He whirled on Kitten. “What the hell?”
She flushed prettily. “Master, it was in our contract.”
“You’re getting a new fucking contract.” He wasn’t going to share her with anyone. He was a deep believer in monogamy between a man, his boyfriend, and their chosen female. She would have to toe the line on that dictate.
“When you think about it, I really should be punished.” Kitten bit her gorgeous bottom lip as she thought. “I think figging is the only way to go.”
Oh, he was going to find the biggest piece of ginger he could and shove it right up her pretty little asshole. And she would love it. He couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re going to be the death of me, gorgeous girl.”
He wouldn’t leave her until death. He would stay by her side every moment he was alive.
Cole turned to Julian with a sigh. “You’re a bastard. You know that, right?”
Julian shrugged a little. “You needed a push.”
What did that mean? “So there isn’t an account with my name on it?”
Chase yawned a little as though he was bored with the whole thing now. “Oh, it’s there. I just figured out you didn’t know a thing about it about five minutes in. No one with access to millions lives in that rattrap.”
“You’re far too impulsive to have pulled off something like this,” Julian said.
“No,” Cole replied. “He’s incredibly smart. If he wanted to, he could do this. He’s one of the only people who could. The question is who actually did it? And why would they want me to think Mason was involved?”
Cole believed him. He really believed him. Cole had chosen him this time even after he’d admitted he wanted revenge. Even in the face of all the evidence against him.
Julian was a bastard. “He knew I was innocent and he set this whole thing up.”
Julian didn’t even bother to look ashamed. “Like I said. You both needed a push. Cole needed to confront his poor choices, and Mason, you needed to understand that Cole has changed. I won’t have Kitten in a dysfunctional household. Now you’re functional.”
Kitten sniffled a little and then Julian found himself with an armful of Kitten. “Thank you, Master Julian.”
He seemed uncomfortable for a moment, but his arms went around her, too. “You’re welcome, dear. You know I’ll do anything
for my family.”
Cole smiled as he stood with Mason, giving him a wink. “Well, you might have to house this portion of your family here in The Club if I lose everything.” He sobered a bit as he looked down at Mason. “You should know I’ve got to try anything I can. I can’t lose the company, Mason. If I do, the new CEO will likely develop that land and it will ruin Bliss and my lodge. I need you to understand.”
Understand that Bliss had to be saved? That Cole would risk their lavish lifestyle to save their friends and one of the most unique places Mason had ever been to? Oh, he understood. “You have to put every dime we have into this fight, Master. No matter what the outcome.”
Because a Master, a true Master, sacrificed for the ones he loved and he made up for his mistakes.
Masters…
The idea came to him in a flash of pure insight. “I know how to save Bliss and the company.”
Chapter Eighteen
“How could you?” Cole turned down the lane that would lead him back to the house. He glanced down at the clock and was grateful that he had at least an hour before the Bliss crew would be back. Of course, if Mason had his way, he would have several people from Bliss constantly up his ass. “Do you have any idea what they’ll do to me?”
Mason’s grin showed through the rearview mirror. “They’ll save your ass. That’s what they’ll do. Hey, I managed to get all three of them to agree. Do you know how hard that is? I had to play Stefan Talbot off Seth Stark.”
Kitten laughed from her place on Mason’s lap. They had been making out in the backseat from the moment they’d left The Club. Mason had been all over her, but Cole couldn’t blame him for that. “Mason didn’t really make it happen. He just had the brilliant idea. Georgia did all the work. She knows how to deal with men.”
Georgia Stark-Warner was damn smart when it came to dealing with her husband and playing him off the acknowledged King of Bliss, Stefan Talbot. Apparently he and the Stark kid had a little rivalry going. They liked to try to outdo each other when it came to giving back to the town. According to Kitten, Georgia Stark-Warner had played her billionaire husband off the king in order to start the beginnings of the Bliss County Public School System. It was very likely to be the wealthiest district in the country because Bliss had an amazing amount of billionaires per capita, and their wives could be damn serious when it came to them using their money for the good of the community. They firmly believed in Bliss and that meant making it the best place they could possibly make it. But they could be so hard to deal with.