Stepbrother, Mine #2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

Dana would be.
    She must have taken it one morning when she’d been sleeping on his couch—and God damn him for being so stupid as to sleep naked—but it was just a crazy mistake she’d made and she shouldn’t be punished for it. And certainly not in such a horrifyingly embarrassing way. It would scar her.
    Mason’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t need to do that.”
    “Oh, but I do. As her father, I need to protect her.”
    Mason stood up. “Fuck this. What will it take?”
    His father turned to him; and thank God he didn’t choose to pretend he didn’t know what Mason was talking about.
    “You will move out. Immediately. And you will have no contact whatsoever with Dana from now on.”
    Mason’s heart clenched. Not only would that be painful for him, it would be devastating for Dana. He knew he gave her a stable influence in her life. She’d felt so alone all her life and he’d seen her blossom since the two of them had gotten close. Not that he had done anything more than someone who simply cared about her would do. But everyone else in her life, notably her mother, had failed miserably at giving her even a basic sense of being loved.
    Could he really walk away from Dana without a word? Abandon her so completely?
    But he knew his father would never let this drop. Even if Dana could get over the embarrassment of the photo, his father would find something else, and he would torture Dana as much as he could, especially knowing that she was Mason’s weak spot.
    Mason even wondered if Chas would leak the photo to the press, along with where it had been found, just to destroy Mason.
    Chas had always been jealous of how well Mason did in business, and the fact that Mom had given Mason the money to start his own company, and he had been spectacularly successful, had pissed his father off to no end.
    If Chas could destroy Mason’s reputation, hoping to also destroy his success, then Mason fully believed he would do it, even if it caused him and his wife some embarrassment.
    Mason had no doubt he could weather the scandal, but the real victim would be Dana and he would not allow his father’s scheming to hurt her so viciously. So he made a split decision, as he’d been trained to do in business.
    “All right, Chas. You win.” He chose the words to give his father the satisfaction, knowing that’s what his father’s ego craved.
    As Mason had grown up, Chas had struggled with Mason’s achievements surpassing his own. In athletics, intelligence, and in business. His jealousy had been clear to both Mason and his mother.
    Telling his father he won took nothing away from Mason, but it gave him the great advantage that his father, now smug, would be easier to manipulate.
    “I will leave, but I have a demand of my own.”
    “You’re not in a position to demand anything, boy,” his father snarled.
    Mason stood up and walked toward Chas, like a panther stalking his prey. With a full five inches on him, Mason towered over his father.
    “You will destroy the photo and never, ever tell Dana you knew about it. That goes for Maria, her mother, and anyone else who knows about it,” he instructed. He took another step forward and his father took a step back. “And don’t think that because I’m gone I won’t be paying attention. If you hurt Dana—and believe me, I will know—I will destroy you.” He glared at his father. An unwanted sense of satisfaction gleamed through him at the flicker of fear in his father’s eyes. “I will destroy your business, and I will destroy you. And if you ever, ” Mason said the last word in a searing tone, his eyes flashing, “touch Dana…” At the mere thought a fury blasted through him that palpably increased the tension in the room. “I will kill you.”
    At that, he turned on his heel and strode away.
    *   *   *
    Present Day
     
    Mason set Dana onto her feet, then swept her against him and devoured her mouth. Liquid fire blazed through his veins, and he was filled with