Fallen Crest University (Fallen Crest High #5)(98)

“No. I’m just saying that I would’ve been here. She…” He snuck a look at his daughter. His jaw clenched, and he looked away immediately. “She wouldn’t have been hurt. I wouldn’t have even let either of you in.”

Another snort from me. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have.”

He glanced up, holding my gaze. “I mean it, Mason. I would’ve done the dirty work for you.”

That surprised me, and I held my next retort. Instead, I replied, “He’s like family to you.”

“He’s not.” His head lifted again, and he was almost glaring at Sebastian, who seemed to wither in place, his shoulders scrunching together. Garrett clipped out, “Samantha was an innocent, as were you. I don’t know what he’s done to you, but I talked to Gerald. His grandfather told me something about a house being burned down?”

“He used his fraternity brothers to jump me, my best friend, and my brother. All of us at separate times. They tried to hit me with a car last year, too.”

“I see.” Garrett’s eyes narrowed to slits. He stepped toward Sebastian, asking, “Is that true?”

A guttural, “Yes,” came from deep in his throat. “Yes.”

“All of that on top of what you were going to do to my daughter?”

Sebastian was staring at him, then he tried again, “Uncle Garr—”

“I’m not,” he snapped at Sebastian. “I’m not your uncle anymore. I’m not your godfather anymore. I’m nothing to you. Like you’ll be nothing.”

“Garrett?”

He ignored Sebastian’s one-word question and turned to me. “Take Samantha. Take her home. I’ll deal with Park.”

“What will happen to him?”

“He’ll be cast out. All the blackmail material The Network has on him will be used against him and,” he cast a scathing look at him, “I believe there’s enough to strip him helpless. He’ll have no power. The Network will turn on him. Rape of another member is never allowed.”

“She’s not a memb—”

“It doesn’t matter!” Garrett roared back at him. “She’s my daughter, and you were going to hurt her.”

I heard enough. Picking up the bat again, I knew what I was going to do, no matter what Sam’s dad was saying. It wasn’t allowed because she was going to be a member? That was it? Because she was Garrett’s daughter? What if she weren’t? What if she was someone else’s daughter, not someone from The Network? I’d been repressing my fury, but it was done. I didn’t care what happened after this. Whatever Garrett was going to do, it wasn’t enough.

I turned and swung, clocking Sebastian clean in the face. He dropped like a bag of weights, and I kicked at him, double-checking. He was unconscious.

“Mason?”

The bat fell to the floor again. I knelt down and rummaged through his clothing. Feeling his phone inside of his pockets, I took it and stepped back. I pointed at the door, which Garrett left propped open. “Take him. Get him out of here before I do something permanent to him.”

He glanced at the phone. “What are you going to do?”

“If you want Samantha to be in your life, you will protect her after this.”

“You’re not going to tell me?”

I didn’t have to. He’d know in a second, and after that, Sam would know, too, if he was going to actually step up as a dad or hang her out to dry. Either way, it was going to end after this. I gestured to the door again. “Take him.”

I waited thirty seconds until he was gone before I did what I needed to do. Once it was done, I picked Sam up in my arms and left. Nate was in the car, waiting for us, and when I got inside, I never let her go. I held her as I told Nate, “Go to the hospital.”

He took off, but looked in the rearview mirror. “Is she going to be okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. We all will be.”

Then he asked, “Did you do it?”

I nodded again, resting my head against the seat’s headrest. Yeah. I used the passcode Summer told us her brother used for his phone. Once in there, I clicked on the e-mail I sent from the computer upstairs to Sebastian’s phone. Then I sent it to his entire list of contacts titled The Network.

Everyone within The Network would see the blackmail material the organization had on them, and on everyone else. What they did with that, was up to them. When they would look into it, there would be no evidence linking me to the e-mail. Everything was connected to Sebastian. He would say it was us; I knew that much, but now everything was in Garrett’s hands.

He would lie for us. He would protect Sam.

Finally.

SAMANTHA

I was dreaming about flowers, weddings, and candles. Mason got up from the bed, and the mattress dipped from the movement. That woke me up as he padded barefoot to my bathroom. He didn’t turn the light on. The sun filled the room enough, and I waited one moment, guessing that it was eight thirty-two in the morning before I opened one eye, seeing that I was right from the clock on my nightstand.

The smell of pancakes and coffee told me the time more than how bright it was in my room. Malinda would’ve gotten up around seven. By this time, it would be the second pot of coffee, and I sat up, waiting for it.

“Mama Malinda, you’re looking fresh this morning.” Logan’s voice could be heard all the way down to my room in the basement. A faint grin came over my face, and I snuggled back down underneath the sheets.