Chapter 36

“Take the little green one,”Tai urged Mason as he proffered the tray of hors d’oeuvres.

Mason wrinkled his nose, but complied. Thai shrimp on stale crostini with a pesto smear. He wasn’t much of a fusion cuisine fan. The decidedly average tidbit didn’t change his mind. “Meh,” he said to Tai’s back as his friend walked away.

He scanned the ballroom. If Avery didn’t return in the next thirty seconds, he was heading after her.

But just then, she appeared at the top of the stairs. She was a vision in that stunning green dress, the fabric clinging to her curves like a second skin. But as she got closer, he noticed the paleness of her face, the troubled look in her eyes. Someone had put that look there. Whoever it was needed a serious butt-kicking.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice low and gruff as she reached him.

Avery shook her head, her hands trembling slightly as she grabbed his arm. “Ryan. He’s dirty. Working with Stenberg. He’s terrified. Says he wants to help us take Rain Bay down.”

Rage surged through him, hot and fierce. He should have known.

“Where is he?” he growled, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

“No, Mason, wait,” Avery said, her grip on his arm tightening. “We can’t just grab him. We need to think this through.”

“Yeah, we can.”

“She’s right,” Paige’s voice crackled over the comlink in his ear. “We need the charges to stick. We need to be smart about this.”

Mason gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw working as he tried to rein in his anger. They were right.

“Fine,” he said, his voice tight with barely contained fury. “But I want everything on Goshiro. Every dirty little secret.”

“Already on it,” Paige said, her fingers flying over her laptop’s keyboard.

Just then, a voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing the auction winners.

“The winning bid for the Lightner landscape goes to … Mr. Mason Ortiz, for the sum of thirty thousand dollars!”

Mason blinked, his mind taking a moment to process what he’d just heard. He’d won the auction? For a painting he didn’t even want? Thirty thousand to impress a lady he’d never see again in a couple days.

“Well, look at that,” Tai said, his voice dripping with sarcasm over the comlink. “Our Mason’s an art collector. Who knew?”

“Shut up, Tai,” Mason grumbled, his face heating with embarrassment. “It was for the mission. I had to bid on something to blend in.”

“Sure, sure,” Tai said, his voice still teasing. “Whatever you say, Picasso.”

Mason rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. His team might drive him crazy sometimes, but they were the best group of people he’d ever worked with. Not that they’d let him forget it.

“Okay, people, time to call it a night,” he said, his voice taking on a note of authority. “Stenberg’s plenty rattled, and we’ve got research to do.”

He took Avery’s hand, his fingers lacing through hers as they made their way toward the exit. Her skin was soft and warm against his, and he could feel the tension in her body starting to ease as they walked.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice low and gentle as they stepped out into the cool night air.

“Not really. I can’t believe Ryan would do something like this,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I trusted him. I looked up to him. And now … now I don’t know what to think.”

Mason squeezed her hand. He knew what it was like to be betrayed by someone you trusted, someone you thought was on your side. It was a pain that cut deep, and it never really went away.

“We’ll figure this out,” he said, his voice firm with conviction. “I promise. Let’s concentrate on taking Stenberg’s operation down. We can sort out Goshiro’s part later.”

Whether Goshiro really wanted to help them or not, the man’s future was shot. Avery had to know that. Still, no reason to pound that home now.

She smiled up at him, her eyes shining with gratitude and something else, something that made his heart skip a beat.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice sincere. “For everything. I don’t know how I would have gotten through this train wreck without you.”

Mason grinned, his thumb rubbing gentle circles on the back of her hand. “You’d probably be a lot less stressed, for one thing,” he said, his voice teasing. “But hey, what’s life without a little excitement?”

Avery laughed, the sound of it like music to his ears. “With you around, I don’t think I’d ever have to worry about being bored,” she said, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

She was strong, and brave, and beautiful. Together they could take on anything.

Even a dirty fed and a trucking operator with delusions of grandeur.

Speaking of said dirty fed, priority one when they got back to the mansion was a deeper dive into Ryan Goshiro’s story.

So far, they’d only gotten what Goshiro wanted them to find. That changed now.