Page 102 of Untroubled Heart

“Callie?” Mason rushes around the desk, dropping to his knees as he turns the chair so I’m facing him. “What’s wrong?”

“You gave him money?” Mason’s face morphs from concern to guilt. “You made him agree to never speak to his daughter?”

“Not unless she reaches out first.” Mason shakes his head, his cheeks breaking out in an angry flush.

“That wasn’t your decision to make.” I try to stay strong, but the evidence of my hurt is loud and clear.

Mason takes a deep, calming breath as he reaches for my hand. “I-I did it to protect you.”

“I had it under control.” The air is so thick with tension, I jump when Mason’s phone starts ringing. He silences it then places it face down on the desk. “I didn’t ask you to step in and save me.”

“You don’t have to. I’ll always protect you.” His voice wobbles. “Why didn’t you tell me he tried to blackmail you?”

A cold sweat runs over my body. “I was going to … when it was over.”

He phone rings again.

“How did you find out?”

He declines the call then slams the phone down. “I heard the two of you on the street. The other week, outside the office.”

I stand up from his chair, rounding it and leaning my hands on the backrest, like a divider between us. “Did you hear me tell him he could fuck off? From the beginning I told you I wanted to handle it properly, in a way that actually protects Navie from a deadbeat dad, like the way I wish my mother had.”

Mason stands up straight, hands on his hips. “I didn’t want you wondering for the rest of our lives if he was going to keep showing up behind every corner.”

“You should have spoken to me!” I yell, and his phone rings yet again.

“So should you!” His chest heaves, and his jaw clenches as he silences the phone once more.

My lip quivers, the pain of my father’s rejection still fresh as it mingles with the evidence of Derek’s dismissal of Navie. I feel like a failure for getting myself into this mess to begin with. “I don’t need to consult you on decisions about my daughter.”

“Well, I didn’t do it for you,” he says with furious conviction. “I was selfish, and I did it for me. I wasn’t going to let that arsehole stand in the way when I finally found what I was always looking for, when I finally had everything I ever wanted. And I’m not sorry because I love you! I love Navie. And you just need to get used to me looking after you, cos it’s all I want to do.”

“Mason!” Beth runs into the office panting, then pauses when she notices the charged energy radiating between us. “Grams,” she says, holding up her phone.

“Did something happen?” Mason scrambles to pick up his phone from the desk.

“Not to her,” Beth says slowly. “It’s… you.”

The colour drains from Mason’s face as he stares down at his phone, and Beth looks at me with sympathy.

I reach for my phone, typing Mason’s name into the search bar, trying to find what’s happened, and I don’t have to look for long to figure it out. The headline flashes like a neon warning sign.

Mason Heart. Billionaire. Business Owner. Porn Star.

Mason’s face is recognisable in the grainy images linked to different articles. The fourth one listed is what I click on, the one with the photo of the blonde woman from the tennis club.

“You said nothing happened with her.” I’m not sure if Mason heard me, considering I barely heard the words myself. More photos fill the article, and the final dagger in my heart is one of Mason leaning over the girl’s shoulder, kissing her neck with the tennis club’s sign in the background. “I’m the only one corrupting you in dressing rooms, huh?”

Mason finally turns around. It’s even harder to breathe as I take in the look on his face. Hurt. Fear. Disappointment.

“You lied.”

“I-I… don’t remember anything happening in the dressing room.”

I look down at my phone again, seeing the corner of the mirror and the top of a curtain rail.

“You slept with her at least once, since all these photos are in different places, but she wasn’t good enough to remember? Are you lying to me again, thinking that will help? After what my dad did, you think lying about another woman doesn’t hurt?”