Bare it All

LAUREN

I felt a wave of nausea overtake me. I could barely stand. My dad spoke to me through the haze that clouded my mind.

“Lauren, Lauren, sweetheart, it’s okay,” he said softly. “You’re going to be okay. You are strong, you will get through this.”

His words were the only thing grounding me to my reality.

Ginny continued as she watched me faltering. She seemed to be reveling in the way I was crumbling, coming apart at the seams because of her words.

“You were just eight years old when you were taken. You were so traumatized, you didn’t even remember a thing,” she said. “It was so easy to make you believe I was your mother, you were so desperate for one. You know, your real mother died in childbirth, you never even met her. Not that any of that matters now.”

She spoke as if she was reading off a grocery list. There was no emotion in her voice, not empathy. It made me sick. I can’t believe I ever looked to her as a mother or ever hoped that we could have a normal relationship. Clearly, it’s not something she’s capable of, not just with me, but with anyone.

“Mason took you because he knew Anthony would never risk hurting you and he used that to his advantage.

“After he took you, he needed my help.

“He wanted me to look after you for a bit and promised to pay me—a way back into Omens and a lot of money.

“I had to lie to Vincent and tell him she was my sister’s kid who had died, and he took her in and raised her as his own.”

She pointed a finger at Mason.

“You’re the one who didn’t keep your promises, Mason.

“You didn’t help me get back into Omens and you didn’t pay me for taking care of Lauren.”

There was a malicious glint in her eyes as she looked at me.

“Do you know what I did, sweet Lauren? I hid you from Mason.”

“I figured, if he wasn’t going to keep his promises, why should I?”

She laughed at that, her eyes gleaming with cruel amusement.

I wanted her to choke. I hated her.

“I refused to tell him where you were and it took him years to find you. I’ll take credit for that.

“If I hadn’t left you as a child, Mason never would have found you. He should be thanking me for that error. But he didn’t marry you for his grandfather’s property.”

I tried to keep my face blank, to show her I wasn’t bothered, but it was hard to stay calm.

I felt like I’d been poisoned as I closed my eyes, my insides twisting with loathing and rage.

He lied to me. He’d always lied to me.

“He married you to protect himself. Now, it was his only choice. He knew it would only be a matter of time before Anthony found you again. His only chance of survival was to marry you now. Your father can’t touch him or anyone he loves now, because Mason has you.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow.

“Your husband’s a smart one, isn’t he? I’m sorry you thought everything he did was for you. He might have changed, but one thing will always remain the same. Mason Campbell only thinks about himself.”

I stared at Mason, my chest tightening with each passing second. The room around us seemed to close in, the walls pressing in tighter and tighter as the truth settled over me.

"You kidnapped me," I said, still trying to piece everything together.

Mason’s jaw tightened, his eyes hard as steel, but there was something behind them, something softer.

"Yes," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

My mind swirled with questions, but only one managed to slip through the chaos. I swallowed, forcing the words out.

"Did you ever love me? Or was it just about keeping me close, controlling me?"

He flinched, the impact of my question hitting him hard. For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer, that maybe he wouldn’t even know how. But then he spoke, his voice was rough, almost broken.

"I managed to elude Anthony all these years because he still thought I knew where you were. He was too scared to move against me because he thought I would hurt you if he did.”

My chest tightened, dread pooling in my gut as Mason continued, the truth unraveling in ways I hadn't expected.

"When I found you again, it wasn’t just about keeping you safe. It was about keeping ~me~ safe, too. If Anthony knew I had you, I had to keep you close. I couldn’t risk losing control of the one thing that could keep me alive. I had to protect myself, and being near you was the only way to do that."

I stared at him, the weight of his confession pressing down on me. Anthony didn’t care about me, he never had. I wasn’t a daughter to him, not in any real sense. I was a pawn in a game of power, a tool he would have used if it meant getting what he wanted. And Mason had known that all along.

“You stayed with me, not just to protect me, but because you needed me,” I whispered, the realization cutting deeper than I thought possible.

Mason’s jaw tightened, his eyes never leaving mine. "Yes. I needed you, Lauren. For more than one reason."

My heart sank, but before the pain could fully settle in, he kept going.

"But it wasn’t just that," he said, his gaze locking onto mine, desperate for me to hear him. "I developed feelings for you, Lauren. Once I started to get to know you, I couldn’t help it. Even when I didn’t know how to show it, even when I couldn’t admit it to myself. From the moment you walked into my office."

I stood frozen, unsure of what to say, unsure of how to even process that. But he wasn’t done.

"Everything I’ve done," he said, his voice cracking just slightly, "has been to protect you. Even when it didn’t look like it. Even when it hurt you, it was always to keep you safe."

My breath caught in my throat. I wanted to scream, to cry, to yell at him for taking away so much from me, for lying to me, for everything.

But beneath it all, beneath the anger and the betrayal was the undeniable truth that some part of me had always known this was coming.

And some part of me still loved him back.

Mason’s shoulders slumped as the weight of his words hung in the air between us. His eyes softened, and for the first time in all of this madness, he looked vulnerable.

“I get it if you hate me,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “If you can never forgive me for what I did. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I will do everything in my power to earn it. If you’ll let me.”

I stood there, my mind a storm of emotions, every part of me screaming for clarity that wouldn’t come.

Did I hate him? Did I even know how to feel anymore?

It was like the ground beneath me had crumbled, and I didn’t know what was real or who to trust.

“Mason, I... I don’t know what to think,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “This is all so confusing. I don’t even know where to start.”

His expression shifted, the guilt and regret in his eyes deepening.

“I’m sorry, Lauren. For everything. I should have told you the truth from the start, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to lose you.”

His hands clenched at his sides, like he was holding himself back from reaching for me.

His words pierced through me like a knife, but instead of the pain I expected, there was something else, a deep, aching sadness.

This was the same Mason who’d been there for me, who I’d trusted with everything.

The same man who had lied to me and torn my world apart.

“I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for what you’ve done,” I said, barely able to hold his gaze. “But I don’t know if I can just stop loving you either.”

His eyes widened slightly, and he took a small step closer.

“I’ll spend the rest of my life making this up to you if you let me. But whatever you decide, I’ll understand. I just need you to know that everything I’ve done, every choice I made—it was for you. I’d do anything to protect you.”

The sincerity in his voice twisted something deep inside me. Despite everything, there was no denying that Mason had done terrible things for the right reasons.

It didn’t make it easier, but it made it harder to hate him.

Ginny’s sharp, mocking voice cut through the air like a whip.

“As touching as this little reunion is, I’m running out of patience,” she said as she raised the gun she held in her hands. “Make your choice. Mason or your father.”

My heart raced, my pulse deafening in my ears as I froze, my mind spiraling into chaos. Mason’s eyes locked on mine, his gaze steady despite the deadly threat just inches from his life.

He didn’t flinch.

“I’m not afraid,” Mason said, his voice steady. “Do what you have to, Lauren. I’ll be okay.”

But the way he said it, the calmness in his voice, broke something inside me. He was willing to die. For me. For my happiness.

Only a person who truly cared for me would be willing to sacrifice themselves in this way.

I looked at Ginny, her eyes sharp, cold. She meant every word.

“Ten seconds,” she hissed. “Your timer starts now.”