If You Could Only See

Chapter 24

Mason~

Not a lot rattled me, but I had to admit being here, knowing it was going to change my world-our world-had me anxious. I wanted to get this over with, then run back to Shane and beg her forgiveness.

Only one week later, but that was enough to tell me that there was no way in hell that I'd be able to spend the rest of my life without her. I'd been climbing the walls after only two days, so seven days later, I felt like I was losing my grip on reality.

My father walked into his study with my mother falling in his wake, and he looked none too pleased about this meeting. When Aiden had called him and told him that we were all coming home because we needed to talk, Aiden had let him know that we were demanding our mother's presence as well. My father had tried to protest, but when Aiden had mentioned that my mother's attendance had been insisted upon by Michael, he had caved. Harold Reginal Buchanan might be a world-class bastard, but he wasn't stupid, so even he knew enough to be wary of Michael.

After all, he's the one that had created him.

His strides were purposeful, and he looked every bit the billionaire devil that he was as he went to stand behind his desk. My mother chose to stand next to the bar in his study while Aiden, Mike, Gabe, and I took up the center of the room.

My father wasted no time. "So, what's all this about?"

"Shane's my girlfriend," I answered easily. Now that I was here, doing this, the words were easy. "Everything on that video is true. I beat the fuck out of Branson Morgan because he had put his hands on what's mine."

His face took on a horrible hue of red. "I knew it," he spat. "I fucking knew you were lying to me about her." I didn't bother replying to the truth of his words. "Well, I won't have it, Mason. Do you hear me?" He fisted his hands at his sides. "I will not have my firstborn son getting in bed with a nobody."

I crossed my arms over my chest as I stared him down. "It's not up to you, Dad," I informed him. "Shane's mine, and I'm not giving her up. Period."

His fist rained down on the surface of his oak desk. "Yes, you are!" he bellowed. "You are going to finish with that tramp! And if you need a girlfriend that badly, then find someone worthy of standing by your side!"

I uncrossed my arms, then stalked toward his desk. I placed my palms down on top of the desk, leaning into him. It had never sat well with him that we had all surpassed his height, and it was a petty advantage. "You have it all wrong," I replied. "I'm not worthy to stand next to her."

My father's anger was all over his face and in every nerve of his body. Nobody defied him, least of all, his sons. He ruled his family with an iron fist, and he wasn't about to lose control of us now. "You walk away from that girl, or I will make sure you lose everything, Mason," he threatened like we knew that he would. "Your house, school, your degree, your money, Buchanan Industries...I'll take it all away. You'll be left with nothing but a whore wh-"

"Call Shane a whore or a nobody in front of me one more time and see what happens," Aiden warned, his voice cutting through the room, and I didn't think that I'd ever felt so much love for my brother as I did in this moment when he was defending the woman that I loved.

Dad's head shot over in Aiden's direction. "What? Are you guys all fucking her?"

I heard my mother's gasp, and as much as I wanted to fly across the desk and beat my father to death, I knew that I had bigger issues to handle at the moment.

I turned around just in time to step in front of Michael as Aiden and Gabriel did their best to restrain him. He was pointing at my father as we all held him back. "I'll fucking kill you, I swear to God!" he thundered. "Say one more thing about her, and I will fucking kill you!"