Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 173

McKenzie

The room was cold.

Furniture from some random office supply store or another was arranged to make it feel more ‘homey,’ I’m sure. But it was cold, completely devoid of personality.

Plus some dickhead had set the thermostat too low. Maybe it’s supposed to help make people talk?

The security guard who’d grabbed me away from Will was standing just outside the door. I could see him through the small window.

That’s how I knew Agent Wilson was coming. At least, I thought he was an agent. He hadn’t really introduced himself as anything except the attorney general’s minion.

He let himself in, closing the door behind him. The security guard locked us inside.

“Miss Killeen,” Wilson said, sitting down across from me at the table, “would you be more comfortable on one of the couches? This doesn’t have to be an interrogation.”

“It will be until Will and I are together again,” I replied waspishly. But I didn’t care if I sounded like a raging bitch.

He sighed. “Very well.” He set a phone down between us. “I’ll be recording our conversation. Is that all right?”

“Whatever gets me back to Will faster.” My tone sounded like I didn’t care about his stupid interrogation.

I didn’t.

“Can you please state your name for the record?” he asked.

“McKenzie Ann Kent,” I responded. “Though most people say my last name is really Killeen.”

“Can you explain that further?” he pressed.

I pursed my lips. This was clearly going to be long and tedious. “My parents are Jocelyn Collins and Caleb Killeen. But when they got married, they took the name Kent because they were in hiding from William Masterson Sr. So, technically, my last name is Kent, but it would have been Killeen if my parents weren’t on the run.”

“Your parents changed their identities and yours for your family’s safety?” He looked at me expectantly.

“Yes…” I said, not knowing what he wanted to hear.

“Do you know why Mr. Masterson Sr. was persecuting your family?” he asked.

I frowned. “Everyone knows why. I’m sure my parents told you themselves when they were in your custody.”

“Please tell me anyway. In your own words,” he said.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “I was told this secondhand by Will, so it might be better to get it from him. But my parents stumbled upon an illegal logging operation while camping in Canada. It all went downhill from there. Ultimately, they discovered a whole host of illegal businesses that Masterson had his hands in. Human trafficking. Drugs. Weapons. You name it! Masterson tried to keep my parents under lock and key, but they came to you guys at great personal risk. Guess how well that turned out?”

“For the record, Mr. and Mrs. Kent were removed from FBI custody illegally while recuperating at a hospital for wounds sustained from a bombing in Oakdale, Minnesota,” he inserted.

“It was definitely Masterson,” I insisted. “Ike was so smug about it. I mean, he never admitted it outright, but he heavily implied it was Masterson.”

“Ike Freeborn?” he clarified.

“Yes.” God, this was going to be even more painful than I originally thought!

Wilson leaned over the phone again. “For the record, Ike Freeborn is a known associate of William Masterson Sr. and is believed to be carrying out his wishes and running his businesses in Mr. Masterson’s absence.”

“Oh, that I know he’s doing,” I confirmed. “Most definitely.”

“How do you know?” he asked.

“He told me. And Will’s told me.” I try not to scream in frustration. “Speaking of Will, are we done yet?”

Wilson laughed. “Not even half. But nice try.”

“I want to see Will,” I argued.

“You’ll see him after I’ve interviewed you both.” He went back to his questions. “When did you first learn about Mr. Masterson?”

“Seriously?! We’re going back that far?!” I groaned and banged my head on the tabletop. “This is going to take forever!”

“It will take as long as it takes. Please answer the question.” He was unmoved.

I opened my mouth, not sure if I was going to answer his question or say something smart.

But just then, there was a loud BANG.

I jumped.

Wilson shot out of his chair and went to the door. “McNamara, what’s going on?!”

The security guard didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

I gasped as McNamara slid down the door, leaving a streak of blood on the window.

“Shit!” Wilson came back and flipped the table on its side. He pulled me behind it, using it as a barrier between us and the door.

Another BANG made my heart slam against my ribcage. I was terrified for Will. I wanted him beside me right now, not this suit.

Wilson pulled a gun out of a holster under his jacket and pointed it at the door. “No matter what happens, stay down.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied. And I was happy to do so until a third BANG ripped through the air. Smoke came pouring into the room and around the table.

He coughed and pulled his shirt up over his nose and mouth.

I couldn’t do the same with the scoop-necked dress I was wearing and just started coughing, beginning to stand to get above the worst of it.

“Stay down!” he repeated. He quickly shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over my head.

I tried to breathe through the heavy fabric, but it was suffocating. Still, I didn’t want to get shot, so I did my best.

Finally, I heard the door open.

There was another loud BANG as Wilson shot whoever came in. At least, that was what I thought had happened until he dropped to the floor next to me. I pushed the jacket up just far enough to see his glassy eyes, a bleeding hole in his head.

I scrabbled for his gun, but a booted foot kicked it away.

Without saying a word, the person, wearing all black with a gas mask over their face, handed me a mask of my own.

I gulped and put it on.

The person gently adjusted it, and soon, I was breathing more easily. Then they grabbed my arm and hauled me up off the floor.

There were more black-clad mercenaries out in the hall and several dead agents. I saw Will dragged out of another interview room, stepping over the body of the other security guard I recognized.

The strange assassins marched Will and me to the stairwell then back down to the first floor. To my absolute shock, we walked right out the front door. I hoped the people I saw hunched over here and there were just drugged and not dead.

Will was put in a black SUV. I began to follow him, but the person who gave me the gas mask pulled me back and shook their head.

It was then I realized Will and I were being separated for real.

I tried to tear through the mercenaries to get to him, just as Will tried to push his way out of the SUV to get to me. We were both thwarted by the black-clad bastards who forced me into a silver sedan.

“Mr. Masterson,” I heard one say before they closed my door, “get back in the SUV.”

I looked out the window and gasped. They were holding guns on him!

Wait, when did Will get that gun?!

I wasn’t sure how Will responded. His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear him.

I jiggled the handle on my door but wasn’t surprised to find that the child lock was on. I couldn’t get out on my own.

Then, to my surprise, the mercenary next to my door opened it. They reached in and yanked me out.

And put a gun to my head.

“Are you done yet?” the lead mercenary asked Will.

Will’s hand shook.

The gun dug harder into my temple, and I yelped.

“McKenzie!” he cried. He looked around at all the black-clad assholes who surrounded us. Then he put the gun to his own head.

“NO!!!” I screamed.

“William.” The voice was patient but firm. “Please don’t disappoint me like your father did.”

I couldn’t help myself. Despite the gun at my temple, I whipped my head around.

There stood Willam Masterson Sr., wearing a suit, radiating infinite calm. He wasn’t a bit fazed.

I, on the other hand, was freaking out. “Masterson?!”

“Mr. Masterson, dear. But you’ll get used to it.” Masterson walked through the mercenaries as though they were nothing but brushes in a car wash and stood right before Will. “Give me the gun, Will.”

Will turned the gun on Masterson, his face a mask of hatred.

Masterson sighed. “Oh, Will. You just don’t think ahead. What do you think will happen to McKenzie if you shoot me?”

“A lot less than will happen if I don’t,” Will said coldly.

“I know. I know we’ve been a bit hard on you, Will. But I’m not a monster. I’m not going to hurt McKenzie. I’ll even let her go to school before having children. It was wrong of me to take that away from her.” Masterson smiled reassuringly. “I’ve scared you, I know. That’s why you keep acting out.”

“You are a monster, and I don’t believe one goddamn fucking word that comes out of your mouth!” Will shouted, his gun not wavering.

Masterson raised an eyebrow. “Will. Such vitriol. All right. How about this? If you kill me, or yourself, I will have McKenzie violated in ways you cannot possibly imagine. Then I will have Jacey pump out enough brothers and sisters this time that I’m sure one of them will be properly groomed to the position I want you to take. I’d make that my plan, but I don’t trust Ike to carry out my wishes once I’m gone. That’s the only reason I’ve put up with your shenanigans.”

I felt sick. Part of me wanted Will to shoot Masterson and damn the consequences. Another part was worried about my mother becoming a baby factory at the age of forty-eight. Most of me was worried about Will. However this standoff ended, what would happen to him? To us?

“McKenzie,” Masterson said, still completely unbothered, “now might be a good time to make your wishes known.”

Will looked at me.

It was a mistake. “No, Will, don’t!”

Masterson snatched the gun out of Will’s hand and handed it to one of the mercenaries at his side. “Oh, Will.” He gripped his grandson by the hair and slammed his face into the side of the SUV. “You really are quite stupid sometimes.”

“Leave him alone!” I snarled, still caring very little about the gun pointed at my head. When I saw Will being manhandled like that, I didn’t even remember it was there.

“McKenzie.” Masterson gave me the long once-over as Will was shoved in the SUV. “I’m not sure if you’re the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever had or the greatest asset I’ve ever had.”

I broke free of the mercenary holding me. They could shoot me for all I cared. I had to get to Will.

“Ames,” Masterson said blandly, “shoot her.”