Chapter 122 Spooked And Running

• Mason went still as a statue, like someone had just pulled a heater on him at a deal gone wrong. "Come again?"
• "Don't play dumb – it doesn't suit you," Helena said, that South Side edge creeping into her sophisticated tone. "You already put it out there at the luncheon, running your mouth to the media about taking over. Plus those South Side projects you've owned up to handling? You've made quite the name for yourself. Time to own it."
• Mason's whiskey glass hung suspended between table and lips like his brain had short-circuited. "Hold on now. I'd barely declared my interest—"