The Cookies

" So they want to kill me? Or kill us both?" Asked Mason with blank facial expressions, his dad was sitting right next to him on the dining table… Well, it's not a dining table anymore they turned it into an office that's filled with files and pictures that belong to the case of The Segas.

Hudson stroke over his face in distress and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration " I don't know. All I know is that the police found Julian's dead body right in front of the entrance of the court building with this message in his hand."

Mason silently gazed at the pictures of the dead body then the picture of the message that was written with blood on a white paper.

The message says 'Hudson Verlive will pay for the loss of this vegetable.'

Such a strange thing to address a whole human being as a vegetable, but they should expect anything from people like the Segas.

Why would the Segas risk getting caught and come to the court building to bring Julian then kill the latter who is a member of them not only that but also blame his dad for it?

The case of the Segas is so confusing and complicated.

That is one of Mason's favorite things about this case.

How come no detective was able to find anything that can lead them to one of the Segas and catch them?

How can they be so skillful and confident to move in morning without worrying about getting caught by the police?

The fact that Julian seemed so chill in the court is driving everyone and Mason insane, It turned out Julian probably knew the Segas will come and get him and he knew he was going to die, he did in fact accept his fate happily.

" I seriously don't understand anything. Why would they be after you? Nobody knows that you are the one who found that footage, right? I mean it was not announced publicly, was it?" Mason was feeling so puzzled at this moment and lost.

Sometimes he just wants to push this case away because this isn't his or his father's job.

They are only supposed to defend their clients in the trials, but Hudson got somehow dragged in this case twelve years ago.

But most of the times, Mason can't help but keep thinking and looking for new clues about this case. He is so curious about the Segas and can't stop himself.

Hudson furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head " No, the only people that know it was me who found the footage was the team of the lawyers and detective that I work with on this case. In public it was said the authorities found it."

Mason honestly felt scared after seeing these pictures of Julian's dead body especially that message but also the fear that he felt was exciting him somehow.

He probably should not be excited because the Segas will must definitely target him to hurt his father because the latter is well protected all day long.

Mason is one of these people that likes feeling scared of something and always go try it and defeat that fear.

For example he used to be terrified of height but he also do not hesitate to accept his friends' offer of climbing a mountain, or trying roller coaster he also has tried jumping with a parachute until he stopped being scared of height which was sad for him, call him crazy, but he used enjoy these things because to his fear of them.

This is why the fact that the Segas are after him is encouraging him dig deeper and search for more clues about them.

" You need to go back home, Mason. It's safer there." Mason immediately shot his eyes open as he got snatched out of his deep thoughts about the Segas the second he heard what his father said "No, dad."

He objected in a voice tone that shows he will not change his mind no matter what.

" Mason, you don't have a choice. This is for your safety. In our house, I can keep an eye on you to make sure you are safe. What if something happen to you here?" Mason remained silent after this as he calmly glanced at the picture on the table " Stay here then, I want to spend my summer here, dad. That's my only wish."

Hudson just shook his head helplessly and sighed " I can't stay here for too long, I'm busy. I will hire a bodyguard for you. If you say no, I'm gonna drag you back home."

Mason just chuckled after hearing his father's threat then he scoffed jokingly " You are too old for that, Mr. Verlice. I'm twice size as you no… Ouch, dad sorry, you are a big guy even bigger than uncle Patrick just let go of my ear, please."

Hudson smirked in satisfaction before letting go of his son's ear who held his poor it and frowned at his dad.

Uncle Patrick, Mason's mother's brother who is a gym rat who always teases Hudson for being bigger than him, this is why he felt satisfied to hear his son who is also a gym rat saying that he is bigger than Patrick even if it's a lie.

Before Mason could say anything, he heard the sound of the door bell which is why he instantly glanced at his dad as they both immediately got serious.

Hudson quickly slid his hand to his waist and grabbed his gun, a Sig Sauer P365 X-Macro gun, before gesturing his son to move toward the door.

There is a camera in the front door which is why Mason went to the monitor to see who was at the door before opening, he furrowed his eyebrows which caught Hudson's attention " Who is it?"

" It's a woman. She looks like a maid. Did you hire a maid for me, dad?" Hudson quickly shook his head as they both felt puzzled.

Nonetheless, Mason walked forward and opened the door just to be met with a short petite woman that was dressed in a very long simple black dress that was covering her entire body with a white apron on top, she smiled widely at Mason " Good afternoon, sir. The owner of the house next door baked some cookies, I wanted to bring some for you as a welcoming gift. I have just noticed that you are new here."

Mason's facial expressions immediately relaxed as a soft grin appeared on his face when he realized how sweet this lady is.

" Thank you so much." He thanked the lady and slowly grabbed the beautiful basket of cookies.

He remained silent for a second as he has just realized that these cookies were made by Teddy's owner, this brought a grin to his face because now he has an excuse to go talk to his neighbor whom he is curious about and maybe they can become friends.

His gaze quickly diverted to the backyard where Teddy's owner was sitting in gazebo with a book in his hands and Teddy walking randomly on his thighs and sometimes it would keep spinning around him but in the end Teddy barked and ran to the front yard.

'Why doesn't he remove these sunglasses?' Internally wondered Mason when he noticed that in the three times that he saw his neighbor, he has never seen him without the shades.

The lady just smiled one last time before rushing toward the front yard to pick Teddy up and bring him back to its owner.

" Dad, calm down. It was just a sweet lady. Look she gave me these cookies to welcome me in the neighborhood. I didn't have the heart to tell her I lived in this neighborhood for more than eighteen years of my life." Spoke Mason after he closed the door and turned around to look at his father who was still holding his gun.

Mason grabbed one of the cookies ready to eat them but Hudson instantly took it away from his hand and threw it in the garbage ban along with the whole basket which made Mason widen his eyes " Dad, what have you done?"

" I have just told you that the Segas are literally after us, Mason and now you want to eat cookies that were given to you by a random lady."

His dad scolded him which is why he remained silent for some seconds before talking " But dad, she's just a sweet person. Did you see how nice she is? Even the owner of the house next door looks nice."

Hudson shook his head in disappointment when he heard what his son uttered " Don't trust nice people. They are the worst because you always expect a bad person to hurt so even if they do, you would have already gotten ready for it but when nice people decide to hurt you, you will have to deal with being betrayed first then the pain that they caused you."

Hudson put his gun back in his waist band and placed his hands on his son's shoulders' blades to speak " Do not trust anybody no matter how nice they are especially now. The segas are smart even if they want to get to you, of course they won't send someone who is shady. They can send a petite nice woman with cookies or an old grandpa or even a child with popsicles so be careful."