"Your brother is a bitch," Lucy said with a scowl. She was perched on the edge or her desk watching Mason worriedly.

Mason chuckled deeply as he reclined on the couch in Lucy's office. His headache was slowly starting to fade away. It had been a long time since Mason had a migraine. Of course his older brother was responsible for the migraine that had made him basically blind for an hour. "Dick has always been bitter, petty, and vindictive."

"He's a little bitch," she reiterated vehemently.

"The smallest of bitches," he finally agreed with a wry smile. Nobody could get to the heart of a matter quite like Lucy Bennett.

Lucy nodded in satisfaction. "Do you want another beer?"

Mason opened one eye and said, "I wouldn't say no to another beer. But I think that I will wait until after I play with my favorite great-niece. When does she get out of that place?"

She rolled her eyes in amusement. Mason hated that Mila spent a few days a week in daycare. He was a big kid that wanted to pop up randomly to play with his niece. "Stop talking about Mila's daycare as if it is some sort of prison. Anyway, Bonnie and Tyler should be picking her up soon. They'll come here afterwards."

Mason argued, "Mila doesn't need to be in a daycare. She could just spend the day with me. It's not as if I keep traditional work hours most days."

Lucy scoffed at the notion. "Mila has you wrapped around her little finger. She would convince you to feed her candy non-stop. Mila would run herself ragged or throw up all the junk you fed her. Then Bonnie would have to murder you for making her baby girl sick. And I would help her."

Mason grinned as he imagined the chaos that Mila would cause hopped up on sugar. It would go just as Lucy described because sensible discipline had never been his forte. He certainly could not imagine denying Mila anything she wanted. He adored the little girl as if she were his own daughter. Mason had been similarly smitten with Tyler. However, his lackadaisical attitude could be excused because of his relative young age at the time. He huffed, "We would just come here to hang out with you for the day. You'd feed us healthy food and keep us out of trouble."

Lucy rolled her eyes playfully. Mason spent enough time loitering in her restaurant. She often complained, but it was always half-hearted. Mason was good company. "Yes, because having a toddler in a restaurant all day isn't a recipe for disaster."

"I bet she'd be a hit with the customers," he argued. "She's all charm that one."

She conceded, "You have a point there. Bonnie was that way as a kid, too. She had big bright eyes and had an even bigger smile. I could never say no to that little face."

"I was the same way with Tyler," he replied with a small grin. "He used to call me Unca Mase. How can you say no to that?"

Lucy laughed softly. "Unca? You were putty in his hands."

"Yep," he replied with a smile.

Lucy asked, "Are you going to tell Tyler about Dick's retaliation against you?"

Mason groaned and said, "I don't want to distract Tyler when the combine is so close. He can't afford to fall in the draft. Besides, it's not as if he can do anything to change what happened. He would just be frustrated and stressed out for nothing. Or worse he would decide to confront Dick, because we are a hands on kind of family."

"How bad is it, Mason? Truly…" she asked seriously. She knew that Mason was trying to downplay the severity of the situation.

Mason sighed deeply and replied, "For now, his meddling is only an inconvenience. My project manager is a diligent man and he makes daily reports to me. I trust that he has followed the letter of the law. This injunction is only temporary, but it gives Ricard time to sabotage me in other ways. My guess is that he will try to alienate my investors. Depending on his success I would be forced to abandon the project or sink too much of my own money into it."

Lucy's frown deepened. She considered saying something particularly nasty about Richard but Mason already knew her sentiments on the matter. She asked, "What will you do?"

"I don't know yet," he confessed. "I will admit that I did not see this coming but I should have. I figured Dick would retaliate against me personally...not my business ventures. But it makes sense in a way."

"How does tanking your golf course makes sense? It will make your entire family look bad. You're a grown man but everyone still looks at you as Richard Lockwood's little brother," she declared.

Mason nodded in agreement. "And won't he look like a benevolent older brother if he swoops in to save the project once it begins to falter? He'll have me by the short and curlies and that's what he has wanted all along. Dick isn't happy unless he is exerting some measure of control over the people in his family."

Lucy's chocolate brown eyes seemed to grow darker as she listened to Mason. "I'm sure the bastard will use his newfound leverage to convince you to act as an intermediary with Tyler. He's desperate to get his hooks into that boy again."

"I will refuse," he replied adamantly. "Tyler has finally decided to cut ties with his parents and I support him wholeheartedly. They will only drag him down...I've always believed that."

Lucy moved to sit beside Mason on the couch. "I know that you would never ask Tyler to help you out of this mess. But your brother knows how much affection his son holds for you. If you don't bend, then he will go directly to Tyler. He will relent for your sake and Bonnie will support him fully. You are as much a part of our family as Tyler is."

Mason closed his eyes tiredly because he didn't want to put his nephew in that position. Tyler's relationship with Richard was unhealthy. His nephew wasn't a little boy anymore. He would not cower in the face of Richard's anger. There would be violence and Mason could not allow that to happen. Tyler had too much to lose.

The silence between them was broken by the giggles of Mila. A moment later, the door opened and the toddler barreled into the room.

Lucy grinned and scooped Mila up. "Munchkin!"

"Hi, Auntie Lulu! I missed you." Mila greeted cheerfully.

"Oh! I missed you, too," Lucy replied. Being around the sweet child always lifted her spirits. "Were you a good girl today?"

Mila nodded.

Bonnie shook her head with a bright smile. "She got a smiley face today."

Lucy grinned in response. "I think that means Mila deserves an extra special snack today. What do you think?"

"Sliders!" Mila demanded.

Tyler laughed heartily. "Sliders?"

Mason grinned and asked, "The ones with cheddar cheese and grilled onions?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and said, "You already know those are Mila's favorite."

"In that case, I got a smiley face today, too," Mason replied.

Mila looked at her uncle and asked, "Really?"

He nodded. "Yep."

Lucy chuckled and asked, "Do you two have plans? We could all just have dinner together here."

Tyler chuckled, "That was sort of our plan. Neither of us felt like cooking tonight. I hope that is okay."

"It's more than okay," Lucy said.

The younger man said, "Hey, Mason. I was hoping that I could talk to you about something…"

"Sure, kid. What's on your mind?"

Lucy noted the seriousness in Tyler's voice. She wondered if Richard had already turned the screws on his son. Lucy was generally a nice person but every morning she hoped that Richard Lockwood would get hit by a damn bus or an 18-wheeler-she wasn't picky.

She squeezed Mila in her arms. "Come on. Let's go put our order in with the cook. Sliders and curly fries for everyone!"

"And rings!" Mila demanded.

Lucy huffed out a laugh. "And the little lady demands onion rings."

"Oh, I want onion rings, too," Mason added.

Tyler nodded. "Me, too. I need to carb load."

Bonnie smirked and said, "Let's go before they can order anything else."

Tyler watched the three ladies beat a hasty retreat. He muttered, "I should have said I wanted those coconut shrimp appetizers, too."

Mason chuckled. "What's on your mind?"

"I got a call this afternoon from Damon Salvatore…"

Mason's easy smile morphed into something furious. He could only think of a few reasons that Damon Salvatore would contact his nephew. "What does he want?"

"My dad put out the word that your project is having some liquidity issues. Stefan already told him that I'm on the outs with my parents so he didn't take the bait immediately. He wanted to know if I thought my father would be capable of sabotaging his own brother," Tyler explained.

Never had Mason felt more motivated to strangle his older brother.

The younger man continued, "I told him that you gave Dad the shiner he's been walking around with for the last week. Damon offered to put the word out that you two are having a familial spat. I told him I would run it by you first."

"I'll call Damon tonight and thank him for reaching out first. I have to hope that he is the first person that Richard went to with his lies," Mason said. He could feel his migraine gaining steam.

Tyler had hoped that Damon was mistaken, but he knew better. His father enjoyed playing dirty in business. He didn't care who got hurt in the process as long as he came out on top. Richard called it having a 'killer instinct. Tyler thought it was just good old-fashion psychopathy. He asked, "When did this start?"

"I found out this morning. I've been putting out fires all day with the city. I've arranged for an inspector to come out later in the week. Let's just hope that Dick doesn't grease any palms to have the inspection delayed," he complained.

"I wouldn't put it past Dad to bribe the inspector to fail you outright," he said angrily.

Mason waved away that notion. "I will make sure that the inspection is documented. I've dealt with crooked inspectors in the past. They want easy money not a criminal investigation. I may not be the venerable Richard Lockwood, but my name carries weight in this town, too. If I cry foul play, the county will look into it. No, Richard just wants to dangle some red meat in front of my investors."

"I can try talking to him…"

He quickly shook his head. "I want you to stay well away from Richard. I will not let this situation derail your future. I will handle my brother. He's not the only one that knows how to play dirty. We were raised by the same man after all. I don't want to play this card because it would be cruel to your mother, but…"

Tyler frowned for a moment and then his expression darkened. "You're talking about Kelly Donovan?"

Mason's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "You know about them?"

"My dad is having an affair with my best friend's mother. It's the kind of thing you'd have to be dumb or in denial to miss," he replied.

"How do you feel about me fighting fire with fire? Carol is your mother and…"

Tyler interjected, "My mother is neither dumb or in denial. She knows about the affair. But Dad would be motivated to keep the story away from his country club pals. It's one thing to have a mistress, most of his friends probably have affairs. It's another thing for his mistress to be so…"

"Low rent," Mason suggested.

"Don't let Matt hear to describe his mother that way, but yeah."

He nodded in agreement. "I am going to try to reason with Dick tonight. I'll drop by his house after we have dinner here. If I can't make him see sense, then I'll do what needs to be done."

Tyler said, "Let me know if there is anything that I can do."

Mason smiled at his nephew. "You worry about getting ready for the combine. I'll handle my business. If all else fails, I'll go bat my eyelashes at Esther Mikaelson. She's been sniffing around the project since the outset."

The younger man chuckled deeply. "Has she been sniffing around the project or you, Uncle? Mrs. Mikaelson has been shooting you Mrs. Robinson vibes for years."

He laughed wryly because Tyler spoke truthfully. Esther had been trying to lure Mason into her bed since he was in high school. He had deftly side-stepped all her attempts at seduction but he wasn't willing to lose out on building a golf course. "I don't know having a sugar mama might be a good look for me."

Tyler stood up and shook his head. "Just imagine the tense silence whenever Mr. Mikaelson and my dad run into each other."

Mason got to his feet, too. "Don't tempt me. I am feeling reckless today."

The two men left Lucy's office and headed into the main dining room.