Chapter 197
It was nine o’clock in the morning. The doctor was helping Zoe with her rehabilitation. Mason was sitting and working on the couch to the side.
Ava knocked on the door and came in. She leaned into his ear and said, “Ms. Lilith’s plane has taken off, Mr. Mason.”
Then, he glanced at Zoe. She obviously heard it, but she wasn’t letting anything show on her face, it was as if she no longer cared.
His eyes grew darker. He said to Ava, “Got it. You may leave.”
He glanced at Zoe again when Ava left. Once the medical personnel had also left, he put down his work and looked at her. She looked cold and aloof.
He spoke softly, “She’s gone! She can never affect our lives anymore! Can we please start over, Zoe?”
She, on the other hand, kept looking out the window. It was freezing out there and a baby bird was learning how to fly. It was flying unsteadily and almost fell a few times, but it spread its wings at the last moment and flew straight into the heavens.
She tore her gaze away when she could no longer see it and said, ” Her absence doesn’t make a difference, Mason! You clipped my wings and forced me to stay with you! Perhaps you’ll make it up to me in some way and my family would benefit from it as well.
“However, that’ll make me completely reliant on you. You might flash me a smile when you’re in a good mood and torture me in bed if you’re not. It’s a vicious cycle. What’s the point in that?”
He said huskily, “It won’t happen again!”
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She was finally speaking to him. He wanted to keep the conversation going, but she laid down and refused to utter another word.
Mason was genuinely trying to redeem himself, but she wouldn’t give him a chance to do it. He invited her family to live in Kirk Manor, but Mia rejected him. He bought the manor, she said. So, that made it his property and they weren’t going to accept his good intentions.
Mia also tried taking Zoe home when she was discharged from the hospital, but he outwitted her. That day, a grand total of two hundred security detail, hired by Lockwood Corporation, surrounded every inch of the floor her ward was in. In the end, she was brought back to Lockwood Manor.
A black Bentley pulled into the manor’s driveway that evening. They were leaving the hospital hastily this morning. Top that with the fact that Zoe didn’t exactly cooperate with them, it meant she was still wearing her patient’s gown. It hung loosely on her scrawny frame. She was wearing his coat as well. Every button on it was fastened.
The chauffeur opened the car doors for them when the car was parked. She said coldly, “I want to go back to my own home, Mason.”
Leaning over, he looked at her and said softly, “What are you talking about? This is your home. If you’re talking about your parents’ place, however, we can stay there for a few days once you’ve made a full recovery.”
With that, he carried her out of the car. She was doing everything she could to make it hard for him. Carrying her with one hand, he stuck. another into her coat and gripped her slender feet, keeping them from moving.
Staring at her intensely, he said, “You cared about being dignified. Aren’t you concerned that you’re embarrassing yourself before our
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servants?”
He proceeded to carry her into the living room. Then, he climbed the stairs and arrived at their bedroom. Opening the door, he set her down on the bed.
The soft bed sunk as she lay on it. It felt and smelled familiar as she was pinned down by him. However, all of this made her feel sick.
It was sufficiently warm in the entire manor. He unbuttoned her coat, revealing her patient’s gown that enveloped her fair body. Bruises and blunt trauma could still be seen, but they weren’t hideous at all. Instead, they invited sympathy and an urge to shower her with love.
Brushing his fingers across them, he stared at her and asked, “Do they still hurt?”
She glowered in response.
Gulping, he leaned in close, pressed his cheeks to her neck, and murmured, “I’m well aware that you hate me. Still, I’m not going to let you go. You won’t come back if I do, will you?”
She didn’t say anything to him.
Then, he pressed his body against hers and embraced her tightly. The next thing he knew, he was kissing her. Lust wasn’t the only thing that prompted this action, he was also eager to establish an intimacy with her by having sex with her.
Zoe turned her head away angrily.
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