Chapter 271
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Mason had snuffed out his cigarette and was looking out the window by the time Zoe got out of the bathroom. He didn’t turn his head around when he heard footsteps behind him.
Putting his phone on the bar counter, he said softly, “Lockwood Corporation has tens of thousands of employees and most of its business in Brookesville. You know very well that I can’t move to Silvercrest. I can’t just uproot my company!”
He probably found out about her plans, Zoe thought.
Walking over, his back was still turned to her when she checked his phone for a few seconds before putting it back down.
“You knew.”
“Do you want to know what I know? Turning to the side, he looked at her and asked gently, “I know that you don’t love me and that you want to leave me. Have you given some thought to it and decided this was the most unprovocative way to leave me?
“You counted on our marriage going stale and taking our kid with you when I no longer cared about our family. Is that it?”
She didn’t deny it. She’d be disrespecting both of them if she continued to pretend that it wasn’t true. So, she responded, “You’re right.”
Both of them finally cast away the masks they were presumably wearing before and bared their souls to each other in the dead of
night.
Staring at him, she sobbed as she said, “I want to leave you, Mason. Isn’t it logical that I no longer want to be with you? You used to say
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that I don’t love you. Pray, tell. What is there for me to love?
“Am I supposed to keep loving you when you distrusted me or slapped me for Lilith’s sake? How do you figure I’d still love you when you listened to a song you thought she played in the middle of the night?
“I used to toy around with the idea that we can be amicable parents for our baby! However, that slap gave me the much-needed wake-up call!
“You asked for it. So, here it is. Ever since you came back from overseas, I felt sick to the core every time we had sex!”
It was quiet in the night.
Mason’s back was turned to the window. He stared at Zoe for a long time, trying to process and confirm that she meant everything she
said.
The fact was, she wasn’t kidding around. She wanted to leave him!
She wanted to leave him so badly that she had faked the entire thing. They had an intimate moment in the fitting room and she was calling. out his name while sitting on his lap last night. It was all fake. She was, in fact, sickened by him!
Mason felt sorry for himself.
This was the moment when he finally knew that they could no longer go back to the way it was.
Taking a step back, he leaned on the window. The glass was chilly but he wore a blank expression and said softly, “I also thought having a baby meant we could start over, Zoe.”
He had visited his grandma that day and she told him to treat Zoe
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well, now that she was pregnant. He had
romised his grandma that
he’d do it. That was why he had decided to pretend that nothing happened as long as she was willing to change her mind about leaving him.
He fully intended to look after her and their baby!
However, Zoe wouldn’t have it. She would’ve left him right there and then if she could!
His heart sank! He even thought about letting her go at this moment. He might have willingly granted her wish if he hadn’t been concerned about regretting the decision. So, he merely stood there for a long time, waiting futilely for Zoe to change her mind.
The crystal chandelier hung above as he looked at her, hopelessness filling his eyes. In the end, he said softly, “We’ll talk about this again after Yanni is born.”
Zoe flinched at what he said. He looked at her wordlessly for a few more seconds before leaving her room in the dead of night.
He should just give it up, Mason thought to himself.
He should give up this marriage that he fought so hard to win back.
It was time to let things end.
Mason took a flight back to Brookesville that night. They might not have split up officially, but they were at the end of the road. They would’ve parted ways immediately if it wasn’t for their baby. After all, how were they supposed to sleep in the same bed after the way they hurt each other?
Three days later, Zoe flew back to Brookesville as well. The first thing. she did was visit Liam in his law firm. It was still the same office and he still stood in front of the same set of windows. What was different
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this time was that he chose to drink black coffee instead of smoking a cigar.
Flipping through the documents, he looked at Zoe, who sat across the table. Her face was a little pale because Noah’s court date kept getting pushed back. It didn’t take a genius to guess the reason causing it.
She asked him, “Is there something going on behind the scenes?”
Instead of answering her immediately, he took a sip of his coffee and pondered a little before saying, “The Sanders Group case is very complicated and its effects are far-reaching. Your father was tangled up in several cases and they wouldn’t let it go.
“Needless to say, Mason has taken care of the most complex cases, but there was a case that slipped through. Noah decided to take the hit for your father!”
It was a cruel fact, but he had to tell her the truth. “I’ll try my best, but I can’t guarantee a victory.”
A chill crept up all over Zoe.
After a long time, she raised her eyes and asked softly, “What’s the worst-case scenario? How long will he be in jail?”
“Two years!” He opened the window and allowed some light to shine into his office. Then, he said to her, “I visited Noah and he said it was worth it as long as you got back your freedom.”
Turning around, he looked at her. “The choice is yours, Zoe.”
She didn’t answer him on the spot.
On her way back, she passed by Lockwood Hospital and she saw a familiar silhouette. It was Eric. Mason once promised her that Lilith’s parents would never return to Brookesville, but there he was, in the hospital.
It also seemed that Mason was no longer intervening in the Sanders Group’s lawsuit. It looked like she was about to have some dire
situations on her hands.
However, she was calm and collected when she ran her hands across her belly.
Such was the price she had to pay to earn her freedom.
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