Chapter 3
In the early hours of the morning, I returned to the apartment I shared with Mason. He wasn’t home,
but it hardly mattered to me now.
As I packed my bags, the TV news showed the Luxe Enterprises CEO and his fiancée Piper Reynolds attending some gala. I watched the perfectly matched couple without feeling much of anything.
Just as I finished packing and was about to leave, the door opened. Mason appeared.
The moment he saw me, he rushed over and grabbed my hand.
“Where were you last night? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
I froze for a moment, then pulled my hand from his grasp.
‘I was with my mother. I turned off my phone so I wouldn’t disturb her rest.”
At the mention of my mother, guilt flashed across Mason’s face as he remembered what he’d said
earlier.
‘I’ll arrange the best specialists to look after her.”
He pulled out a small box and pressed it into my hands.
‘This is what I promised to give your mom.”
opened it instinctively. Inside was a bracelet–the authentic version of the costume piece my nother had cherished for years.
stood there, stunned.
Once upon a time, Mason had held my mother’s hand and solemnly promised that someday he would give her the priceless real version of her beloved bracelet.
Mom had smiled then. She never cared whether the bracelet was real or not–she just wanted it from Mason, from the son–in–law she approved of. That would’ve been enough to make her happy.
But that was before.
20:32
Chapter 3
I closed the box and handed it back to him.
“You can give it to her yourself sometime.”
Mason frowned slightly. In the past, I’d always made the choices he expected of me. My polite detachment now made me a stranger to him.
Unease crept into his expression as he gripped my hand tighter.
“How is your mom’s health…”
Just then, Piper appeared, slipping her arm through Mason’s.
“Mase, I want to stay in this room!” she announced, pointing at my bedroom.
“That room is taken,” Mason replied, turning quickly to explain to me: “She’s just a friend, staying here temporarily for work.”
He stared at me intently, clearly expecting me to refuse the arrangement.
Instead, I nodded without hesitation. “She can have the room. I need to be with my mother anyway.”
Before I could change my mind, Piper darted into my bedroom triumphantly.
Mason looked stunned. Only then did he notice the luggage in my hand.
He pressed his lips together, holding my hand tightly, refusing to let go. The guilt in his eyes deepened until finally, amid Piper’s impatient calls from inside, he said quietly:
“Tomorrow, I’ll visit your mom.”
