"M-Mr. Lawson?"

Her legs went weak, and her words came out in a stutter, all her previous bravado gone.

After all, everyone knew that Mason Lawson was the true head of the Lawson family. Even Julian wouldn’t dare to act out of line in front of his uncle.

Mason Lawson now stood before her, looking down at Charlotte Vaughn from his towering height.

The man’s deep eyes were ice-cold as he spoke with crushing authority. "So you’re aware that you’ll soon be Julian’s wife, a member of our Lawson family?"

Charlotte Vaughn froze for a moment before nodding quickly.

Mason Lawson’s tone grew even sharper. "The Lawsons do not make a spectacle of themselves in places like this. You haven’t even married into the family, yet you’re already throwing our name around to bully others. If Julian married you, should I offer you my seat as CEO of the Lawson Group as well?"

Charlotte Vaughn’s teeth chattered in fear as she tried to explain, "I... Mr. Lawson, I would never dare to think such a thing. I... I was just joking with my sister."

Mason Lawson paid her explanation no mind, simply spitting out a single, cold word, "Scram!"

Receiving this command, Charlotte Vaughn fled as if granted amnesty. She was so nervous and scared that she nearly tripped and fell. Thankfully, her posse of good-for-nothing friends caught her, and they all scrambled away in disgrace.

Eve Vaughn watched the backs of Charlotte and her gang as they scurried away, and she let out a small sigh of relief.

A smile played on her rose-colored lips. She actually reached out and patted Mason Lawson’s chest, saying, "You really know how to handle things, Mr. Lawson! Did you see how pathetic Charlotte looked?"

Mason Lawson’s dark, heavy gaze fell on the young woman’s face.

Under the influence of alcohol, a faint blush colored her fair cheeks, and her normally clear, lively eyes were now glazed over with a dreamy haze.

He knew she was already drunk. If she were sober, Eve Vaughn would have probably thanked him with awkward formality.

But now, the girl could barely even stand. She tried to sit back down in her chair but missed, nearly falling to the floor.

Fortunately, Mason Lawson caught her by the arm with one hand and pulled her up. He then ordered his assistant, "Neil, get the car. We’re going home."

And just like that, without so much as a word to his friends, Mason Lawson left the bar with Eve Vaughn.

Eric Kendall was completely stunned.

Jonah Spencer and Hamilton Hale, who knew a little of the backstory beforehand, were surprised by Mason’s actions but not to the point of shock.

But Eric Kendall was a different story.

"What’s going on?" he exclaimed. "Mason is actually getting together with Julian Lawson’s ex-girlfriend? That’s... that’s just not right. There’s a whole generation between them!"

Hamilton Hale shot him a look. "It’s only an eight or ten-year age gap. What’s so ’not right’ about it? If I recall, you had a fling with a wild little model who had just turned eighteen, didn’t you?"

Eric Kendall rubbed his nose awkwardly. "How is that the same thing? I didn’t know that model from Adam; we just had a brief thing. But Eve Vaughn is Mason’s niece-in-law!"

Hamilton Hale corrected him, "His former niece-in-law."

Seeing that Hamilton Hale was just as unfazed by the situation as he was, Jonah Spencer asked, "When did you find out?"

He thought for a moment. "About half a month ago. I saw it with my own two eyes at Mason’s house!"

A gossipy look spread across Eric Kendall’s face as he pressed, "Saw what? Give me the details."

Jonah Spencer pouted, cursing inwardly. That bastard Mason is so disloyal. He told him to keep it a secret, making it seem like he was the first one to know.

Back then, he even thought Mason considered him his best friend. Turns out, Hamilton was the first to know all along!

...

In the spacious back seat of the business van, Eve Vaughn was slumped against Mason Lawson, swaying this way and that.

The girl’s cheeks were flushed, and she was muttering drunken nonsense.

"Mr. Lawson, where are you taking me?" Eve Vaughn hiccuped, her voice soft and slurred. "I’m not going home with you, you know. You took advantage of me last time!"

Mason Lawson’s face darkened instantly. He straightened her up and said coldly, "You’re drunk."

"Ngh... I’m not drunk!" The girl shook her head, trying to prove she was sober. "And you won’t even admit it? That last time... during the power outage, I remember everything! No, you have to take me back to school. I can’t let you take advantage of me again!"

In the driver’s seat, Neil wished he were deaf. He was terrified that if this continued and he heard something he shouldn’t, Mr. Lawson would banish him to the Zuldazar branch office, never to return.

The whole way, Eve Vaughn kept muttering drunkenly, talking for a bit, pausing, and then crying for a bit.

During the latter half of the ride, the girl’s crying grew more intense. She sobbed, "I don’t dare mess with you Lawsons anymore! You’re all monsters who devour people whole! Julian Lawson is a bastard, a total mama’s boy!"

Mason Lawson’s face was dark the entire time as he cursed inwardly, "I’ve been playing the philanthropist, paying your tuition and your mother’s medical bills! And what do you do? Instead of staying at school, you run off to a bar late at night to get wild, and in the end, it’s still all because of Julian Lawson!"

Then again, he thought, a relationship that lasted from middle school through high school and into college isn’t exactly easy to get over.

By the time the car reached the villa, Eve Vaughn seemed to have tired herself out from her outburst and had fallen asleep on his shoulder. She was curled up against him like a docile little kitten. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Only then did Mason Lawson’s gaze soften. Moving gently, he scooped her up into his arms and walked straight into the villa.

Just as they got inside, the girl in his arms woke up.

Mason Lawson set her down and instructed Mrs. Linton to prepare some soup to help her sober up.

Eve Vaughn tilted her head, her eyes even more dazed. "Ngh... Julian, you’re here! I knew you wouldn’t abandon me!"

The moment the words left her mouth, Mason Lawson’s eyes narrowed dangerously, a cold glint flashing within them.

Eve Vaughn was completely plastered, utterly oblivious to her current situation.

"Julian, why aren’t you smiling? C’mere, give me a kiss!"

She threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss from her pink, plump lips onto his cold, hard face.

The girl said in a tender, young voice, "You used to be so happy whenever I kissed you, grinning like an idiot! Why aren’t you smiling now?"

Her soft body, giving off the unique, sweet scent of a young woman, squirmed restlessly in his arms, causing Mason Lawson’s dark eyes to grow murkier.

His Adam’s apple bobbed in his dry throat. His voice was unbelievably hoarse, but he clung to his last shred of reason as he reminded her in a cold tone, "Eve Vaughn, take a good look at who I am."

"Ngh... It’s Julian!" Her eyes suddenly turned misty as she choked out, "Julian, you know you wronged me, don’t you? It was me. I was the one who saved you. Why are you treating me like this?"

With every word she spoke, Mason Lawson’s expression darkened further. Finally, he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her into the bathroom.