No one answered the phone.

Eve Vaughn was frantic. When she called again, his phone was off.

In that moment, she felt like she was going to lose Mason Lawson.

’He must be incredibly disappointed in me!’

’Otherwise, he wouldn’t have turned off his phone. He’s never done this before.’

Fat tears streamed down her face. Eve Vaughn was like a lost bird, blindly stumbling through the darkness.

She didn’t know where she was going.

But she had to see Mason Lawson right away and explain everything.

Just as she was leaving the school gates, a car pulled up in front of her.

Then, Neil Kane got out and said, "Miss Vaughn, please get in. Mr. Lawson asked me to take you home first."

"Where is he?"

Eve Vaughn finally saw a sliver of hope. She wiped away her tears and asked, "Has Mr. Lawson gone home already?"

Neil Kane sighed. "Mr. Lawson was summoned to the old residence by Old Mr. Lawson. He told me to take you home first and said he’d be back after he’s done."

Eve Vaughn was beside herself with guilt. "I’ve gotten him into trouble again, haven’t I? Since Old Mr. Lawson called him back, will he... use family discipline on him again?"

The thought of the wounds on Mason Lawson’s back made Eve Vaughn’s heart ache with a piercing pain.

Neil Kane could only try to comfort her. "I don’t think so. This incident involves you and Mr. Julian. Even if family discipline is used, Mr. Julian probably won’t escape it either."

Eve Vaughn couldn’t help but defend herself. "It wasn’t me and Julian Lawson! It’s not at all what that post said."

"Well... you should probably explain that clearly to Mr. Lawson later."

Neil Kane broke out in a cold sweat for her. "Old Mr. Lawson already knows. And from what I saw, Mr. Lawson is pretty angry too."

Eve Vaughn got into the car and thanked Neil Kane for telling her all this, which at least gave her time to mentally prepare.

Once home, Eve Vaughn sat on the sofa, waiting anxiously for him to return.

She thought for a long time about how to explain things to Mason Lawson in a way that would make him believe her.

What worried her more was whether Old Mr. Lawson would punish Mason Lawson again because of this.

The image of him being whipped for her sake flashed through her mind, and her eyes stung with tears again, her vision blurring.

Just then, the lock clicked. Eve Vaughn immediately jumped up from the sofa and ran to the entryway.

The man’s expression was grim, his ink-black eyes fixed on her. Even without a word, he radiated an aggressive aura.

Eve Vaughn knew she was in the wrong, so she didn’t dare to look him in the eye. She obediently took his slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed them by his feet.

Mason Lawson changed his shoes and, lips pressed tight in silence, walked straight to the living room.

Eve Vaughn hurried after him. In this suffocatingly tense atmosphere, all the words and explanations she had prepared vanished. Her mind went blank, and she couldn’t utter a single word.

The man sat on the sofa, loosening his tie as if exhausted.

She stood before him with her head lowered, like a child who had done wrong, waiting to be interrogated.

"Come here."

The man’s cold, deep voice echoed in the quiet living room.

Eve Vaughn’s heart skipped a beat, but she still obediently walked over to him.

Mason Lawson reached out, pinched her chin, and forced her to look at him.

Then, in a level tone, he asked, "Julian Lawson says you seduced him, trying to rekindle your old flame?"

"No, that’s not it." Eve Vaughn couldn’t believe Julian Lawson had once again thrown her under the bus.

Afraid he would misunderstand, she explained frantically, "I didn’t! He hugged me first, he—"

Mason Lawson cut her off. "He hugged you, so you just let him? And for that long? Eve Vaughn, don’t you know I don’t tolerate betrayal?"

It was the first time he had ever looked at her with such a cold, dark, and utterly heartless gaze.

Eve Vaughn’s heart sank, bit by bit.

Her last relationship had ended disastrously precisely because of a lack of trust.

It was Mason Lawson who had pulled her out of that mire, but now, he didn’t trust her either.

In that instant, Eve Vaughn finally understood what Mia Kendall had said before: Mason Lawson had Lawson blood flowing through his veins too.

In some ways, that meant he and Julian Lawson were cut from the same cloth.

But wasn’t Eve Vaughn also wronged? Wasn’t she the one who was aggrieved?

Suppressing a bellyful of anger, she retorted, "And what about you, Mr. Lawson? Who have you been with these past few days?"

Mason Lawson froze for a second. ’She must have found out that Joanna Sullivan had also been at the hospital helping to care for the Third Madam.’

But his frown deepened, and his fingers on her chin tightened. "So, this is your reason for having a clandestine meeting with Julian Lawson?"

A clandestine meeting?

Eve Vaughn’s pupils trembled in shock. He actually used those two words!

How utterly humiliating!

"If that’s what you believe, Mr. Lawson, then you must be blind. And I must be blind, too. We were both wrong about each other."

Utterly disappointed, she tried to push his hand away.

But in the next second, Mason Lawson suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms.

His scorching kiss fell upon her lips. It wasn’t gentle like before, but a forceful, almost bruising assault on her mouth, tearing a faint whimper from her throat.

Eve Vaughn was terrified. When it came to things like this, Mason Lawson had always been gentle with her.

In fact, he rarely ever got truly angry with her.

But the Mason Lawson before her now was violent, devoid of all tenderness, as he roughly tore at her shirt.

The more she struggled, the tighter his arm locked around her waist.

Having not seen her for days, on top of being provoked by the scandalous post tonight, Mason Lawson had a fire raging inside him.

This was the only way he could find some small release.

The living room sofa dipped under the man’s rather urgent movements, letting out a creak.