Chapter 157: Choosing Each Other

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: Choosing Each Other

The cold night air hit Audrey the moment the front doors closed behind them.

She walked next to Mason down the wide stone steps. She kept her eyes locked on the paved driveway, wrapping her arms around her own waist. The interrogation still echoed in her ears.

Mason noticed her silence. He slowed his pace.

"Audrey."

Victoria’s voice called out from the grand entryway.

Audrey turned around. Victoria stepped out into the crisp air, wrapping a light shawl around her shoulders. She walked down the steps, bypassing her son and stopping right in front of Audrey.

"Don’t take Richard’s words tonight as his final opinion of you," Victoria said.

Audrey managed a small, polite smile. "I will try."

"He is difficult," Victoria admitted candidly. "Especially when he feels his family or his company is threatened. But he will come around."

Audrey did not feel convinced. The look in Richard’s eyes had been unyielding.

Victoria tilted her head, studying Audrey’s face for a long moment.

"Come spend a day with me sometime," Victoria offered.

Audrey blinked. "With you?"

"I own a luxury cooking studio in the city," Victoria smiled warmly. "You can help me decide what we are serving at the next private event."

Mason looked at his mother. "Mom, you are recruiting her already?"

Victoria gave her son a highly amused look. "Someone has to."

Audrey felt a genuine rush of warmth in her chest. It was her very first invitation into the Calloway family that had zero conditions attached. It was not an interrogation. It was an olive branch.

Victoria reached out and squeezed Audrey’s hand.

"Do not let tonight make you question your place beside my son," Victoria said quietly.

Audrey swallowed the lump in her throat. "Thank you."

Victoria smiled once more and turned back toward the house.

The car ride back to the city was quiet. The streetlights flickered rhythmically across the dashboard.

Mason kept glancing at her from the driver’s seat. His grip on the steering wheel was tight.

"Are you okay?" Mason asked.

"I’m fine," Audrey said. She stared out the passenger window, watching the city skyline grow larger.

Mason merged onto the highway. "You are doing that thing."

"What thing?"

"Pretending you are fine because you do not want me to worry."

Audrey let out a long breath. She leaned her head against the cool glass of the window.

"Your father’s words got to me," Audrey admitted.

Mason stayed quiet, letting her speak.

"Not because I think I don’t belong here," Audrey clarified. "But because I hate the thought of being viewed as someone who could damage your family."

Mason shifted in his seat.

"My father’s opinion doesn’t determine whether you belong with me," Mason said.

Audrey turned her head and looked at his profile. The sharp jaw. The focused, protective eyes.

"You really aren’t embarrassed by me?" Audrey asked.

Mason snapped his head toward her. He looked genuinely offended.

"Audrey," Mason warned.

She saw the flash of real hurt in his eyes. He hated that she would even ask the question.

"I’m sorry," she whispered. "I know."

They walked into the apartment thirty minutes later. The space felt tiny compared to the sprawling estate they just left, but it felt remarkably safe. The door clicked shut behind them.

Mason immediately went into overdrive.

He took her coat and hung it in the closet. He walked into the kitchen and poured her a glass of water. He brought it back to the living room and placed it on the coffee table. He reached over and switched on the small reading lamp.

"Do you want me to turn up the heat?" Mason asked, scanning the room.

Audrey stood by the sofa, watching him pace. "No, I’m okay."

"What do you want to eat? I will cook. You didn’t eat much at the dinner."

Audrey let out a soft laugh.

Mason stopped pacing. "What?"

"Mason."

"What?" he repeated.

"Stop."

He frowned. "Stop what?"

"Trying to fix me."

He paused. He looked down at the floor, then back up at her.

"I’m not trying to fix you," Mason said softly.

He took a slow step closer.

"I’m trying to take care of you."

The words bypassed all her defensive walls. After the brutal interrogation at the dinner, after the massive corporate coverup, she realized just how much she needed him to be right here. She needed the grounding force of his presence.

Instead of answering, Audrey closed the distance between them.

She reached up and kissed him.

It started soft. A gentle press of lips. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down. The kiss deepened.

Mason let out a surprised breath before his arms locked securely around her waist. He responded with a fierce, hungry intensity. The kiss carried all the pent up frustration and fear they had been holding in since they arrived at the Calloway estate.

Audrey finally pulled back, just enough to look into his dark eyes. Her chest heaved.

"I missed you," Audrey said.

Mason smiled a very faint, confused smile. "You were sitting beside me less than an hour ago."

Audrey shook her head.

"Not tonight," she clarified.

She meant the years they lost. The long stretch of time they spent in different cities, living different lives, pretending they did not care.

The frantic energy melted into something much more intimate.

"I spent years convincing myself that being without you was something I just had to survive," Audrey admitted. Her voice was a quiet murmur in the dim room.

Mason’s expression softened. He reached up and traced the line of her cheekbone with his thumb.

Audrey leaned into his touch. "I have been away from you for so long. Sometimes I still can’t believe I get to have you again."

Mason looked at her like she was the only thing existing in the world.

"You never stopped being the person I wanted," Mason said.

The words hit her right in the chest. There was no audience here. No cameras. No fake relationship contract. No rich father judging her background. It was just the two of them.

Audrey looked up at him.

"I love you," Audrey said.

There was no hesitation this time. She did not stumble over the words.

Mason did not miss a single beat.

"I love you too."

They were saying it as adults. People who had already lost each other once and refused to do it again.

Audrey pulled him back down by his collar. She kissed him again. Harder this time.

She backed him toward the narrow hallway, never breaking the kiss. Her hands tangled in his hair.

Mason let out a low, breathless laugh against her lips.

"Audrey," he murmured.

"What?" she mumbled, kissing his jawline.

"You’re not letting me breathe."

She smiled against his skin.

"I’ve been away from you for years," Audrey reminded him.

She caught his lower lip between her teeth.

"I’m making up for lost time."

Mason let out a ragged breath. He wrapped his arms around her hips and practically lifted her off the floor, carrying her toward the bedroom.

Much later, the apartment was quiet.

The streetlights cast faint shadows across the bedroom wall.

Audrey rested her head on Mason’s chest. They lay beneath the tangled white bedsheets. The steady beat of his heart hummed against her ear.

The conflict with Richard had not disappeared. Miles was still out there, digging into her background. The Calloway company was still drowning in a massive investigation. The storm was waiting right outside the window.

But for one night, neither of them let the outside world cross the threshold of the bedroom.

Audrey shifted slightly. She looked up at his face in the dim light.

"We’re really doing this, aren’t we?" Audrey asked softly.

Mason looked down at her. His eyes were dark and calm.

"Doing what?" Mason asked.

"Choosing each other."

Mason shifted his arm and took her hand, weaving his fingers through hers.

"Every time."