The Billionaire Who Saved Me - Chapter 16: Chapter 16

"I'm moving out. I'm not living with you." I was furious, feeling like Mason had played me.
There was no way he'd just forgotten to tell me. And thinking back to how conveniently he'd shown up in the afternoon, I figured it was obvious someone had tipped him off.
The more I thought about how every move I made was probably being monitored, the more I wanted to explode.
"You're my girlfriend. Living together keeps up appearances. Let's go," Mason said, then walked out ahead of me.
What he said made sense, so I had no choice but to follow him home without another word.
After dinner, the sky slowly darkened, and the more it did, the more anxious I felt. Just thinking about what had happened last night made my face burn. I was scared he'd suddenly come into my room and try to sleep with me.
Luckily, I was overthinking it. The whole night passed peacefully.
But I didn't sleep well because I was worried about my mom's condition. When I came out of the room the next morning, my dark circles were huge. Just as I stepped out, Mason walked out from the room across from mine.
"Good morning," I greeted him with a yawn.
Mason gave me a long look. "You don't look so good." Then he headed downstairs to the dining room without waiting for a response.
I followed behind him, glaring hard. If Mason hadn't stopped me from seeing my mom, would I be walking around with these huge dark circles under my eyes?
"You have a problem with me?" Mason suddenly stopped and turned around. I crashed right into his chest. It was firm and solid, and the impact actually hurt a little.
"What's wrong with you? Why'd you stop like that?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I was talking to my sponsor. I quickly backtracked. "I don't have a problem with you."
"If you've got an issue, say it to my face. Don't mess around behind my back. If no one sees it, what's the point?" he said as he pointed to a mirror in the corner of the living room.
I felt so awkward I didn't know what to say. My face flushed red and I stayed quiet. Thankfully, Mason changed the subject. "After breakfast, I'll go to work with you."
"What? Why are you everywhere?" I forgot all about being embarrassed and raised my voice without thinking.
Mason ignored me and headed straight to the dining table. The housekeeper had already brought breakfast out.
I kept my head down as I ate, not in the mood. I'd originally planned to sneak off to the hospital to see my mom after we left, but now that was completely out of the question.
After breakfast, we headed out together. The driver-slash-bodyguard had already parked the car at the front gate waiting for us.
On the way to the office, Mason told me that Truxton Group was one of his family's companies.
It finally made sense. No wonder he could easily make me Deputy General Manager. It turned out that Truxton Group belonged to the Knight family.
I remembered Oliver mentioning the company had a powerful background, but I never imagined I'd end up tied to the actual owner.
I had already known from the island that Mason was powerful, but now it was clear I had underestimated him.
"Ms. Gordon, we've arrived," the driver said.
At some point, we had arrived at the office. As we got out of the car, Mason gave me a command. "Take my arm."
I knew he was trying to make a statement, but I still felt it was odd how quiet it was at the entrance. There wasn't a single person there to greet him. "Why is it so quiet out here?" I asked.
When I first took the job, the welcome was over the top. There was no way Mason's appearance should go unnoticed.
He got my point and said, with a double meaning, "I like peace and quiet."
I shut up immediately, realizing I was being too chatty.
Even though no one was outside waiting, Xander was already standing by the elevator. As soon as he saw us, he put on a wide grin. "Good morning, Mr. Knight, Ms. Gordon."
"Yeah." Mason gave a slight nod.
"Good morning, Mr. Anderson," I smiled. Unlike Mason, I couldn't afford to act arrogant. After all, the man in front of us was still technically my boss.
Xander, plump and eager, walked on Mason's other side like a lapdog. Xander seemed nervous, wiping sweat from his forehead nonstop, which actually made him kind of funny to watch.
We walked straight into the conference room. Even though it wasn't officially office hours yet, the room was already packed.
The moment we stepped inside, everyone stood up and applauded in unison. There wasn't any flashy welcome ceremony, but this was definitely a much warmer reception than the one I got.
The three most prominent seats were still empty. Mason walked to the middle one and waved for everyone to sit down. Then he asked, "Has Mr. Cooke from Marketing arrived?"
"Y-yes, I'm here." Oliver stood up, looking uneasy.
I had to hand it to him. After everything that happened yesterday—public humiliation in front of the staff and the harm he caused my mom—Olive still had the nerve to show up.
All eyes turned to Oliver. Some were sympathetic, some curious, some just waiting for drama.
I thought Mason was about to stand up for me. But he didn't. "Mr. Cooke, can you get me all the performance reports from the past ten years by noon today?"
Oliver looked completely dumbfounded, staring at Mason like he couldn't believe what he just heard. Honestly, I figured everyone in the room was probably thinking the same thing.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Cooke?" Mason asked again when Oliver didn't respond for a long while.
"No, no problem. I'll go get started. I mean, I'll wait until the meeting's over," Oliver answered.
Laughter filled the room, and the atmosphere instantly lightened. Then Mason called on several other department managers, all with work-related issues. I pretended to listen intently, but the truth was, I barely understood a word.
Still, those months of training hadn't been for nothing. At least I knew when to stay silent. If I didn't open my mouth, no one would know I didn't have a clue.
Just when I was starting to drift off, the meeting finally wrapped up. Everyone clapped enthusiastically as Mason exited the conference room.
I started heading back to my office, planning to sneak in a nap while everyone's attention was elsewhere. My brain needed the recovery time if I was going to deal with Oliver properly.
But Mason's voice suddenly ruined my plan. "Ms. Gordon, my assistant didn't come along today. Would you mind filling in?"
I asked, "Can I say no?"
He gave a cold laugh. "What do you think?"
In the end, I trailed behind Mason like some kind of assistant-for-the-day.
Working as Mason's assistant was absolute hell. The guy was a complete workaholic. All morning long, I was running around like crazy, constantly being ordered to do something. Mason said, "Ms. Gordon, find me the blue folder—third one in the first stack."
Then, he demanded, "Kate, go get the ninth notebook from the right on the third shelf of the fourth cabinet to the left."
And right after that, another order came in. "Make me a cup of coffee."
"Print three copies of this document," he added.
By the time it was almost noon, I collapsed on the couch and played possum.
"Kate?" Mason called. "Katherine."
I kept my eyes shut and didn't say a word no matter how many times he called me.