Chapter 19 - THE LAST THING MASON OWNED
Mason was charged months later after a grand jury reviewed the financial evidence.
The charges centered on financial fraud, false statements connected to financing, misuse of corporate structures, and obstruction-related conduct.
His lawyers fought every count.
Divorce proceedings continued separately.
By then Natalie was thirty-six weeks pregnant.
She attended only what required her presence.
At the final major corporate hearing, Mason saw her for the first time in nearly two months.
He looked thinner.
Older.
Still handsome.
Still capable of making strangers believe he belonged at the center of something important.
He requested five minutes alone with her.
Rachel said no.
Natalie said yes.
Security remained outside.
Mason sat across from her.
“I suppose you’re happy.”
“No.”
“You won.”
“This isn’t winning.”
“You have the company.”
“I’m appointing a permanent independent chairman.”
Mason stared.
“You’re giving it away?”
“No.”
“I’m governing it responsibly.”
He laughed softly.
“You always hated business.”
“I hated your version of it.”
His eyes moved to her stomach.
“Is she okay?”
Natalie’s expression hardened slightly.
“Yes.”
“Can I…”
He stopped.
“What?”
“Can I be there when she’s born?”
Natalie looked at him.
The question hurt in a way his insults never had.
Because beneath everything, he was still her daughter’s father.
But fatherhood was not a pass.
It was a responsibility.
“That will depend on the court, the hospital, and what is medically safe.”
His mouth tightened.
“You can’t erase me.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Natalie took a slow breath.
“Setting boundaries you spent eight years teaching me I wasn’t allowed to have.”
Mason looked down.
“I did love you.”
Natalie believed him.
That was the tragedy.
Some people loved only within the limits of their own selfishness.
“I know.”
He looked surprised.
Natalie continued.
“But you loved being trusted more than you loved being trustworthy.”
Mason’s eyes closed.
That was the sentence that finally reached him.
Not the charges.
Not the money.
Not Vivian.
Not Benjamin.
That.
When he opened his eyes, Natalie was standing.
“I hope someday you become the kind of father she deserves.”
He whispered:
“And if I don’t?”
Natalie rested her hand over her daughter.
“Then she will still grow up knowing what love is supposed to look like.”
She walked to the door.
“Natalie.”
She turned.
Mason looked around the empty conference room.
No empire.
No mistress.
No lawyers inside.
No employees waiting for his approval.
Only him.
“What do I have left?”
Natalie thought about it.
Then answered honestly.
“The truth.”
A pause.
May you like
“What you do with it is the last thing that’s still yours.”
She left.
