It was close to noon by the time the servants found Zoe in the study.

It was day, but the lights were still on. Zoe was lying flat on the wooden desk. A black bathrobe was all she was wearing. All the evidence of Mason's lust and her body's reaction to it had all but dried up on her body.

Her eyes were closed and there were the salt trails of dried tears on her cheeks. Lying there motionless, her face was unusually flushed. The servant touched her and found that she was burning up.

Frightened, she yelled, “Ms. Zoe has got a fever!” She was old and she had been married too. It didn’t take her too long to figure out what caused the fever. She called Mason immediately but nobody picked up.

At that moment, Mason was having a meeting with the higher-ups of the Lockwood Corporation. There was a big project and he was ready to take it on, but the top management staff and shareholders had more conservative ideas. They thought he was moving too quickly and that it was too risky.

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