Mason rejected her advice.

Looking at her quietly, he said, “I’m perfectly calm now. I don’t need your pity, Zoe, and I certainly don’t appreciate being treated like a charity case. I want you to leave!”

She froze where she stood and asked him softly, “Why would you say something like this?!”

He didn’t respond to her immediately.

Instead, he stared at her intensely. After a long time, he took a cigarette out of his front pocket with trembling fingers and lit it with his one good hand.

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