Verdict

Lisa had just gotten back home, she had been with her friend for the entire day and was hoping her brother would work late. When she got home and saw his car, she just knew he would be waiting for her to come back so he could lecture her about how dangerous it was for her to drive alone at night, how irresponsible she was being and probably threatened to hire a bodyguard that would double as a spy. Mason tended to overreact even in perfectly normal scenarios and she wouldn't put it past him to pull another crazy move like he did when he hired Bryan. When a maid told her that Mr Mason was up in his room and he had been there since he got back, she felt a ray of hope. Perhaps she could get to her own room, change and he would never know how long she had been gone.

Mason stretched on his bed, he felt more relaxed after the nap. He wondered if Lisa had gotten back while he was asleep, if she had, he would talk to her during dinner. He stood up and left his room rubbing his eyes to clear the remaining sleep in them. He met Lisa as he was going downstairs, it seems she had just gotten back and was apparently hurrying to her room. They stopped in front of each other, silent for a while and he was about to talk before Lisa spoke quickly "Look Mason, before you freak out, I wasn't out doing drugs or cliff diving or whatever you're thinking right now. I was with one of my girlfriend, she has a date and asked me to help her get ready. I came home immediately after"

Mason didn't say anything, he felt a little guilty that Lisa thought she had to explain every bit of her movement to him. Lisa, mistaking his silence for disbelief started to talk again "Mason if you don't believe me you can just…."she trailed off as her brother pulled her into a hug

"I'm sorry Lisa" he said quietly

"Um….okay?" she replied a little confused

He pulled back and held her shoulders looking into her confused eyes "I know this might sound hard to believe but starting now, I'm going to stop this overprotective big brother thing okay? I mean obviously it won't be easy for me to accept that I can't protect you from everything and everyone but I'm going to try really hard because I do trust you to make responsible decisions and I want you to be happy"

Lisa was even more confused, she had been preparing for a fight when she met him on the stairs and this was the opposite of what she was expecting. "Mason you're acting weird" she said suspiciously, he could be setting a trap for her

Mason chuckled "See, you thinking I'm acting weird when this should be normal shows how crazy I've been and I really am sorry"

Lisa's jaw dropped open, what was going on with her brother. She stood on her toes and placed the back of her hand on his forehead to check if he had a fever "Are you okay Mason? You didn't hit your head did you? You must have overworked yourself you idiot, I should ask Mary to call the doctor" she said turning around to go downstairs. Mason laughed and pulled her back "I'm fine Lisa, really. You should get changed and let's have dinner. I'll wait for you" he stepped around her and bounded down the stairs. Lisa's watched him go with her mouth open again "what just happened?" She said to no one in particular. She shook her head and went into her room to prepare for dinner.

Mason didn't see Lisa before leaving for work but he was very happy about their last encounter. He knew Lisa was still confused about his words but with time she'd know he meant to keep his promise, they had had a great time together at dinner. She talked about her friend that she helped get ready, joking that she should drop out of college and be a stylist instead and was surprised when Mason actually laughed at the joke.

This morning, he didn't go directly to his office instead he went to see his best friend. He was in high spirits, and he knew seein Evans would make him feel even better, he couldn't wait to hear what his friend thought about his decision. "Busy?" He asked as he poked his head into Evans office, feeling warm all over when Evans looked up with a bright smile at the sound of his voice

"Oh not at all. We both know I'm the laziest person here" Evans responded as Mason came in as sat opposite him "Although with the way things are going, you might take that title from me, have you even settled in your office yet?" He asked teasing his friend

"Hey I'm the boss, I'm allowed to be lazy" Mason shot back as they both grinned at each other while his stomach somersaulted

They talked for a while before something popped into Mason's mind "You would not believe what Bryan found yesterday" he said suddenly making Evans raise an eyebrow.

"Why don't you tell me and let me decide whether or not to believe it"

"The Halloween photo" Mason said feeling satisfied at the look of surprise on Evans' face

"You mean the photo you either buried or burned to clear all evidence that you were ever captured to be eaten?" Evans replied smirking

Mason loved that his friend knew what he was talking about without him having to explain "You're no different than Lisa honestly. I told you both that I simply misplaced it and now I can prove it. It got lost in one of my old files and it's in my office right now" he said smugly

"You should keep that photo away from me because if I get it, I'm going to have it enlarged and put on every billboard within a ten mile radius" Evans said pretending to stroke an evil moustache

"You should probably wait till you can move to Mars because that is the only place I wouldn't hunt you down" Mason replied grinning at the look of mock horror on Evans' face.

"I talked to Lisa last night, I realized you both were right. I've been overprotective and it's time to stop. You should see her face when I said that to her, she really thought I was sick. I've decided to trust her more and stop interfering with her choices" he said seriously

"Hm, I'd say you should go for it but it's a little too late in the year for a new resolution isn't it?" Evans teased making Mason roll his eyes. He was also surprised that Mason admitted he was overprotective, he and Lisa had always told him so but he had never really accepted and he decided to ask Mason what changed his mind

Mason told his friend how he had realised that his actions weren't making Lisa happy and how he had decided to take a step back from parenting her, he hadn't been entirely sure of that decision but when Evans said him he was glad and that he was proud of Mason, the warm feeling in his body told him that he had made the right decision.

He left Evans' office, stealing one last glance at his friend who was now flipping through some documents, committing his face to memory and went into his office. He had made a promise and he intended to stick to it. Today, he was going to take the first step of keeping his promise to Lisa. Before he went into his office, he stopped to talk to Ben, the man was after all his secretary and the decision would affect him too. If Ben was surprised by what Mason said, he didn't let it show, that was one of the reasons Mason was glad he had Ben as his secretary, the man was very professional. He went into his office and to his surprise, Bryan was waiting for him, grinning. He seemed to be in a really good mood and dread settled over Mason

Bryan had arrived early, he wanted to get to the office before Mason did so he could show his boss what he had done. Mason may have hired him because of his sister but he had given Bryan a chance nonetheless and he planned to prove that could live up to any expectations. Mason did this for his sister and he, Bryan, was not going to make Mason regret that decision.

"Good morning boss" he said brightly and before Mason could respond, he walked over to the cabinet and opened the door displaying a neat stack of colour coded files "So like I said, I wanted to arrange everything in a better way. Now the blue files are the ones you haven't looked at yet, the ones I just transcribed and all. The yellow, you've seen but you're not done with yet and the green are those you're totally done with and they are arranged according to how old they are. So if you're looking for a green file from like a year ago, you'd start from the bottom row" he finished proudly waiting for Mason's comment.

"That's great work Bryan" Mason said feeling slightly sick as Bryan smiled brightly. He walked over to his seat and gestured for Bryan to sit opposite him

"Okay Bryan, you have done a really good job, not just with the files but generally. However I'm afraid this is going to work out anymore" he said watching as Bryan's smile froze

"What do you mean?" Bryan said with a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach

"I'm sorry but you can't work here anymore"