I stared at him blankly for a full minute, not really sure what I was supposed to say to that. The silence was deafening, and I knew that I should say something. But I just couldn't think properly and I didn't know what to say."You're quiet," he said, tilting his head to the side. "Are you okay?""I-I don't know what to say," I replied. "I've just never had a guy ask me to move to a different country with him.""I understand that this is crazy," he said. "But just hear me out for a second."He leaned forward slightly, and if it wasn't for how completely thrown off guard I was, I would probably have marvelled at the boyish charm in his eyes as he said this. He looked so innocent and hopeful, while I was sitting there wondering if I could just turn around and flee from the table. "The thing is," he began, "I haven't felt this way about someone in a very long time. Obviously we're just starting to get to know each other, but there's a part of me that feels like I know you already. I fe
ETHANI’m an idiot. I’ve always known that, and I guess you could say that I always find a way to put myself in these situations. But it’s not like I actively try to do it. It’s not like I want to be idiot. It just happens. I knew I shouldn’t have asked Liv to move back to the States with me. Even as I was about to say it, there was a voice at the back of my mind telling me that it was a stupid move. What sort of woman would drop everything in her life and move with someone? I knew she would say no. I was bracing myself for it. But I would have hated myself even more if I didn’t ask. I knew we were still just getting to know each other, but it still felt like I’d known her for a very long time. Being with her was just so comforting, and it made me realise just how much I had craved this. I hadn’t been in a relationship in over a decade, and I knew that maybe that was part of the reason why I felt so compelled to pour all my attention on the first woman who even looked in my directi
ETHANThe funny thing about your home is that it will never change, no matter how many years you spend without coming back. You might think things are different, until you open the door and realise that everything is exactly as you left it, and that familiar smell will always be there. I didn't realise just how much I'd missed being here until I was standing in the middle of the hallway, looking around and taking it all in once again. I remembered spending most of my life in this building, running around the hallways with Marcus and spraying each other with our water guns, playing hide and seek in any of the twenty-five rooms in the house, or trying to sneak into our father's office whenever he was on a business trip because we knew he had a stash of cigars that we could steal. But that was a lifetime ago. Gone was the warmth of our childhood, or the moments of laughter which would occasionally break through the silence. Now, the house felt dead and empty, like a relic forgotten in
“Okay, spill,” Jess said, leaning over my desk and narrowing her eyes at me. “You’ve been acting weird ever since you got back from Paris. Did something happen out there?”I looked up and simply smiled. I’d been trying not to think about Paris ever since I got back, but that was easier said than done. Even though it had been three days since I came back to London, I still hadn’t gotten back to normal. I thought I was hiding it well, but apparently that wasn’t the case. “It’s nothing, Jess,” I replied. “I’m just exhausted.”“You’ve been exhausted since you came back,” she said. “Even Joanna mentioned that you don’t seem like yourself anymore. Is something wrong?”“I appreciate the concern, Jess,” I said. “But I’m fine. Really.”She wasn’t buying it, so I pretended to focus on something on my screen. Her desk was all the way across the room, so she had to walk all the way back there. But I could tell that she really wanted to keep pressing the matter. She must have realised that I wasn
“So, are you going to do it?” Rachel asked. “I don’t know,” I replied. We were sitting on the balcony, eating a pizza and listening to the neighbours arguing over the broken sink. “It’s a fucking big deal,” she said. “You’ll be Joanna’s equal, and you get to run your own branch however you want it. You get to have subordinates who will fear you, and you’ll have business meetings with influential people. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”“But it’ll also mean I have to go back to New York,” I said. “It would mean going back to my past, and having to deal with the knowledge that Marcus and I are in the same city.”“Fuck Marcus!” Rachel said. “This is about an opportunity falling into your lap, and you can’t let it pass you by. If you don’t do this, then they will simply choose somebody else. Do you really want Jess to take this position over you?”I didn’t know what to say, so I held my tongue. It was true that this would be a huge opportunity, and I would be taking a huge step f
MARCUSEverything was going to hell, right before my eyes. And no matter what I did, there was no stopping it now. Seeing Ethan back like he’d never left was like a shock to my system. When I walked into the stables and found him standing there with our mother, I suddenly felt like I was back in that awful place, when they were always together and I was always left behind. I knew he was her favourite, and that never bothered me. But when he left, I thought things would be different. I thought I could change, and become the person she always wanted him to be. But none of that mattered now. He was back, and we both knew exactly why he decided to come back now. The bastard was trying to capitalise on my moment of weakness. He must have known how bad things had gotten, so he was trying to weasel his way back into our lives. I had gone home with the intention of talking things out with mother and finding a solution to all this. The fact that I chose to step down didn’t mean I wasn’t in
As soon as we landed at J.F.K., my heart started to beat quickly. Maybe it was something in the air. Maybe it was the way I felt like everybody was looking at me. Or maybe it was simply the fact that I still hadn’t come to terms with the reality of coming back. “Well, this is it,” Rachel said as we rolled our bags outside. “I never thought I’ll ever be back here.”“Neither did I,” I replied, pausing to take a deep breath. The air was cold and smelled like smoke, and the noise was deafening. But there was something nostalgic about standing there once again, back in the one place I promised myself I wouldn’t come back to. I was painfully aware of all the things I thought I was walking away from. But now, it all came rushing back. And before I knew it, my fingers were starting to tremble. “Don’t do that,” Rachel said, taking my hand in hers. “Everything is going to be fine.”I smiled weakly at her, and we got a taxi quickly. As we drove into the city, I started to think about how diffe
ETHANFrom the moment I walked into the building, I knew that something was off. Not a single person dared to look at me, and everyone kept their head bowed as they hurried across the main lobby, dashing towards the elevators and glancing over their shoulders to make sure I wasn't going to rip their heads off. At first, I thought everyone just assumed that I was Marcus, and they were absolutely terrified of him. But that didn't make any sense. As far as I knew, Marcus had a close relationship with every single employee of Reynard Tech. And they didn't fear him as much as they respected him. But then, right as I was walking past the front desk, the receptionist nearly tripped over himself as he hurried over towards me, wearing the fakest smile I'd ever seen in my life. "Mr. Reynard!" he exclaimed. "Welcome back. It's a pleasure to have you here again.""Hello, Richard," I said, glancing at his name tag. "But I think there's a mistake somewhere. I'm not Marcus. I—""Oh, we know," he
I hated to say it, but I despised Rosa. I knew I was supposed to be nice to her, and I truly wanted to make her feel safe around us, especially if Ethan was right and her husband was an asshole. But it was so hard to put a smile on my face and continue to act like everything was fine when I could tell that she was attracted to my man. I wasn’t being paranoid. It was very obvious, and you could see it in the way she kept clinging onto him, groping his arm and laughing flirtatiously. I was forced to trail behind them like some sort of unpaid bodyguard, and every time Ethan tried to draw me into the conversation, she would immediately shut me out and bring his attention back to her. “Do you know I spent a month in Greece? It was such a beautiful country. I would lie around on the beach all day long and sunbath with only a bikini on.”“I spent a year in Russia actually. But it was so cold, and I swear my nipples could cut glass by the time I left.”“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stop thin
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside the window. It was almost midday, from how bright the sun was and the warmth in the air. I sat up and stretched lazily, glad that we were having some sunlight at last. I really wanted to go on a hike, and I didn’t want to waste a perfect opportunity like this. Ethan was already out of bed, and I wasn’t surprised. The man never stayed in bed longer than was necessary, and I’d never gotten a chance to wake up before him. I needed to check that off my bucket list, so I could lie awake beside him and watch how handsome he looked while he slept. Almost immediately, I remembered the conversation we’d had yesterday before he’d carried me upstairs and made love to me until we both passed out from exhaustion. As soon as I remembered it, I pushed it to the back of my mind. I wasn’t going to dwell on it at all. I wanted to spend some time with my boyfriend, being happy and enjoying each other’s company instead of dwelling over something like th
For a long time after Ethan said that, I just stared at him in silence. I didn't know what to say or how to act, and my mouth was completely ajar as I desperately tried to figure out what to say. Ethan couldn't meet my gaze after that. He stood up and walked away from me, and I didn't miss the tears in his eyes. He looked like he was completely broken, like he needed someone to pull him back from the edge of the darkness. Except I didn't know if I would be able to do that. I never thought I would have to face something like this. I never thought I would sit across from my boyfriend and hear him tell me that he was a murderer. It was one of those surreal moments that hit you like a truck, and you just didn't know how to process it. What was I supposed to say? How exactly was I supposed to process something like this? Should I just brush it off and tell him that it didn't matter? Should I talk about it until we got to the root of the problem and figured a way out of this mess? Everyt
Someone up in heaven must have been praying for my bad luck, because as soon as Ethan left, the rain came down heavily once again. Every fibre of my being wanted to run after him and tell him to stay with me, but I couldn’t. That would make me seem like a lunatic. And I kept reminding myself that I trusted him, so there was no need to panic. Still, he was gone for almost two hours. I kept looking out the window and waiting for him to show up, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Across the lake, the light was still on over at Rosa’s place, which made me believe that he was still there. I kept trying to pick out his silhouette moving through the house, but that was impossible from this distance. Once I finished cooking, I made my way upstairs to the main bedroom and waited for him to return. I didn’t want to eat without him, so I decided to sit there and wait. But that was worse than torture. Since I didn’t have my phone, there was nothing to do besides worry and overthink and con
Much to Ethan's dismay, we didn't end up showering together. Even though I knew that was what he wanted, I just couldn't stand the idea of us doing that while I was exhausted and smelled like sweat. Besides, knowing him, we wouldn't just be showering. After that, I set about making lunch. There were a few spices in the pantry and some spaghetti, with some corned beef in the fridge and some cheese. While I cooked, Ethan came over and helped me with the vegetables. We'd found the audio system in the house, and Ethan linked it to his Spotify so we could listen to music while we worked. To my surprise, he was an expert in the kitchen. He showed me how to hold the knife and slice the spinach in thin strips, and he knew the exact amount of spice to use so the sauce wouldn't turn out too sweet. "Where did you learn how to do this?" I asked."I spent a summer in Italy learning how to cook," he said with a shrug. "There was this pop-up culinary school that I attended with some friends, and
The drive up to the cabin was long and exhausting. I fell asleep pretty much as soon as we left Manhattan, just as the rain started to fall and Ethan turned on some white noise on the speakers to help me sleep. I ended up dreaming of the first time my dad and I went hunting, and he taught me how to take down a deer. I woke up just as Ethan turned off the highway, and we turned onto a dirt road which was lined on either side by tall trees that formed a canopy overhead. It was late in the afternoon, and the rain was still falling. "Hi Cupcake," Ethan said as I sat up. "Welcome back to the land of the living.""How long was I asleep?" I asked, rubbing my eyes groggily. "An hour and forty five minutes," he replied. "I took seventeen pictures of you while you were asleep."I rolled my eyes and reached for my phone, before he quickly snatched it out of my hands. "Hey!" I shrieked. "What was that for?""No phones, remember?" he said. "You're stuck with me.""I just wanted to check the ti
“Toothbrush?”“Check.”“Makeup kit?”“Check.”“Fishing gear?”“Check.”“Sexy lingerie?”“Check.”“Secret gift that will definitely make you the best girlfriend ever?”“Check,” I said, waving the package in front of Rachel. We were standing by the door, waiting for Ethan to pick me up so we could head to the cabin together. Storm clouds were gathered in the sky, and it was clearly going to rain soon. I was looking forward to sleeping during the drive, because I was fully exhausted. I’d stayed up all night planning an itinerary for us, as well as checking the town below the mountain to see if there were any fun activities we could do so we wouldn’t get bored. But apart from a local book club and a flea market, there was nothing else to see or do. And that was exactly what I wanted. Having Ethan all to myself was like an early Christmas gift. Finally, I wouldn’t have to deal with that awful feeling every time he had to leave, and I felt like my world was going to implode without him. I
ETHANI know I’m an asshole. Liv doesn’t deserve this. I know it as well as I know the back of my hand. But I can’t stop myself sometimes. It’s not like I’m trying to sound like a jealous piece of shit. And it’s not like I don’t trust her. I do. I trust her with my life. I know that I would move heaven and earth for her. But every time I hear that fucking Nathaniel Holloway’s name, I just feel like punching someone Why couldn’t she see him for what he was? It was obvious that he was trying to get under my skin, and he was doing it specifically by targeting her because he knew that was the perfect way to get to me. It was just like him to try something as underhanded as this. The Holloways were like a thorn in my side. They’d always been there, lingering in the shadows and causing a mess wherever they went. I still hadn’t forgotten about the Wrexham incident seventeen years ago, which was the first thing that made our father’s illness known. Everyone told me it didn’t mean anything,
I rushed into the office, thinking there was an emergency. Nate hadn’t answered my calls, and I thought something had gone seriously wrong. Even though I didn’t want to leave Ethan, he told me that he understood that I had to leave, and he even walked me to the cab. I was panicking by then, thinking the deal was about to be called off. So imagine my surprise when I walked into the conference room and find Nate sitting at the table casually, feet up on the table like he owned the fucking building, and a few faces I recognized from the party last night sitting with him and laughing at something he’d said. What the actual fuck?Nate lifted his head and noticed that I was standing right there, and a grin spread across his face as he said, “Oh, hi, Livia. Fancy meeting you here.” “What’s going on?” I asked. “Your text made it sound like something urgent was going on.”“Sorry about that,” he said. “I just needed to make sure you would get here on time. We need this deal finalized today,