The sheets were a tangled mess, my whole body still smelling like him. Fuck. I was still sore.I stretched instinctively, reaching for warmth—for him—but the space beside me was empty.A strange unease settled in my chest. I pushed myself up onto my elbows, scanning the room.He was near the window, already dressed, a folder resting in his lap. His sleeves were rolled up, his hair slightly tousled, but his posture was all business. Cold. Detached. A complete contrast to the man who had done unspeakable things to me just hours ago.Something was wrong."You’re up early," I murmured, my voice still thick with sleep.Ethan didn’t immediately respond. He flipped a page, scanning whatever document had his attention, then finally looked at me. Blue. Icy."We have something to discuss."That cool, unreadable tone—so different from last night. I frowned, trying to shake off the unease creeping up my spine."What’s so important that it couldn’t wait?"He didn’t answer. Instead, he tossed the f
I looked at him very curiously wondering what he was saying with Mr. Ventura, seeing how bad the meeting ended, I expected them to scream at eachother on the call but Ethan just nodded, ended the call and turned to me."Get dressed. We have a breakfast meeting."I arched a brow, still gripping the crumpled contract in my hand. "A meeting?"if I'm being honest, I wanted them to scream at eachother, because what if life with out a little violence?"Ventura wants to finalize the deal over breakfast be ready in fifteen minutes he specifically mentioned that you would be in attendance."Just like that there was no discussion or acknowledgment of what had just happened between us.I threw the contract on the floor and got ready, Ethan should shove this contract down his fine ass.I needed to get ready for the supposed meeting, I just hope Mr. Ventura didn't bring Camille because I was more than ready to claw her eyes out.***We sighted Mr. Ventura at the far end of the hotel Cafe with a cu
"That’s that," Mr. Ventura said, looking pleased. "Tonight we celebrate at the hotel club VIP, of course."I nodded wondering how this old man wanted to drink at the club but Ethan didn’t react.He didn't even look at me when we shook hands with Ventura or even when we walked out of the restaurant and when we went back to our hotel room.My victory was cut short when. I saw another fresh contract on the bed waiting for me to sign.I stopped mid-step, glancing at the papers before turning toward Ethan, who was already angrily removing his tie."You had another copy?" I asked.He smirked . "I knew you would ruin the first one."I crossed my arms trying to look intimidating. "How very prepared of you."He just gave me an unbothered look. "Sign it."I picked it up. "And what about the job?"Ethan rubbed his fingers along his jaw before sighing. "I guess we can compromise,"I couldn't help but smile without another word. I grabbed the pen from the nightstand, bent over the bed just enoug
I took my time to study her since she wasn't replying, she still looked incredibly beautiful but this time she didn't have that smug look she did at the business meeting.Maybe she wouldn't try so hard to embarrass me this time.She wore a white sequin dress that did wonders to her figure and her high heels made her look incredibly tall, I wanted to touch her hair and ask her what she did to get it to be straight like that, but I quickly pinched myself remembering that she was the enemy.“Of course you should, you helped your company secure a million dollar deal that is impressive.”I was trying to get her angel, was she trying to get on my good side now that Mr. Ventura is on our side or does she have a trick up her sleeve.I decide to also play her game"I guess you're right.” I said with a plastered smile on my facem “I guess winning after someone tries so hard to make me lose feels even better."I gave her an innocent smile before I then met her gaze, she knew I was right, after
It was ridiculous how quickly things moved. Yesterday I was in a five star hotel overseas with Ethan while today I stood in the conference room with glass walls surrounded by people who thought I was unworthy of sharing the same air as them and wanted me to fail.How perfect…But if I was being really honest with myself, I didn't want to ever leave the phillipines, it was a magical place and now it held memories.By memories, I meant that the image of Ethan fucking me more times than I could count was forced embedded in my mind.The moment we landed, Ethan didn't even have a moment of rest, he was busy with meetings and phone calls, finalizing the last details of the merger. And now, here we were in the so-called victory part of the deal.He wanted to start the planning phase immediately, without any time wasted but first we had to celebrate Ethan Blackwood style.The once boring conference halls now had a long table in the center, set with champagne flutes and trays of hors d’oeuvr
Finally, the applauded stopped and I not so quietly left the stage, I scanned the conference room for Rachel but she was no where to be found.If really needed a mental anchor but there was no one else but Rachel.It was too bad she wasn't here but if it got to sticking her nose in I and Ethan's business, she would miraculously be present.Everyone was glaring at me, even after Ethan moved on to discuss logistics and next steps, I could feel their eyes and even hear the accusations, from people who couldn’t stand the fact that I was the one standing beside him.Let them hate, after all that was all they could do after all it wasn't as if they could take this merger deal from me.I sipped my champagne slowly, allowing the bubbles to linger in my throat because no matter what they thought or what they gossiped, it would still go down in history books that I had won.The gossip didn't change the fact that I had secured the merger, and stood at the front of this room not because of Etha
Worked continued like normal as it was almost as if we weren't popping champagne thirty minutes ago, everyone was busy with their ken thing while I was reviewing emails for Ethan.My phone buzzed again, I rolled my eyes because I didn't even need to look at the screen to know that it was Ethan.But I needed to know what the message was, I looked and and not surprisingly, it was a text from him.Ethan: My office now. Now.I stood up and went to his office wondering what Mr. Needy ass wanted now.I stepped into the room to find him leaning against the table, with his arms crossed and sleeves rolled up like he was about to fix a problem himself. He looked at me and smiled, like he genuinely smiled at me, it wasn't a smirk or anything he would normally do “You took your sweet time,” he said.“You texted two minutes ago,” I shot back. “Relax and besides I was looking at your emails.”He looked as if he had the perfect reply in mind but surprisingly he didn’t push further Instead, he gest
“Are you going to be shy?” He asked as I shook my head representing a no. But it was obvious that my answer didn't satisfy him as his grip on my thighs tightened, I was sure that he would leave a mark “N-no I'm not going to be shy.” Who was I kidding, I was beyond shy, but with the way he looked at me with a satisfied smirk I knew this was going to be amazing. "Good." He said in a monotone. Without any warning he lowered his head trailing kisses on my thighs, my hands involuntarily touched his hair guiding him to where I wanted it. I could feel him smirking as he was kicking on my thighs. I felt immediately insecure, what if I smelt weird? or the tiny bit of hair icked him out? What if I didn't like it? But with the way he looked at me, every doubt cleared my mind, his tongue then kissed my labia, fuck! I didn't know that can feel so amazing. I felt his tongue enter into me kissing my clitoris as I held his hair tighter begging him to keep going. Then he lowered h
As we left the hospital, I took in a deep breath, but it didn’t help.Ethan walked in front without waiting for me, his shoulders tight, his head down like he, I hurried after him.We pulled out of the hospital lot as we drove in silence, there was a lot I wanted to ask but I couldn't find the right words to say them.But then finally, I couldn’t take it anymore."So," I said carefully trying to keep my tone neutral, "What’s the plan? What exactly do you want to do now?"He stared straight ahead as his eyes were locked on the road. His knuckles were so tight on the steering wheel, they looked almost white and bloodless."What else? We will visit Rose Callahan," he said without hesitation.I studied him quietly, feeling his uneasy he was, there was more to this, so much more he wasn't willing to share."Ethan," I said slowly, "I’m not dumb. Something’s going on between you and your ex-stepmother, I am not dumb not to notice and that whole thing back there? That wasn’t nothing."His re
The second she said his name, it was like an electric shock shot straight through Ethan. His body tensed, his usual composed exterior cracking as his eyes locked onto the nurse with an intensity that almost startled me. His reaction wasn’t subtle in any way it was as if someone had just tossed a bucket of ice-cold water over him, and he was struggling to process it.He looked both relieved and scared at the same time, and it was understandable. I could practically feel his anxiety pressing on my chest.“You worked with Dr. Callahan?” Ethan asked, his voice desperate. The nurse blinked at him, a little startled by his intensity. “Yeah. Unfortunately,” she muttered as she didn't try to hide her bitterness. “For a long time.”“Can I—” Ethan paused, swallowing the words as though they were fighting their way out of him. “Can I ask you some questions about him?”He asked it like she was offering something precious, like every word she could give him was the missing piece to a puzzle tha
Ethan turned from the receptionist table and ran his finger through his hair, I thought this was the end and we would go back to his villa and think of another plan. Because obviously a normal person would have given up, thanked the not so kind receptionist and walked away from this whole mess. But like I have said before, Ethan Blackwood was not a normal person, he has never been and will never be. Because he didn't just walk away, if anything he looked more determined in getting the answer from the lady. He whirled back around toward the front desk so fast the receptionist actually jolted in her seat. “This is bullshit,” he snapped out of the blue in a very low voice. “He’s real, I fucking know it.” His hand slammed against the counter hard enough to make the pens in their tiny little holder rattle. I flinched instinctively and stepped closer as my fingers grazed his arm as I was trying to reason with him. “Ethan,” I said under my breath, “please. Not here. Let’s just—” “No,
Ethan’s jaw clenched so hard I heard his teeth grind as he focused on her bruise, the sound of him breathing even made the hair on my arms rise.My mother tried to cover the bruises with her hair as if it would solve anything, but Ethan had already seen it.He stepped closer, towering over her even though he wasn't meaning to."Did he do it?" he asked in a low and deep voice that even made me feel fear.And of course, my darling mother flinched."He didn’t mean it," she whispered as if it made any better.From Ethan's expression I could see the way he was picturing during dirty things to his father, abuse whoever hits a woman doesn't deserve to live.Especially a woman like Veronica Carter he would never fight back.Ethan laughed "Right," he said "Men who don't 'mean it' always seem to find the exact place that will leave a pretty little bruise."My mother’s face crumpled in shame just for a milli second, before she masked it again."You need to report him," he said firmly as his jaw
After the call I sat down next to her, my heart racing as I stared at her, trying to make sense of what had just happened.Her voice was soft but trembled as she spoke. "When you and Ethan left the mansion yesterday… He took it out on me."This was my fault.I felt my throat tighten. A cold lump formed at the base of my chest, and I couldn’t breathe for a moment. I knew something wasn’t right, but hearing her say it out loud made it worse. I wanted to ask more, but I couldn’t. I needed to know.“Is this the first time?” I asked, and as soon as I did, I regretted it. I immediately remembered when she frantically came here in a crying mess but I didn't do anything because I was overwhelmed with my own shit.I remembered how broken she was and how she covered it up immediately when her darling husband came to ‘pick' her up.I had a lot of questions and I wanted to stop myself from pushing, but I couldn’t, I had to know."Why wouldn’t you leave him, Mom?" The words slipped out before I c
The next morning arrived without mercy, I guess toke moved really fast when you hadn't slept at all After finding the business card, sleep became secondary because we knew who Drm Callahan was, was going to be a huge lead. So we spent the entire night at Ethan’s kitchen island, with a shut load of ccold coffee, our open laptops and half-torn sticky notes.At this point the name Dr..Callahan wasn't a lead, it was an obsession. We searched medical directories, university alumni pages, old oncology conferences, and even dark places in the internet that I wouldn't never think of goung to But a new click opened a new rabbit hole with each search result ending in a wall.No hospital.No city.And no fucking clue.Ethan sat on the counter at one point, head in his hands, while I stared blankly at the glowing screen. Neither of us said it aloud, but the truth was there, and that this was a lost cause. Whoever this doctor was, they didn’t want to be found.“This is hopeless,” he said.But I
Rachel ran forward screaming in a high pitched voice I didn't know she had. “Daddy? Daddy, are you okay? I heard glass break, what did Ethan do?” I blinked. What! The! Actual! Fuck! The way she rushed to him, like a little girl desperate to protect her hero, had my breath catching in my throat. She didn’t even glance at Ethan, she just went straight to Richard like he was the one who had been hurt when he might have been the one to shatter the glass. When did all this happen? When did Rachel start calling him Daddy with such tenderness? When did the girl who once side-eyed his every move become this… concerned? I barely had time to process it before Ethan spoke. “What I did?” he said, his tone flat. “You mean existed?” Rachel’s body stiffened. Her hand, which had just touched Richard’s shoulder, dropped like it had been scorched. She turned to look at Ethan, but the words she had died on her lips. Maybe it was the look in his eyes. I stood there, in the middle of this st
I took.l one last look at Sophie as I followed my father, he didn't say a word but it was obvious that knew what was coming; he had to. I strode down the hallway, my footsteps heavy on the floor but my father's pace was steady, but I could sense the tension building between us as I trailed behind him. My eyes fixed on the back of his head as so many thoughts ran through my head, He didn't look back, didn't acknowledge my presence. I continued to follow him as we went past the portraits of a family that barely existed, past the polished antiques that felt more like props than memories. He stepped into his office like a king returning to his throne. I had to admit that his office does look with a throne with the hgh ceilings, heavy mahogany desk, lather and gold and of course it reeked of his ego that soaked into the fucking walls. But now I know that none of this belongs to him, except his ego He didn’t look back when I entered, he just walked straight to the far end of the ro
Rachel's condescending voice cut me short. “Sophia, will you let my father talk to my brother or not?” I couldn't help but roll my eyes while Ethan had his usual unreadable expression, he looked regal and detached, like he had practiced that mask in front of a mirror. But I knew him too well, I know how much work it took him to keep everything in control, I couldn't see that there was a twitch at the corner of his mouth, I noticed the way he was tightening his jaw and I could sense that he was anything but calm.Mr Blackwood just cleared his throat as his eyes went straight to me. “Come with me Ethan,” his tone was flat and commanding, as he was leaving no room for argument. Everyone was silent looking between Ethan and I waiting to see what would happen.Ethan walked towards me with a silent plea in his eyes.“Please, Sophie. Just this once… stay out of it.”His words hurt, but I gave him a look that told him that I wasn't comfortable with him being alone with his father, for all