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Chapter 25
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2026-01-08 21:48:36
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Between Desire and Ruin Chapter 43
Ethan was in the middle of making tea when the knock came.He froze, kettle humming softly on the cooking gas, heart jumping for reasons he didn’t immediately understand. Dan wasn’t expecting anyone. Neither was he.The knock came again.Ethan turned off the cooking gas and wiped his hands on his jeans, moving slowly toward the door. A strange unease crept up his spine, the kind that came when something unexpected brushed too close to a wound that hadn’t closed yet.When he opened the door, Martin Hart stood in the hallway.Impeccably dressed. Calm. Familiar in a way that made Ethan’s stomach tighten.“Ethan,” Martin said, offering a measured smile. “I hope I’m not intruding.”Ethan blinked. “Martin? How did you…”“I asked around,” Martin said lightly, as if that explained everything. “May I come in?”Ethan hesitated. Every instinct told him to say no. Instead, courtesy won, curiosity or the residual habit of deferring to people like Martin Hart.“Sure,” he said, stepping aside.Marti
Between Desire and Ruin Chapter 42
Dante arrived at the firm before sunrise and left long after the lights dimmed. Emails answered in minutes. Meetings stacked back to back. He volunteered for tasks no one else wanted, buried himself in logistics and forecasts and projections until his brain buzzed with numbers instead of memories.Colleagues noticed.“Dante, you look wiped,” someone said in passing.“I’m fine,” he replied automatically.Another asked if he wanted to delegate. He smiled, sharp and polite, and said, “I’ve got it handled.”At the firm, whispers grew more concerned.“He’s not himself.”“He hasn’t taken a day off in weeks.”“Have you seen the circles under his eyes?”Someone suggested postponing a major presentation. Dante shut it down without discussion. He refused to slow down. Slowing down meant feeling.Feeling meant Ethan.The blueprint followed him home one night.He didn’t remember deciding to take it. He just found it unrolled across his dining table, the city lights reflecting off its surface. He
Between Desire and Ruin Chapter 41
Days pass with neither reaching out, both too afraid to open old wounds.At the firm, people began to notice.Dante stopped correcting small mistakes. He stopped filling the room with certainty. Meetings ran longer because no one wanted to be the one to interrupt him when he went silent mid-thought, eyes fixed somewhere beyond the glass walls as if listening for a voice only he could hear.The Riverline Project stalled.Deadlines were pushed. Decisions deferred. Momentum once sharp and relentless dulled into hesitation. People whispered in corners, careful to keep their voices low when Dante passed.He noticed. He just didn’t care.On the fourth day, HR asked if he was managing everything alright.Dante smiled and said yes.On the inside, he felt hollowed out.At night, the apartment remained unchanged, like it was holding its breath for Ethan to return. Dante didn’t move Ethan’s things. Didn’t clean up the mug still sitting in the sink. He told himself it was temporary, that touchin
Between Desire and Ruin Chapter 40
The apartment was too quiet. Dante noticed it the moment he stepped inside, like the silence had weight to it—thick, pressing against his ears. He dropped his keys into the bowl by the door and waited for the familiar sound of footsteps that never came.“Ethan?” he called, even though he already knew.The lights were off except for the faint glow from the city bleeding in through the windows. Dante stood there longer than necessary, his briefcase slipping from his grip and landing with a dull thud on the floor. He didn’t move to pick it up.Only then did he see it.A note. Placed carefully on the table.Dante’s chest tightened as he crossed the room and picked it up.I’m staying with Dan for a few days. I need space to think. I’m not running, I just don’t know how to breathe there right now.Dante sank into the chair, the paper crumpling slightly in his fist.A few days.It shouldn’t have felt like a sentence. But it did.The apartment, once shared, now felt like a museum of half-liv
Between Desire and Ruin Chapter 39
The firm felt different after that night. Dante noticed it the moment he stepped off the elevator the next morning. Conversations stalled when he passed. Eyes dropped too quickly. Phones were suddenly very interesting. The Riverline Project floor buzzed with a nervous energy that prickled under his skin, and he knew that if he followed the thread far enough, it would lead back to Ethan.Ethan hadn’t answered his text from the night before. That alone twisted something ugly in Dante’s chest. By noon, Dante had had enough.He found Ethan in one of the smaller conference rooms, standing by the window with his arms crossed, staring out at the city. His jacket was still on. His bag sat at his feet, unopened.“You’re avoiding me,” Dante said, closing the door behind him.Ethan didn’t turn. “I’m working.”“Bullshit.”Ethan laughed softly, but there was no humor in it. “Is that how we’re doing this now? You, barging in and deciding what’s true?”Dante’s patience snapped tighter. “You didn’
Between Desire and Ruin Chapter 38
Ethan contemplates leaving the firm entirely, believing Dante would face less backlash and challenges without him. He drafts a resignation letter. His name sat at the top, centered and formal, followed by words that looked neat and reasonable and completely untrue.I am resigning from my position as your protege.He stared at the blinking cursor. Re-read the sentence again and again, each time slower than before, as if pace might change meaning. He rubbed a hand over his face and leaned back in the chair, joints creaking in protest. He hadn’t meant to stay this late. Again. But then again, he hadn’t meant for any of this to happen.He’d told himself the same thing every night for the past two weeks: I’ll just think about it. I won’t do anything yet.And yet here he was, resignation drafted, cursor blinking patiently at the bottom of the page, waiting for a signature.The backlash had been brutal. Public scrutiny, internal politics, anonymous emails that pretended to be about account
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