Chapter Six

Ethan's POV

The sitting room was silent as I walked. I'm with Ivana's back turned to the door, and her gaze strongly fixed at the world outside her window.

“Oh, my, Ethan,” she hit her forehead slightly. “Really, I should have known that you're incapable of getting something right.”

“It's her choice to make, Ivana. Besides, I've done every other thing you–”

“Spare me that! You've done nothing than to make a fool out of yourself,” she looked at me with disgust written over her face. Walking up to me, she snapped her fingers repeatedly. “Think about it, whether or not she knows, the CEO of Glint has kept a low profile ever since, and that company has always emerged as a very identical one to mine. What if it's not a coincidence and they're somewhat related, my hard work would be in vain,” she lowered her voice down enough as though she was whispering while her lips stood a few breaths away from mine.

“Well, the only person who can say for sure is dead and I doubt there's any information Ava would lay her hands on without you finding it first,” I stood my ground, looking into her eyes with nothing but hatred for what she had made me become.

“Good,” she smiled, nodding her head and tracing a line from my lips to my chest. “I like how you acknowledge what I am.”

I pulled away, rubbing my palms against each other before taking a deep breath. The couches were still empty, but the least thing I wanted was to feel welcomed.

“We made a deal, remember? I don't have interest in any of the tangible assets as we agreed, just give me my part of the money, and let's be done with this drama,” I lowered my gaze, barely even able to look at her feet.

“Poor boy,” she pouted before reaching for a wine on the centre table and two glasses. “Sit,” she said simply, and I did while she poured out the deep red liquid. “Isn't it such a shame? I mean, you cheated on her on your anniversary, you couldn't be there for her not even at her father’s death nor funeral and now, you think owning the world would suddenly help you win her over?” She raised a brow while wearing a sly smirk.

I raised my glass to drink from it, but guilt burnt my throat even before I could sip from it. I lowered the glass and watched the wine in it dance to the beats of my trembling hand. Ava's father had loved her so much that she didn't want to give her up to any man in the name of marriage. However, we had been dating for a long while, and it was time for him to know who I was to Ava.

The furrowed brows, close examination, deep breaths every now and then, and his contradicting answers were already enough to let me know that he had expected more for his daughter. Of course she always defended me, but I knew I had to meet up with their status somehow and while Ivana had been helping me out with it, the pages flipped too quickly and got me to this point. Ava's touch, her smile which could always calm my storm, her warm lips against mine, everything– gone.

“What I do henceforth is none of your business, Ivana. Besides, it's all thanks to you that I got into this mess,” I clenched my fist into tight balls.

“Cheating on a partner is always a choice, love,” she chuckled, cutting deeper into my already bleeding heart while she relaxed on the couch. “Also, you just proposed to me and while I have no good worth of you, I'm not done with you yet,” she cautiously left her glass on the table without breaking eye contact with me. “You made a proposal that interests me, Ethan,” she clicked off her shoes and began to make deliberate steps towards me. “And you have to fulfil that proposal,” she finished the sentence with her body on top of mine, making slight back and forth movements as though she was expecting a reaction.

“You know, I get that I've done a lot of foolish things in a bid to impress Mr Scott–”

“A dead man,” she quickly corrected, making me push her without even thinking.

“You are so full of evil,” I almost spat only to have her chuckling on the floor.

“The evil you love to fuck, don't you?” She winked.

“Asking you for help was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my entire life,” I raised my voice, smashing the glasses in front of me as I got up to my feet.

“And complying with my demands might be the only way you redeem yourself from such a mistake, don't you think? If my poor father didn't choose that time to die, he'd be so proud of your recent achievement when I give you the fruit of your labour,” she grew serious all of a sudden, but she barely fooled me with her sly expression.

Just then, something very ridiculous hit me, but my lips moved faster before I could completely process the thought. “His death gave you access to all… of… these…”

“No, my love,” she let the silence simmer before she spoke up again. “You'd have had everything you worked for whether or not he died, and it would be just the way it used to.”

“Did you…”

I couldn't even complete my sentence as guilt quickly washed over me. I gasped and turned my back on her with hot tears burning my eyes, so that there was no way I could see her, but then, she emerged in front of me and slapped me across the face even before I could blink.

“He was your father too,” I continued to accuse her even though she hadn't admitted anything to me yet. Oh, princes of heaven! What the hell did I get myself into?!

“He was and will never be my father, not after he treated me and my mother like a pandemic!” she stretched her words with her veins almost popping from her neck, while my breath got caught in my throat. “I spent years, Ethan. Years! Trying to form a relationship with them, but all they ever did was to push me to the side,” she wiped her tears, while I was still stunned at the madness we've gotten ourselves into. “You know, I also used to think that, maybe I wasn't doing something right and I spent good years of my childhood trying to be fucking Ava! I had so many questions to ask him about why he was cold to me, but he never even came close enough to listen. It was in his eyes, and I confirmed it from my mum, too. He just hated us and simply couldn't stand us,” her last line was the coldest I've ever heard from her.

“Does that mean you killed him as a means of getting revenge?” I asked, fearing the question itself than the answer I was going to get.