Chapter 6: When Best Friends Lie to Each Other

Lucian’s phone rings thirty seconds after Ariana hangs up.

Ethan.

He stares at the name on the screen. His best friend since freshman year of college. The guy who was there when Lucian’s father died. When he launched his first company. Every major moment of his adult life.

The guy whose ex-girlfriend’s taste still lingers on Lucian’s tongue.

He answers.

“Hey, man.” Keep it normal. Easy. “What’s up?”

“She broke up with me.” Ethan’s voice is wrecked. Raw. “For real this time. She came to my office and just, ended it.”

Lucian closes his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” Something sharp edges into Ethan’s tone. “Because you don’t sound surprised.”

“You cheated on her. What did you expect?”

“I expected my best friend to have my back.” A pause. “Unless you think I deserve this.”

“I think you made choices. This is the consequence.” Lucian moves to his office window. The same view Ariana saw four days ago. “She has every right to walk away.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“There are no sides. You fucked up. She left. That’s not about sides.”

“Jesus, Luc. A little support would be nice.” Ethan exhales shakily. “I know I screwed up. I know. But I love her. And I think, I think there’s someone else.”

Lucian’s blood turns to ice.

“What makes you think that?” His voice stays level. Controlled. Years of board meetings and hostile negotiations keep it smooth.

“She’s different. Too calm. Too together. Like she already moved on.” Papers rustle on Ethan’s end. “And she won’t look at me. Like she’s guilty about something.”

“Or she’s hurt and protecting herself.”

“You didn’t see her face. It was, cold. Like I was nothing.” Ethan’s voice drops. “She met someone. I know she did.”

“In three days? You’re being paranoid.”

“Am I? She disappeared for an entire night. Wouldn’t tell anyone where she was. Not even Sophia.”

Lucian’s grip tightens on his phone. “Maybe she needed space.”

“Space where? Doing what? With who?” Ethan’s getting worked up now. Building a case. “What if she, what if she did something to get back at me?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Slept with some random guy. Found someone at a bar. Something stupid and reckless because she was hurt.”

Every word lands like a bullet.

“That doesn’t sound like Ariana,” Lucian says carefully. Too carefully.

“You don’t know her like I do.”

The irony would be funny if Lucian’s world wasn’t imploding.

“Then what do you want me to say?” He forces frustration into his voice. “That you’re right? That she’s seeing someone? Would that make you feel better about cheating on her for three months?”

“Two months.”

“You told me three.”

Silence. Ethan caught in his own lie.

“Does it matter?” Ethan finally says. “The point is I fucked up and I’m trying to fix it and she won’t even give me a chance.”

“Maybe she doesn’t owe you one.”

“You’re really not going to help me.”

“Help you what? Stalk your ex? Convince her she’s wrong for leaving?” Lucian turns from the window. “I’m your friend, not your accomplice.”

“Some friend.” Bitterness saturates every syllable. “Vanessa said you’d take her side.”

“Vanessa doesn’t get an opinion on this.”

“She’s part of this whether you like it or not.”

“She’s the reason Ariana left. So no, she’s really not.” Lucian sits at his desk. Needs something to do with his hands. “Look, you want my advice? Give her space. Let her breathe. Maybe in a few weeks—”

“I can’t wait a few weeks. Someone else could—” Ethan stops. “You know what, forget it.”

“Ethan—”

“I need to go. I have a meeting.” The lie is obvious. “Thanks for nothing.”

He hangs up.

Lucian sits in the silence of his office. Twenty-three floors above the city. Alone.

His phone screen shows Ethan’s contact photo. Both of them at some charity gala two years ago. Arms around each other. Grinning. Brothers in everything but blood.

He should feel guilty. Does feel guilty.

But underneath that, deeper and more dangerous, is something else.

Relief.

She ended it. She’s free.

The thought is poison. Selfish. Wrong.

He shoves it down. Calls Marcus.

“Tell me you have good news,” Marcus answers.

“The hotel’s handled?”

“Paid off. Signed an NDA. The footage mysteriously corrupted.” A pause. “But Lucian, this is getting messy.”

“It’s fine.”

“Is it? Because Ethan just called me asking if I knew where Ariana was the night she disappeared.”

Lucian’s hand freezes. “What did you tell him?”

“That I don’t keep tabs on his girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend. Whatever.” Marcus sighs. “He’s spiraling. Asking everyone questions. Vanessa’s feeding his paranoia. This is going to blow up.”

“It won’t.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I can control it.”

“Like you controlled sleeping with her?” Marcus’s voice is hard. Sharp. “I’m not judging. Well, I am judging, but I’m also trying to help. You need to stay away from her.”

“I am staying away.”

“Good. Keep it that way.” Papers shuffle. “The acquisition meeting is next week. Board’s already nervous about the Vaughn situation. Last thing you need is a scandal.”

“There won’t be a scandal.”

“Because she’ll stay quiet? Because Ethan won’t find out?” Marcus laughs without humor. “You’re betting your empire on a secret. Secrets don’t stay buried, Lucian. Not in our world.”

“This one will.”

“I hope you’re right. For both your sakes.” Marcus pauses. “She seems nice. From what I’ve heard.”

“She is.”

“That makes it worse.”

The line goes dead.

Lucian sits in his empty office. Stares at his phone.

He should delete her number. Erase any trace of contact.

Instead, he opens their message thread. One text. Hers from earlier. The panicked call about Ethan.

His fingers hover over the keyboard.

Then he sets the phone down. Walks to his home gym in the penthouse level above his office.

And destroys it.

Punching bag first. His knuckles split. Blood on the leather.

Weights next. Throwing them. Denting the mirror.

The treadmill. Running until his lungs burn and his legs scream.

None of it helps.

Because the truth he can’t escape, can’t outrun, can’t beat into submission is this:

He wants her.

Not just that night. Not just the memory.

Her.

And wanting her means lying to his best friend. Means risking everything he’s built. Means becoming exactly the kind of man he swore he’d never be.

But when his phone buzzes an hour later with a text from an unknown number, he knows before he opens it.

**Unknown: This is Ariana. Had to get a new number. Ethan kept calling. Just wanted to say thank you. For earlier. For not telling him.**

He should delete it. Block the number. End this before it starts.

He saves the contact instead.

And texts back three words that doom them both.

**Lucian: Anytime. Stay safe.**

In his destroyed gym, surrounded by evidence of his loss of control, Lucian Blackwood accepts the truth.

The war hasn’t started yet.

But it’s coming.

And he’s already chosen his side.