Rotton destiny

The feeling of cold water splashing in his face made Ethan jump from his sleep, gulping on water that entered his mouth, and coughing out aggressively while sniffing out the ones that entered his nose.

Eyes red from the water that got into them, Ethan glared at Savannah, standing at his bedside with an empty jug in her hand and a pissed look on her face.

“Get your ass up and walk into that garage to get my car washed, now!” Savannah growled out.

Knowing that Savannah told him to wash her car every morning, by five, Ethan knew not to argue with his master's daughter.

So, even though he was still drowsy because he didn't have much sleep since Jeff Rider made him his designated driver last night and ordered him to take him and a bunch of hot girls on a wild night around the city, he immediately got out of bed.

“Can you please leave so that I can change?” Ethan asked.

“Get out and go wash my car now!” Savannah screamed in his face.

Numb from all his emotions, Ethan turned away from her and quietly walked out of the room in soaking-wet shorts and a t-shirt, but Savannah was hot on his heels.

 After heading out of the worker's quarter, Ethan entered the huge yard... twenty-five acres of land with a massive five stories mansion built at the center surrounded by concrete fences with guards.

Three years ago, when Ethan Hawke got chosen out of hundred men applying to be a servant in the house of Harrison Rider, one of the most powerful business tycoons in the country, he thought this was going to be a piece of heaven because the pay being offered was incredible, ten times better than what he could make at his old job and more, plus free meals and living quarter.

But then, after he got the job, and realized what a suffocating people the Rider family was, he knew that he was stuck in his worst nightmare, and he couldn't leave until his five years contract was over with the Riders. So just like that, his life of torment and degradation started, since the Riders have no respect whatsoever for anyone that is not rich, famous, and has a powerful connection.

Fighting his urge to go back to bed, Ethan took a bucket of water, and the car washing gear before heading to the garage with Savannah.

When he was standing in front of the latest model of the spotless white Ferrari Maserati, he sighed out his frustration that the car was not even dirty, and Savannah commanded him to have it washed.

Pushing aside his annoyance, Ethan took the sponge, and put some soap on it before putting it in the soapy water and then started scrubbing the car with all his might, knowing that if Savannah found a spot of dirt anywhere, including the tires, she would lose her shit.

Washing Ethan doing his work silently, Savannah felt pissed that he was ignoring her presence, detesting that he seemed to be high-and-mighty while cleaning it, even though she wanted him to be like a needy dog, kissing at her feet for her forgiveness and favor.

 "What time is it, Ethan?" Savannah demanded with a frown that made him understand that she was pissed and about to lose her shit on him as usual.

"Seven-something, I think," Ethan replied.

"You think!?"

"Miss Rider, I-"

"Why are you even washing my damn car just now?!... Who gave you the right to oversleep!... Is my father paying your ass to sleep like a baby, or do your damn job, like washing my car by five! Huh?!"

Growing annoyed inside, Ethan stopped scrubbing the tire and dropped the sponge into the bucket, standing to his feet as he said, "Miss Rider, forgive me for speaking out of term, but you don't leave this mansion until nine o'clock, so what is the need of me watching your car so early?"

The fact that a lowlife servant just questioned her, something which was never done during her life here in the mansion, made Savannah seethe in anger, and without holding back, she walked over to Ethan, picked up the bucket of dirty, soapy water, and dumped it on Ethan.

"You're such a goddamn piece of shit! How dare you talk back to me?!" Savannah screamed,  throwing the small metal bucket at him, hitting  Ethan square on the side of his face.

Blood oozed from the gash on his skin because of the force the bucket hit him with, and Ethan just stood there, in disbelief and anger, feeling dizzy from the pain of the impact.

"Shit!" Savannah cursed as a sense of panic settled on her heart, knowing that Mr. Harrison would scold her for hurting another servant again, remembering the tenth warning he gave her the last time she slapped a maid so hard that she fainted. "Ethan, you are not..."

Knowing that he might do something he would get in a lot of trouble, later on, and have his life ripped from him, Ethan quietly walked past her, but she suddenly grabbed his arm, causing Ethan to halt and turn to glare at her.

“Who the fuck do you think you are to put up an attitude with me! Now, go back and finish washing my damn car,” Savannah snarled, not caring that blood was dripping from his cut.

Yanking his arm from her grip, Ethan scowled and mumbled, “You have two hands, Savannah.”

Not holding back, she raised her arm and smacked him in the face, the same place as his cut, and Ethan hissed in pain.

“The dogs are treated better in this mansion than your sorry ass, that should remind you of how irrelevant and worthless you are! Go clean my car before I make sure the kitchen doesn't feed you until your ass comes crawling to me to kiss my feet before you can eat the crumbs that fall off our table!” Savannah coldly said.

Frowning, Ethan took off his shirt, pressing it against his wound, knowing he could do nothing but obey.

When Ethan got back to the servant quarter an hour later, Bobby and the other workers' faces immediately shifted into pure horror at the sight of the blood stains on his face and clothes and how soaked he was.

"It was Savannah, wasn't it?" Bobby asked, angry that one of the Rider's children had yet again wounded a servant, and since Ethan was a service boy for the family, he was mostly the one taking all the hits.

Knowing that he was losing the war against his anger, Ethan walked straight past all of them and headed directly into his room, slamming the door hard behind him.

The tiny mirror hanging on the wall immediately captured his reflection, and when Ethan saw just how pathetic he looked, he clenched his fist, and turned for the wall, punching it hard with all his might.

"Why the fuck is this happening to me! What's the deal here, Huh?! Is this my rotten destiny?!"  Ethan yelled. "When am I going to get my change of fate?!" 

Suddenly, the sound of his ringtone filled the room, startling Ethan, and he sighed, walked over to the bed and picked up his phone from the blanket.

When he saw his mother's name on the screen, he quickly answered, “Hey, mom," 

"Ethan, honey, is everything alright?" Ms. Coral's gentle voice echoed through the phone.

"Yeah, I'm fine, mom."

“Hmm,”

“Did you receive the money that I sent you for your medication for this month?”

“Yes… I feel embarrassed, making you spend your money on such expensive pills… I should be working… I can do a part-time-”

“No! There's no way! You heard what your doctor said. I can handle paying for your medication and taking care of you, okay? So focus on not getting sick again and eating healthily. I am fine and my job pays me well, so don't worry about me. I have a roof over my head and food to eat every day, so I don't need my salary as much as you do.”

Hearing his mother sniff, he knew that she was crying, and that's why he never told her about the kind of job he was doing because he didn't want her to worry.

“Thank you, son… I must have done a good deed in my past life to be fortunate to give birth to an amazing child like you…” Ms. Coral said, pausing for a second. “Ethan, son…”

There was silence between them for a while until he asked, "what is it, Mom?”

"It’s been four years since you traveled to another state, can you come home today, please?”  Mrs. Coral requested softly, trying not to break down in sobs. "I miss you so much.”

"Mom... I can’t… not right now, okay?”

“Ethan, please.”

“Mom, you have to understand…”

The line went quiet as he shut his eyes, knowing that he could not leave not only because of his bruise but because of the contract he signed with the Riders, forbidding him from leaving the walls of their mansion without their consent or instructions.

“Ethan, honestly, your father reached out to me, he wants to see you, son.” Ms.  Coral told him. "He called yesterday, he wanted to talk to you, please come home. It will give us all hope.”

Tears welled up in Ethan's eyes as he heard the sadness in his mother's voice, and unable to hold it all in, he broke down like a baby, sobbing loud.

"Son... Oh God, son, I'm sorry." He heard his mother say, and the sound of her shaky voice made him realize that she was crying too. 

Suddenly, his emotions sorted out, and the pale rage that he felt replaced all of his sad, lost, tired, and broken feelings, and he wiped his tears angrily, his mind going crazy as all of those memories resurfaced, making him feel disgusted and frustrated, angry and betrayed as he lashed out, “What would he want to talk to me about when he left, he left you mom... with a baby! I was only one!”

“Ethan, please,” Ms. Coral begged, sounding desperate and broken.  “Please come home, son. Please."

Listening to how hurt she sounded, Ethan took a deep breath before he responded, “No... I am thirty years old, and for twenty-nine years, he had never seen my face. Let's keep it that way. I don't want a relationship with him... not in this life.”

“Ethan, your father is dying!” Ms. Coral cried, sniffing loudly. “He's seriously ill, son, and he needs you.”

“I can’t. I am sorry, mom.” Ethan mumbled, ending the call, and turning his phone off, and then he dropped on his bed.

As he lay on the stiff, uncomfortable mattress, Ethan ignored the headache he had from his wound as he thought about what his mother said about his father being seriously ill and dying and the fact that he needs him after twenty-nine years of staying away.

‘What could he possibly want from me?’ Ethan thought before he got startled by the sound of a knock on his room door.

“Ethan, Madam Rider is asking for your presence in the mansion.” Bobby’s voice called through the wooden door.

Gritting his teeth, Ethan woke from his bed, got changed into clean clothes, and left the servant quarter.

A while later, when Ethan got into the massive living room, he walked towards the long sofa where Clara Rider sat with her face cold as ice.

“You send for me, ma’am?” Ethan humbly asked, not looking into her eyes,  afraid that she might lose her shit too since the entire family had anger issues and were always ready to hit someone if they didn't meet their expectations or demands.

“Get on your knees,” Madam Rider said in a monotone voice, making Ethan raise a brow. “Don’t look at me in my eyes when I am talking to you, trash, and get on your knees!”

Slowly, Ethan lowered himself, resting his knee on the cold tile and then the other, feeling less of a man, and more of a  slave.

“What’s wrong Madam?” Ethan asked.

Glaring away from him, Madam Jewel kept her silence, ignoring his presence, and Ethan kept kneeling there, his hand hanging low.

After a while, Madam Jewel checked the time on her phone, feeling satisfied that thirty minutes had passed.

”What do you want?” Madam Rider asked, clearly enraged by the mere sight of him.

“Excuse me, ma’am?... Forgive me for being stupid, but I don't understand what you mean.” 

“Did I stutter? What is it that you want as payment to keep your mouth shut and lie about the wound on your face to my husband when he gets back home?!”

The bitterness Ethan felt only seemed to grow inside him, and in that moment of self-pity, he hated his life and wished that fate would just flip the switch already.

Taking in a silent breath, Ethan stared down at his shoes for a moment, thinking before he finally lifted his head, saying, “A two days’ leave to see my sick mother who's in another state... I want to leave today so that I can reach her tomorrow morning.” 

Silence filled the huge room until Madam Rider finally spoke, “Fine. This house needs some freedom from the stinks of you anyway. Just make sure you are back before my husband gets back.” 

Forcing himself not to let his temper show, Ethan replied with a slight bow, “Yes, Ma'am. Thank you Madam Rider. I'll definitely be back soon then...”

Afterward, he turned on his heels and walked out of the living room, clutching his fists so tightly that his nails dug into the rough skin of his palm.

When Ethan got back to the servant quarter, he headed straight inside his room, took a black bag from his single closet, and took out his few good dress shirts that he never wear except for important occasions that the Riders demand him to serve them at, so his mother can not question him, and two of his neat-looking pants with his one good shoes and the three socks he had and four pair of boxers and stuffed them in his bag.

As he was zipping it, Bobby knocked on the door before turning the knob and walking in, asking, “Hey buddy… Where are you going?” 

“Well, after four years, I am going to see my mother again, but also meet my deadbeat dad who abandoned us when I was one year old,” Ethan said in a stern tone.