All Chapters of Between Desire and Ruin: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Ethan barely remembers driving home. His body makes the turns, stops at red lights, follows the familiar streets, but his mind is still trapped in that conference room, still standing under the weight of Dante’s gaze, still feeling the echo of a touch that never fully happened but somehow scorched him anyway.By the time he reaches his apartment, his chest feels tight with everything he didn’t say. Everything he wanted. Everything he’s terrified is real.He drops his keys on the kitchen counter, the metallic clatter loud in the quiet room. It jars him back into himself. He presses both palms against the cool marble, trying to breathe.Dante’s voice keeps replaying in his head.You have no idea how hard it is to stay on my side of the line.A confession disguised as restraint. A warning disguised as longing.Ethan squeezes his eyes shut. He shouldn’t want this. Shouldn’t crave a man who stands on the other side of a boundary built from professionalism and rules and power dynamics. He s

When they came out from the HR office, the office had emptied, leaving the corridors quiet and washed in golden evening light. Ethan gathered his notes, trying to steady his breathing.Dante stood, stretching slightly just enough to draw Ethan’s eyes without meaning to. Or maybe with meaning. Ethan couldn’t tell anymore.Walk with me? Dante asked casually, gesturing toward the elevators.Ethan hesitated. Not because he didn’t want to but because it felt like stepping into something he wasn’t sure of.Still, he nodded.They moved through the hushed office together, their footsteps echoing faintly. Ethan felt as if the silence itself was listening to them.In the elevator, it became even harder to breathe. They stood side by side, closer than necessary. Dante cologne clean, subtle, expensive wrapped around Ethan like a low humming spell.You were impressive today, Dante said softly, eyes fixed forward.Ethan gave a small, nervous laugh. I’m always impressive.Dante’s lips pulled into th

The world returned in chaotic, jarring pieces, shouts, footsteps, the heavy slam of a car door, the scuffle of bodies on pavement. Ethan struggled upright, ignoring the sting of glass biting into his palms. His heartbeat felt like a fist inside his chest fast, violent, impossible to steady.“Dante!” he yelled, voice cracking.He saw them, Dante locked in a brutal hold with the masked attacker halfway between the car and the alley entrance. The man had Dante by the collar, but Dante fought fiercely, twisting, driving an elbow into the attacker’s ribs. The stranger grunted, losing grip for a split second.Enough for Dante to shove him back. Ethan, stay in the car! Dante barked without looking. His tone sharp, fierce left no room for argument.Ethan didn’t stay. He shoved open the passenger door, legs trembling as he sprinted toward them.The attacker lunged again, knife flashing under the streetlight.Ethan’s blood turned to ice.Dante evaded the first swipe but the second grazed his a

The glass walls of the Hart studio turned the late afternoon sun into something sharp and glittering, a blade of light that followed Ethan down the corridor toward the Conference Room. He adjusted his grip on the tablet in his hand, scanning the agenda Dante had sent an hour earlier.Separate collaboration. External consultant. Brief intro.It should have been routine. Ethan had sat through dozens of these since joining the firm polished smiles, cautious questions, handshakes that promised more than they ever delivered. Still, something in Dante’s message had felt contained. As if each word had been weighed, measured, then locked into place.Ethan reached the glass door and paused.Inside, Dante stood near the window, jacket off, shirtsleeves rolled to the forearms the way he did when he wanted to look approachable without actually being so. His posture was relaxed, shoulders loose, expression neutral. Perfectly Dante.Opposite him was a man Ethan had never seen before.Tall. Dark hai

On Monday morning, Dante didn’t look up when Ethan entered the studio. On Tuesday, feedback that usually came in precise, incisive bursts was reduced to a single line in the margins….Revise proportions. On Wednesday, Dante reassigned a presentation Ethan had been preparing for weeks to another associate, citing strategic balance.Each moment was small. Reasonable. Explainable.Together, they felt deliberate.Ethan sat at his desk, staring at the screen where his model rotated slowly, endlessly. He had adjusted the curvature three times already, refining a detail Dante once would have noticed instantly. Now, there was no response. No presence hovering behind him. No quiet correction murmured just over his shoulder.He glanced toward Dante’s office.The glass walls were still there. Dante was still inside. But the space felt sealed, impermeable.You’re here, Dante had said at the event.The words echoed now, hollowed by what followed.Ethan forced himself to focus. He worked late, later