جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 70

The house felt different after Ethan came back. Quieter. Heavier. Like the truth sitting between us had shifted into something impossible to ignore now. Marcus knew about me because he noticed the way Ethan looked at me. And somehow, that realization stayed with me more than the threats themselves. I watched Ethan from across the living room while he loosened the cuffs of his shirt slowly, his movements controlled but tired around the edges. He looked exhausted. Not physically. Mentally. Like he’d spent the entire day holding pressure together with sheer discipline alone. “You should sit down,” I said softly. His gaze lifted to mine immediately. “That sounded dangerously close to concern.” “It was concern.” Something unreadable crossed his expression before he finally moved toward the couch opposite mine. For a moment, neither of us spoke. Rain tapped softly against the windows again, quieter now than earlier, and the low lighting inside the house made everything feel

I barely slept that night. Not because of the storm outside. Not because of Marcus either. Because of Ethan. Because every time I closed my eyes, I kept hearing the way he said yes. Never you. But everyone else? Yes. The honesty in that answer should have terrified me more than it did. Instead, it stayed with me in a completely different way. Because Ethan never pretended to be softer than he was. He never lied to me. Even when the truth made him look dangerous. Especially then. By morning, the rain had stopped completely, leaving the house wrapped in an unsettling quiet. Sunlight filtered through the massive windows in pale streaks, too calm for the tension sitting heavily in my chest. I found Ethan downstairs in the kitchen already dressed, sleeves rolled neatly to his forearms while he stood over his phone reading something with the kind of focus that immediately told me his mind was somewhere else. Working. Planning. Preparing. The moment he looked up and saw me

Ethan didn’t call immediately after the meeting. At first, I told myself not to overthink it. Then thirty minutes passed. Then an hour. By the second hour, I had reread the same page of my book at least six times without absorbing a single word. The house felt too quiet without him in it. Which was ridiculous. Dangerous even. Because somewhere between the threats and the tension and the way Ethan looked at me like I mattered more than he intended— I’d gotten used to him. And that realization sat heavily in my chest. I was standing near the kitchen counter debating whether pacing counted as losing my mind when the front door finally opened. Relief hit me so quickly it almost embarrassed me. Ethan stepped inside, loosening his tie with one hand while his phone remained in the other. The second his eyes found me, he stopped moving. And something in his expression shifted immediately. Softer. God. That look was becoming my weakness. “You’re late,” I said before I could

Ethan didn’t leave my side for the rest of the night. Not once. At first, I tried pretending it didn’t affect me. The constant attention. The way his eyes tracked every movement near the windows. The subtle tension in his shoulders every time his phone buzzed. But after midnight, it became impossible to ignore the truth. Ethan was worried. Not controlled-concern Ethan. Not strategic Ethan. Actually worried. And somehow, that scared me more than Marcus disappearing. “You’re staring at the security cameras again,” I said quietly from the couch. Ethan didn’t look away from the tablet in his hand. “Observation isn’t staring.” “That sounded defensive.” “It was accurate.” I pulled the blanket tighter around myself, studying him carefully from across the room. He hadn’t changed clothes since earlier. Tie gone. Sleeves rolled up. Top buttons of his shirt undone slightly. But despite the relaxed appearance, nothing about him actually looked relaxed. He looked ready. Like

The gunshot shattered everything. One second, I was inside the panic room trying to breathe through the terror clawing at my chest. The next— I heard Ethan grunt sharply downstairs. Then my name. And every instinct inside me broke apart. “Ethan!” Silence answered first. Then another crash. Voices. Movement. My pulse slammed violently against my ribs as I stared at the steel door in front of me, panic rising so fast it became impossible to think clearly. He was hurt. Oh God. He was hurt. I knew I was supposed to stay inside. Knew Ethan would probably lose his mind if I left the room. But all I could hear was that sound. The pain in his voice. And suddenly hiding felt impossible. My hands shook as I slammed the emergency release beside the door. The lock clicked open. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this was reckless. Stupid. But love makes people reckless. And whether I was ready to admit it or not— That’s exactly what this had become. The door slid