Todos los capítulos de Breaking the ice : Capítulo 51 - Capítulo 60

The penthouse was far too quiet.When the private elevator doors closed behind Ethan, the heavy silence returned, thick and suffocating. Adrian remained sitting on the cold marble floor of the kitchen, his back pressed against the lower cabinets. His knees were drawn up toward his chest, his large frame looking small in the vast, open space.His deep blue eyes stared blankly at the white quartz counter above him.There, sitting under the soft warm lights of the kitchen, was the platinum engagement ring. It was small, silver, and completely still.Every instinct in Adrian’s chest slammed against his ribs, screaming at him to run down the hallway, take the elevator to the lobby, and chase Ethan into the street. He was a man built on action, control, and absolute force. Whenever a problem appeared in his life, he fought it until it bent to his will.But as he listened to the distant hum of the city outside, Ethan’s tear stained face flashed in his mind.“Being protected from the truth hu

London was cold, damp, and blanketed in a heavy grey fog.Ethan stood by the tall, narrow window of his small rented flat in Marylebone, looking out at the wet cobblestone streets below. The apartment was tiny nothing like the massive, sunlit penthouse he had shared with Adrian in New York. The wallpaper was peeling slightly near the corners, the floorboards creaked under every step, and the radiators hummed with a low, metallic clanking sound whenever the heat kicked on.In the small bedroom, Claire was fast asleep. Her face was pale, almost translucent under the dim light, and her breathing sounded like dry leaves rustling in the wind.Ethan checked his wristwatch. It was half past eight in the morning.He walked over to the small kitchen table, where a thick black binder sat open beside a lukewarm cup of black tea. Inside the binder were all of Claire’s recent medical receipts, prescription sheets, and admission documents from Saint Jude’s Private Care Center a boutique medical fac

The rain kept falling outside the small apartment.Ethan stood by the window, the cold light from his phone screen illuminating his pale face. His thumb rested directly over Adrian’s name in his contacts list. His heart pounded against his ribs, heavy and fast.For weeks, Ethan had wanted so desperately to prove that he could manage his own life. He had wanted to stand on his own two feet, free from Adrian’s intense protection and Maxwell’s dark, manipulative shadow. But looking at the quiet room, hearing his mother’s faint, labored breathing from the bed, Ethan knew that pride meant nothing if it cost Claire her life.He took a deep, steadying breath and unlocked his laptop once more.Before he made the call to New York, he needed to know every single detail about the offshore account listed on Saint Jude’s fifteen thousand pound invoice. He needed to know exactly who was running this fake facility.Ethan sat back down at the small kitchen table. The low, metallic hum of the radiator

The low, rhythmic tone echoed in Ethan’s ear, bridging the five thousand mile expanse of cold ocean between London and New York.Ethan stood in the center of the cramped Marylebone kitchen, his fingers white knuckled around his phone. The small flat was silent now, save for the faint, steady sound of rain tapping against the glass panes and the metallic clinking of the old radiator. In the bedroom, Claire had finally drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep the first honest, unburdened sleep she had known since they had landed in England.Ethan closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the cold frame of the kitchen door.His heart pounded against his ribs with a fierce, painful cadence. After weeks of running, after weeks of trying to carry the crushing weight of Maxwell’s dark traps on his own frail shoulders, Ethan was completely exhausted. The false pride, the anger, the stubborn need to prove his independence it had all burned away in the freezing London rain.He didn't just need h

The black sedan drove fast through the quiet, rain soaked streets of Manhattan, heading toward Teterboro Airport.Inside the car, the air was tense and quiet. Adrian sat by the window with his laptop on his knees. Next to him, Sophia typed quickly on two phones. Her face was lit up by the blue light of her screens, which showed bank maps, legal warrants, and flight routes."The federal marshals know everything now," Sophia reported, her voice calm and fast. "Because Maxwell broke his bail rules by sending an illegal offshore wire transfer, the police in London have an emergency order. Saint Jude’s Private Care Center is being frozen right now."Adrian did not answer at once. His blue eyes were fixed on a file that Sophia had taken from the clinic’s computer system. The file had been opened and downloaded just two hours ago from a computer in Marylebone.It was Ethan’s digital work.As Adrian scrolled through the documents, a painful knot tightened in his throat.Every single piece of