Ethan Lewis Euphoria

In order to gather 500 thousand dollars for my blind girlfriend's surgical bills, I've accepted a delivery order that's meant for someone at a private racing club. The huge floor-to-ceiling monitor is currently playing the live footage of the champion who's won the racing tournament. Champagne bottles can be seen spraying everywhere as the audience cheers loudly for the victor. Soon, the champion takes off her helmet and shakes her head full of curls off her face. Strikingly beautiful features are revealed the next moment. Next to the champion stands her childhood friend, Lewis Ross. I feel my hands clenching around the plastic bag containing the food containers. The woman shown on the screen is none other than Evelyn Carter, my so-called blind girlfriend. "Why aren't you happy even though you've won the tournament, Evelyn? Are you missing that boyfriend of yours who's still working his ass off for money?" A familiar voice comes from the lounge. An amused yet malicious smirk is played on Evelyn's lips at the moment. "Why did you bring him up? Then again, it's thrilling, pretending to be blind and all. Whenever he changes his clothes at home, he does it right in front of me." Everyone around Evelyn begins roaring with cheers. "You're so lucky, Ms. Carter!" After taking a sip from her champagne glass, Evelyn responds in a flippant tone, "Lucky? He's so busy with work every day just to gather enough money for my surgical bills! That man doesn't have a single romantic cell in him—he's just as stiff as the stick up his ass!" A wave of laughter echoes from the crowd once again. Feeling as though my blood had turned to ice, I turn on my heel and begin walking out of the club. I can still hear Lewis' cheeky voice ringing out from behind me. "There are only three days left in our one-year bet, Evelyn. Don't tell me you really fell for your boyfriend!" Evelyn merely snorts in response. She drawls back, "Don't worry. I'll dump him in three days."

Ethan Banks never planned to fail. Fresh out of New York University with a degree in Computer Science, he expected to land the kind of career that would prove to his family back in Bay City, Texas, that he could stand on his own two feet. Instead, New York City chewed him up and spit him out, interview after interview leaving him rejected and exhausted. He refused to run home and let his parents—or worse, his older brother—fix everything for him. He needed to make it here. On his own. When he finally secures a position at Warner Industries the largest tech empire in the city Ethan thinks his luck has turned. Until he meets the man behind the empire. Aaron Warner. His brother’s childhood best friend. His secret ex-boyfriend. The boy who once set his heart on fire, then vanished without a word. But the Aaron he knew is gone. In his place is a billionaire CEO with a reputation as ruthless as the empire he built. Cold. Calculating. Untouchable. And when Ethan demands answers about their past, Aaron offers only one shocking ultimatum: marry me—or walk away. Caught between the success he’s dreamed of and the love that once destroyed him, Ethan must decide if he’s willing to risk everything for the one man he swore he’d never forgive.

Am Tag vor dem Abschlussball der Highschool lockte Ethan Luciano mich ins Bett. Er war grob und begehrte mich die ganze Nacht. Trotz der Schmerzen war mein Herz voller Süße. Denn ich hatte Ethan seit zehn Jahren heimlich geliebt – endlich hatte sich mein Traum erfüllt. Er sagte, er wolle mich nach dem Abschluss heiraten. Sobald er die Führung der Familie Luciano von seinem Vater übernehme, würde er mich zur mächtigsten Frau der Familie machen. Am nächsten Tag hielt Ethan mich umarmt in seinen Armen, als er meinem Adoptivbruder gestand, dass wir nun ein Paar seien. Schüchtern saß ich auf seinem Schoß und fühlte mich wie die glücklichste Frau der Welt. Doch plötzlich wechselten sie ins Italienische. Lucas, mein Adoptivbruder, neckte: „Ganz der Young Boss – bei seinem ersten Mal springt ihm gleich die Schönheitskönigin in die Arme.“ „Und wie schmeckt dir meine kleine Schwester?“ Ethan antwortete gleichgültig: „Außen rein und unschuldig, aber im Bett verdammt versaut.“ Ringsum brach Gelächter aus. „Soll ich sie also meine kleine Schwester oder meine zukünftige Schwägerin nennen?“ Doch Ethan runzelte die Stirn. „Welche Schwägerin? Ich will die Cheerleaderin erobern, aber hab Angst, sie findet mich schlecht im Bett. Also übe ich vorher kurz was an Cynthia.“ „Dass ich mit Cynthia geschlafen habe, erzählt das bitte nicht Sylvia. Ich will nicht, dass sie sauer wird.“ Was sie nicht wussten: Ich hatte längst heimlich Italienisch gelernt – nur um eines Tages mit Ethan mithalten zu können. Ich sagte kein Wort. Ich änderte einfach stillschweigend meine Universitätsbewerbung – von Caltech zum MIT.

I didn’t marry him for love. I married Ethan Blake because my brother was dying, and he needed a wife to secure his inheritance. It was supposed to be a simple deal—one year. No feelings. No expectations. On our wedding night, he didn’t touch me. Didn’t even pretend to try. “You are not her,” Ethan said quietly, adjusting his cufflinks like I wasn’t even worth looking at. I told myself I could survive that. I told myself I wouldn’t fall for a man who was still holding onto someone else. But living in Ethan Blake’s world was a different kind of loneliness. Because he didn’t love me, yet, he watched me when I wasn’t looking and kept his distance. Yet, no one else was allowed to get close to me. And slowly, against my better judgment… I started hoping. Hoping that one day, he would see me. I was wrong. The day she came back, everything changed. The woman he had been waiting for. The woman I was meant to replace. In front of everyone, Ethan didn’t hesitate. He chose her. And in that moment, something inside me broke so quietly that no one noticed except me. So I left. No goodbye. No explanation. Just gone. I thought that would be the end of it. Until Ethan Blake came back into my life, like losing me was the one thing he couldn’t afford. But I’m not the same woman he married. And this time? He’s the one chasing He’s the one breaking while I decide if he deserves a second chance—or if I should finally choose myself.

Spin Off: Pembantu Pemuas Nafsu sang Majikan (Kisah Ethan dan Cassandra) ** Bagi Cassandra, menikah dengan Ethan Lubis yang pernah dia kagumi sejak masih kecil merupakan penjara yang mematikan. Pernikahan megah itu justru membuatnya seperti tawanan yang menjeratnya di dalam sangkar emas bernama kemewahan. Cassandra hanya dijadikan alat oleh pria kejam dan dingin itu. Akankah Cassandra bisa melewati semua lika-liku rumah tangga yang akan dia hadapi bersamanya?

Malam itu, Ethan yang mabuk terpaksa masuk ke dalam kamar Evelyn dan berbagi peluh. Keesokan harinya, Ethan melempar sebuah kertas yaitu kertas perceraian kepada Evelyn. Evelyn, terpaksa menandatangani surat perceraian tersebut dan harus mengangkat kaki dari kediaman Zoldyck, setelah dirinya mendapatkan hinaan dan caci-maki dari Suaminya. Siapa menduga, satu bulan kemudian, Evelyn dinyatakan hamil dan harus membesarkan buah hatinya di sebuah perkampungan sebagai peternakan sapi.

One of Ethan Sterling's closest friends got drunk and humiliated me. Called me a nobody orphan who married above her station, said I'd never be accepted by the Sterlings, that I wasn't fit to sit at their table. Ethan smashed a bottle over the man's head. He announced in front of everyone that if anyone ever disrespected me again, he'd make them pay. When I was pregnant and the morning sickness was so brutal I couldn't keep anything down, he went and scheduled a vasectomy. He didn't want me to suffer through another pregnancy. This was a man who loved me like I was his whole world. And yet — when I was lying on the operating table about to give birth, he was standing right in front of me with his arms around Iris, putting on a show for anyone watching. Iris was the daughter of another old-money family and she'd donated bone marrow to save Ethan's mother's life. The night before her own engagement, her fiance betrayed her, and the trauma wiped her memory clean. Now the only thing she knew for certain was that Ethan Sterling was her husband. In her world, I was the homewrecker — the scheming woman using the bastard in her belly to force her husband into a divorce. Ethan promised me it was all an act. Just repaying the debt for his mother's life. Once Iris recovered, he'd walk away from her immediately. But when I picked up the surgical consent form for him to sign, and his first instinct was to pull Iris behind him — to shield her — I knew. His heart had already drifted off course. The fairy tale of a Cinderella marrying into high society was over. Time to wake up.

At the ceremony where my father, Robert Clarke, is promoted to the position as the pack elder, my mate, Alpha Ethan Thornfield, raises the wine glass in his hand while smiling at him. "Elder Robert, there's this question which has been bothering me for the longest time. Does shamelessness run in the Clarke family's genetics? Otherwise, how are you able to raise a she-wolf as stubborn and defiant as Isabella who keeps pestering me the whole time?" Dad's wine glass is suspended in mid-air. All the wolves turn to look at us. I place the napkin on the table before meeting Ethan's gaze calmly. "Stop barking like a mad dog, Ethan. I agree to sever our mate bond. That way, you and that mistress of yours can finally get together." Ethan replies softly, "It's wonderful to see you making that decision with a sound mind." On the night the ceremony ends, a mate bond severance agreement, which is prepared in advance, is passed to me. Silently, I drop my signature on the last page of the document. Ethan and that Omega, Chloe Stonehart, have started their affair a year ago. He started forcing me to sever our mate bond six months ago. Since he craves freedom that much, I shall grant it to him. I just hope that he won't regret his decision at all when he loses everything he treasures.

I have just been discharged after leg surgery when Victor Clark, my wife's former colleague who resents her for taking his position, drags me up to the roof and stabs me repeatedly. My wife, Melissa Lane, is the captain of the rescue unit, yet she is busy mobilizing everyone to stop her depressed first love, Ethan Hayes, from setting his rental apartment on fire. I don't call her to save me. In my previous life, I begged her for help. She abandoned Ethan and rushed to rescue me. In the end, I survived while Ethan died in the blaze. Melissa never blamed me. She said that Ethan got what he deserved and even promised me a surprise for my birthday a week later. But on my birthday, she drugged me, tied me to a hospital bed, and drove a knife into me again and again. "You and Victor set me up that day, didn't you? Those stab wounds aren't even serious! You were never going to die! Since you like getting stabbed so much, I'll make it real for you!" When I open my eyes, I am back to the day Victor took me hostage. This time, I let Melissa go save her first love.

Just because his first love's younger brother accidentally fell into Shadow River, my Alpha mate, Ethan Horn, forced me, the only Spirit Soother of our pack, to go and rescue him. When I sank to the bottom of the river, I chose not to save him. When the man was pulled out of the river, the healer lamented, "If it were a few minutes earlier, Leo might have been saved. What a pity." Ethan's first love, Serafina Pike, had her wolf soul shut off and soon passed away because she missed her younger brother, Leo Pike. From that moment on, Ethan, who had once loved me, hated me to the core. Without giving me a chance to explain, he slit my throat with a silver blade and ruthlessly sealed my wolf soul. Later, he believed the heresy of the witch about soul sacrifice and nailed me and our young daughter in coffins before burying us alive by Shadow River as sacrifices to resurrect his beloved Serafina. In the end, the woman he deeply loved did not come back to life, and my daughter and I died with endless resentment. When I reopened my eyes, I had returned to the night when Ethan forced me to jump into the river to save Leo. I tied up the specially made rope and asked him for the last time, "Are you really sure that you can bear the consequences after I rescue him?"