Chapter 3
We went back to our suite that night, both of us quiet.
Ethan made me hot tea while I washed the blood off my face and changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt.
The ring sat on the nightstand between us, glinting in the lamplight.
“I need to talk to her,” Ethan said finally.
I tensed.
“Ethan, no—”
“Not to fight,” he said quickly. “To give her a chance. To tell her what we know. To ask her to confess. If she turns herself in, it’ll be easier for everyone.”
I wanted to say no.
I wanted to go straight to the police, to the bank, to anyone who would listen.
But I looked at him.
At the boy I’d fallen in love with, who’d spent his whole life craving his mother’s approval.
I knew he had to do this.
If he didn’t, he’d never be able to live with himself.
“Okay,” I said. “But I’m going with you.”
He shook his head.
“No,” he said. “She’ll just get defensive if you’re there. Let me go alone. I’ll call you the second it’s over.”
I hesitated.
Then I nodded.
“Be careful,” I said.
He kissed my forehead.
“Always,” he said.
He left twenty minutes later.
I paced the suite for an hour.
Two hours.
At three in the morning, he still hadn’t come back.
I called his phone.
It went straight to voicemail.
I called again.
And again.
On the fifth try, someone answered.
It was Victoria.
“Hello, Lila,” she said, her voice smooth as silk.
My blood ran cold.
“Where is he?” I said.
“Ethan is fine,” she said. “He’s sleeping. He came to me with the most ridiculous story. About embezzlement. About your poor dead mother.”
She laughed.
“Did you really think he’d choose you over his own family? Over the fortune he’s going to inherit?”
My chest tightened.
“Let me talk to him,” I said.
“No,” she said. “He’s decided to take a little break. To clear his head. And when he comes back, he’s going to get the ring from you. And then you’re going to sign the annulment papers. And you’re going to leave this city and never come back.”
“Or what?” I said.
“Or,” she said, her voice dropping to a hiss, “I’ll make sure everyone knows what a gold-digging little liar you are. I’ll ruin you. I’ll make sure you never work again. Never have a friend again. You’ll end up just like your mother—alone, and dead in a ditch.”
She hung up.
I stood there, the phone still pressed to my ear, my whole body shaking.
She was lying.
She had to be lying.
Ethan wouldn’t leave me.
Not after what we’d shared.
Not after he’d looked me in the eye and said he believed me.
I grabbed my coat.
Grabbed the ring, slipping it onto my finger, tucking the key safely back in its hidden compartment.
I ran to the elevator, up to the penthouse where Victoria and Harold stayed.
I banged on the door.
No answer.
I banged again, louder.
“Ethan!” I screamed. “Ethan, answer me!”
The door flew open.
It was Harold.
Ethan’s father.
He looked tired.
Older than I’d ever seen him.
“Lila,” he said, his voice low. “You need to leave.”
“Where is he?” I said, pushing past him into the suite.
The living room was a mess.
A lamp was broken on the floor.
A glass of wine was spilled across the coffee table.
And there was Ethan.
Sitting on the couch, his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking.
“Ethan!” I said, running to him.
He looked up.
His face was streaked with tears.
His left eye was already swelling shut.
“Lila,” he said, his voice broken.
I turned to Victoria, who was standing by the fireplace, a glass of whiskey in her hand, her face calm.
“You hit him,” I said.
She shrugged.
“He was being ungrateful,” she said. “Telling me I should go to prison. As if I’d ever let that happen.”
Ethan stood up, stepping between me and her.
“I’m not giving her the ring,” he said to his mother. “I’m not signing any annulment. And if you don’t confess, we’re going to the police tomorrow.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“Then you’re no son of mine,” she said. “You get out. You get out of this house, and you never come back. You’ll never see a dime of this family’s money. You’ll be nothing. Just like her.”
Ethan didn’t flinch.
He took my hand.
“Good,” he said. “Because I don’t want anything from you. Ever again.”
We walked out together.
The elevator doors closed behind us.
I looked at his black eye.
At the way he was still shaking.
“Are you okay?” I said.
He looked at me.
And for the first time all night, he smiled.
A small, tired smile.
“I’m free,” he said.
And I knew.
May you like
No matter what happened next.
We were in this together.
