**Ethan couldn't stand hospitals; the smell of antibiotics, mixed with dread. The last time he was here, he had lost his older brother. A flurry of nurses raced past him and he fought the urge to run in with them. He needed to know what was going on.
A doctor, wearing a white lab coat, a black stethoscope limply hanging from his neck was about to breeze past when Ethan grabbed him by the collar.
"What's happening? Are my parents alright?"
"Calm down, Sir, I'm about to go find out." The doctor said, trying to placate the large man who had suddenly interrupted his strides. He gently, but firmly patted Ethan's hands away from his collar.
Ethan eased off. This wasn't him; he was naturally calm, even under pressure, but this had blindsided him and for the briefest instance, he imagined losing both of his parents and a gnawing pain, so raw, crashed against his chest it weakened his knees.
The doctor hurried into the flapping double doors that led to the emergency room and disappeared. Ethan began to pace. His phone had been buzzing for more than ten minutes and he had contemplated bashing it into the wall.
"Ethan!" He spun around and sighed out in relief when his girlfriend ran to him.
"I came as soon as I heard," she said as she leaned into him for a hug. There was a way that Lily spoke that reassured Ethan; her presence eased him up a bit.
"You're okay," she said, her hazel eyes peering into his soul, "come sit." She led him to a chair and they sank down together.
His phone buzzed again and he slipped it out from his pocket. Who the hell wouldn't just let him be? There were a couple of messages from his uncle and he swiped his phone open and read the messages.
The double doors burst open and the doctor walked out, eyes trained on Ethan. Ethan felt like the floor had given way beneath him as he stood up. Lily was standing too.
"I'm sorry, Sir. We did all we could."
The world receded and all Ethan could see was a blur of red, in his ears, all he could hear was the sound of raging waters. This wasn't happening; it couldn't be happening. His grip tightened on his cell phone and he shifted his gaze from the doctor who seemed to be speaking inaudibly, and glared at Lily.
Lily reached out to him and he pushed her away, his eyes were now a chaos of dark smoke.
"You did this!" he growled.**
Lily Crawford walked out of the Fashion Nova store at Panorama City and headed to her parked car. The G wagon stood out from the other cars and she wondered why she always opted out for the Brabus when she could easily use her mother's Camry.
She opened the passenger seat door and hefted her bags on the seat. Next, she walked over to the driver's seat door and practically climbed onto the leather seat. Laila, her friend, had warned her to get a smaller, more manageable ride but Lily enjoyed her big boy.
Before she drove out of the parking lot, she connected her Bluetooth to the car's radio and waited until Drake's voice filled her car. Lily eased into the highway traffic, made her way out of the metropolitan area and headed towards Sun Valley.
As she drove, her mind began to wander through her thoughts. She had a meeting the next day with potential investors, hence the need to buy an impressionable suit. Although no one at work said it, she could see it in their eyes that they didn't believe she could save the company; even her father had given up and left her to 'do whatever she liked.'
It had been a hard couple of months, what with her mother's deteriorating COPD, and her father's nonchalance towards the family business. Ever since they lost three of their companies in three months, she had thought it would spur him to fight, but he had folded in like a lounge chair and gave up.
Lily had to juggle handling the only company they still owned, while searching for the best medical care facility for her mom. She didn't want to bother her little sister, who was away in college at Texas, in the financial crisis their family had been plunged into. Besides, June was wrapping up her final year of studying Accounting; she needed all the support and focus she could get.
A car horn blared into Lily's thoughts and brought her back to the present. She let the car behind her roar past and watched as a middle-aged man flailed his hand at her and ended up with a graceful flip of the middle finger.
Normally, she would've been pissed but she had bigger things to focus on. Besides, what was the joy in speeding on the highway in a smooth car like this? She made sure she enjoyed her rides because they gave her the opportunity to think.
Suddenly, her car jerked and she gripped her steering wheel. The car came to a stop and the engine ceased to run. Great. After a few attempts to get the car running again, Lily gave up and grabbed her phone from the glove compartment.
Laila's number was on speed dial and she dialed it, praying it didn't go to voicemail.
"Yeah?"
"Laila, I need your help, I'm stranded."
"What happened?" her voice rose up a notch, "Where are you?"
"Uh," Lily jumped out of the car and searched for landmarks. "Uh, I just passed by a gas station, 7 Eleven."
"What happened?" Lily could hear kids playing in the background and she glanced at her wristwatch. It was noon, probably not a good time to be calling.
"The car just stopped working."
"Have you called your car guy?"
"That's the problem, I don't have a car guy. I was hoping you'd call yours."
Laila sighed from her end of the call. "Do you even routinely maintain that monstrosity you call a car?"
It was true that she didn't maintain her car, but she hardly ever had the time to do anything for herself. "You know I'm always busy."
"I'm on my way. Henry will come to meet you."
"Who…"
"Henry is my car guy," Laila interrupted before Lily could say anything more. "Stay put."
"Yes, ma'am."
Lily ended the phone call and pocketed her phone. A few cars swished by and she leaned against her car, watching. She was in gray joggers and a large, Harvard t-shirt, her dark hair was held in a bun with a scarf and she hadn't bothered to get out of her crocs before leaving the house.
"Great," she muttered to herself again. She had planned to take her mom for her appointment by one, drop her off at home again, then spend the rest of her time at the office to prepare for her meeting. The company had been on shaky legs and although she didn't want to admit it, these potential investors were their last hope.
For years, her family had owned and managed a successful wine company with five active wineries. This was the first time, since the family business began, that they had to sell off four of those wineries when all their costs suddenly spiked up.
Lily had always dreamt of running the business and had dreams of buying land to grow their own grapes. Instead of importing them from Peru. She had already researched on building a conducive greenhouse to make it possible, and even took a course on the art of viticulture.
A car slowed down and parked behind Lily's car and for a moment she thought Laila's mechanic had arrived, but there was no tow truck. As soon as she recognized whose car it was, she stiffened just as Ethan slid out of the car and nudged the door shut.
She hadn't seen Ethan since the day his parents died, and that was almost a year ago. Watching him walk over to her brought back some unruly thoughts. He was dressed in a gray Armani suit and his eyes were aimed directly at her as he walked over in confident strides. As he came closer, she noticed that his eyes had grown tired, and she could spot the eye bags beneath them.
Something in her softened and she felt a wave of pity for him. He was now truly alone with no family, save his uncle. She had tried to comfort him, to be there for him but he had turned away from her with a bizarre accusation that her father had planned for his parents' death.
Of course, there had been no proof, but he was bent on what he said.
"Ethan" Lily said when he finally came to a stop before her. His beard was sharply carved and it shone. From the way he tightly held his ponytail back, she knew he was headed for business.
"I see your car isn't working."
"Yeah." They had bought her car together; she could remember the amused look on his face when she adamantly refused to pick any other car after she spotted the black G wagon Brabus sitting in all its glory at the far end of the show room.
He shot the car a disdainful glare, then aimed his eyes back at her.
"Some things are trash even when they look good."
Lily felt the sting from his words. "What do you want?"
"You have a meeting tomorrow with the Chinese."
How did he know about her meeting? "How the hell do you know that?"
Ethan stepped forward and she could see the red that lined his eyes. "I'm telling you right now to back off. Don't bother looking for investors, your company is going to crash, just like the rest did."
Lily felt the heat of anger race up from her neck and flare up in her face. "Look, I don't know what twisted thing happened to your head when your parents died, and I don't want to know, but leave my company out of your mouth, you hear me?"
Ethan chuckled mirthlessly and his eyes formed a dangerous slit. "Your entire family is going to mud, and I will watch you burn to the ground. Tell that to the back-stabbing murderer you call your father."
Lily's fists formed a ball and she pictured slamming them right into Ethan's perfect nose. "My father had nothing to do with your parents' death, Ethan! Where's the evidence, huh?"
Ethan gritted his teeth. "Must be sad, born to two scraps of humans."
"Yeah? At least they are still alive and sipping wine every evening!"
Ethan leaned forward, he looked like he would have lurched but barely contained himself. Lily laughed out loud.
"What? You want to hit me? Go on, Ethan Walters, California's sweetheart," she said, making air quotes with her fingers when she said 'California's sweetheart.' "You're nothing but a scared boy who doesn't know how to deal with his grief and opts to pin it all on his girlfriend."
"Ex- girlfriend."
"Thank God!" Lily laughed with mock hysteria.
Just then, an SUV pulled up across the road and Laila slipped out. Ethan gave Lily one last look before turning around and heading back to his car. Lily watched him, wishing her stares could drill holes into his back and shatter the cold heart he had grown.
"Lily!" Laila called out. She waited for Ethan's car to roll away before she crossed the road and rushed over to Lily. "Was that who I think it was?"
"The bastard!" Lily yelled and Laila placed a hand on her arm.
"Hey, are you okay? What happened?"
"Can you believe the stupid… stupid!" Lily's body was shaking and she broke down crying.
"Hey, hey," Laila pulled Lily and engulfed her in a hug and rubbed an arm on her back. "You're okay, it's okay," she cooed.
"And…and to think I loved him, Laila. He…he hates me…he hates Daddy, and we didn't even do anything."
Laila tried to calm her down and held her until the sobs subsided. By the time Lily regained her composure, a tow truck had already arrived.
"Wait," she told Henry and she extracted her shopping bags from the car. "When can I have him back?" she asked concerning the car and ignored the look Henry gave her for referring to the car as a 'he'.
"It depends. Let me give it a check, then I'll know more."
Lily gave him her home number and followed Laila to her SUV. "Home?"
"Yes please."
Laila started the car and they rode in silence.
"Thank you for coming for me, Lai, I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Uh, probably get into a fight with your ex. What was that all about anyway? You both looked like you were about to get into it."
Laila sighed and looked out the window.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."
"No," Lily sighed, "no it's not that. You know the meeting I have tomorrow?"
"The one with your investment guys?"
"Yeah, that. I don't know how he even knew I was scheduled to meet with them tomorrow. He said I shouldn't bother, and that I'm going to lose the company." Her voice cracked and Laila gave her a moment.
"Lily, honey, I need you to listen to me. Ethan has been sabotaging your family's business; I just know it!"
"But why? Why would he do something like that; we've been family friends for years, why?"
"Well, he thinks your dad killed his parents."
"But why?" Lily spread her arms and turned to Laila with a beseeching look. "Daddy has no reason to kill the Walters, they were best friends. And what's the angle? He has experienced nothing but loss ever since they died."
"Thanks to Ethan."
"That's not the point, Lai. I need to know why he thinks Daddy did this. He's pretty convinced and if you're right, there's nothing stopping him from sabotaging the company. It's all I've got, Lai. Daddy has given up already."
Laila watched the road as she drove, wishing she had an answer for her friend. She had experienced everything, from the moment Ethan and Lily had begun dating, to the moment he turned into a cold-blooded animal, out to punish Lily and her family. She had watched as Lily struggled to keep her family together even though she put on a tough exterior and tried to act like she had everything under control.
"I'm so sorry, baby. I don't know what got over Ethan, but all I know is that I believe in you. You're a strong woman and you would pull your family through." She glanced at Lily before focusing back on the road.
"Look, forget about Ethan for now. You've got a meeting you need to prepare for tomorrow,"
"Actually, I need to get mom to the hospital, she has an appointment."
"Oh, how is she doing though?"
Lily sighed. "Same old. The doctor wants to get her on a designer drug. He claims it has helped a lot of people with the pain."
"Mmm. So, focus on that. Let's get your mom to her appointment. I could drive her back home from the hospital while you head to the office."
"Come on, Lai, you've already done enough for me. I'll take it from there, besides, you abandoned a bunch of sixth graders just for me."
Laila chuckled. "I got someone to stand in for me, said it was a family emergency, which it was."
"Aww, you're sweet."
"I know. The world is a cruel place without me."
Lily laughed out loud at her friend's smugness. "True that."