Ethan stood in the same place long after the others had left, the cool night air doing little to soothe the fire raging inside him. She ought to have known better. He ought to have regulated his own. But he had gone over the line thinking about those men, those pitiful, useless excuses for human beings caressing her, frightening her.
He had assured himself he would be different this time. He would treat her softly, shielding her from the gloom that hung about him like second skin. But that commitment had broken the instant he saw her terrified eyes, the quivering in her voice when she spoke his name. His anxiety had engulfed him, turned into rage, and then found expression in the worst of imaginable ways.
Ethan threw the crushed cigarette over the balcony, the agony hardly felt as he did. He had to see her, make sure she was really fine, but the idea of seeing her now, following what he had done, made his heart knot with something dangerously like to remorse.
But he convinced himself this was not guilt. It was something else he cannot afford to feel. Not at the moment. never ever.
* * *
The stillness within the apartment was nearly oppressive. Michael Shaw headed for the elevator, his footsteps resonating down the corridor. Though he knew Ethan was erratic, tonight had become far worse than expected. Before, he caught glimpses of this side of Ethan—cold, merciless, able of anything to obtain what he desired. But this was the first he had witnessed such wrath aimed at someone so defenseless.
Michael felt a twinge of pity for the woman Ethan had brought into his life. Drawn to Ethan's wealth and influence, she was unlike the other ladies who had come and gone. She was unlike—almost perfect but naive. And despite everything, innocence had somehow endured Ethan's world.
For what length of time, though? Michael puzzled himself as he entered the elevator. How long before she joined another victim of Ethan Wright's unrelenting quest of control?
Michael found himself by himself with his thoughts when the elevator doors closed. Tonight he had seen enough to know this was only beginning. Ethan's fixation on her was hazardous, and it wouldn't be long until it consumed both of them.