Chapter 002
Ethan's POV
"Why will you not simply trust me, Olivia?"
Between us, my words lingered, loaded with frustration and something perilously near to desperation. She stood at the window, the New York skyline silently, a dazzling witness to our collision behind her. Her arms were crossed, her body rigid, her visage an inscrutable mask—but her eyes, those eyes burned with the fire that had always undone me.
Her tone more cutting than any knife, she fired back, "I stopped trusting you the moment you gave me a reason not to." And avoid behaving as though you had no idea why.
I moved forward, against the impulse telling me to back off. "I know I messed, Olivia, but you don't have the whole story."
Her laughter was harsh and frigid. "That's practical. Your perspective is absolutely as persuasive as your justifications.
Her disobedience was familiar, seductive even if it was infuriating. She was stronger, more guarded, and unlike the lady I had lost years before; it made me want to burst through her boundaries all the more. But I had to know what was actually going on much more than I wanted to contact her.
" What's on your phone?" I insisted, my voice falling as I moved forward another step. "The signals. emails. What are you not telling me? You seem to be waiting for someone to leap out and grab you from behind your shoulder?
Her knuckles white as she gripped her phone as if it were a lifeline; her lips formed a narrow line. I have no obligation to tell you anything.
"You are if it is about Amelia."
She gasped silently but clearly, and I knew I had touched a sensitive chord. Her shields weakened for a single second, but she recovered rapidly, her stare hardening into steel. Out of this, leave her out.
I moved nearer yet, until the air between us was charged with conflict. "I cannot leave her out of it, Olivia. She is my daughter—"
She stopped me off with a sharp "don't you dare." "Don't stand there and claim some noble right to her when you neither know her."
Her comments were like a blow, but I wouldn't back down. "You know that; it's not my fault."
Her shoulders shaking, she moved away from me and drew in a faltering breath. She said, "You don't know what you're talking about," her voice faltering just enough to slink away at my rage.
Her sensitivity, short as it was, made me feel naked. I wanted to reach for her to reduce the space between us and show her that I was not the enemy. But if I knew nothing about the depth of the cuts separating us, how could she come to believe me?
Every word, every gaze, every second that passed was another struggle in our ceaseless conflict. Still, under the wrath and under the suffering, there was another, unquestionable, silent truth. The link we always had, the one that kept me from walking away from her even now. It made it difficult.
Still, this time something was different. A darker thing. And whatever it was, Olivia was covering it.
Her voice tense, she continued, "You think I'm lying to you," abruptly. "That I'm hiding things just to hurt you."
With narrow eyes, I said, "I think you're scared." "And I think you trust me insufficiently to explain why."
She shot back, whirling to meet me, "Why should I?" Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears, and her voice shook with hardly controlled wrath. "You cannot ask Ethan for trust. Many years ago, you lost that right.
And I'm striving to win it back, my voice getting higher. But if you keep excluding me, I cannot do that.
She shot back, "Maybe I'm shutting you out because that's the only way to protect myself." "Did you ever give that any thought?"
Her comments lingered in the air like a smack, and for a minute we neither spoke. The stillness was charged, thick, the sort that made breathing difficult. Desperate to know the fury raging inside her, I sought her face but she looked away, once again excluding me.
Quietly, I murmured, "I'm not the same man I was, Olivia," then tentatively stepped in front. "You know that," said
Whispers of "Do I?" her back still to me. "Because all I notice is the same man who broke my heart."
Her voice hurt so much that I had to clench my hands to prevent reaching for her. "I didn't break your heart, Olivia," I murmured, my voice both hard and soft. "I was trying to shield you."
Her eyes burning, she turned to face me then. " shields me? Drawing from what?
Opening my lips to respond, the words stopped in my throat. How could I convey the reality without deconstructing everything? How could I help her to see that, albeit misdirected as they had been, my decisions were from a place of love?
Her phone buzzed once again, disturbing the moment before I could locate the words. She looked at the screen, and whatever she saw there sapped the color from her face.
Olivia, please? My voice hoarse with apprehension, I questioned. What is it?
She shook her head, her hand tightening on the phone. " It's nothing."
"It's not nothing," I muttered, my tolerance breaking. "Let me see—."
She cried out, "No!" and retreated. Her response was so quick and strong that it stopped me dead. You can't. You misunderstand.
Her distress rang off bells in my thoughts, but before I could press her more the room flashed and a strong rumbling roused the structure. First weak, like distant thunder, it got louder and more forceful.
My eyes flying to the window, I said, "What the hell was that?" Though the skyline was absolutely motionless, the air seemed everything but usual.
Olivia's phone buzzed once again; this time she tried not to hide it. Her face white, her lips shaking as she read the message, she fixed her gaze at the screen.
She said softly, "They're here." Her voice is almost audible.
"Who else is here?" I insisted, moving in closer. Olivia, what is happening?
She omitted responding. Her heels clicked fiercely on the floor as she turned instead and ran for the door. My pulse beating, I followed without thinking twice trying to understand what was happening.
"Talk to me!" I said, running up to her down the corridor. "Who else is arriving? What are you running away from?
She stopped suddenly and whirled around to meet me. Her breathing was quick, shallow gasps and her eyes were wild. With a trembling voice, she replied, "You have to trust me, Ethan." "You let me handle this if you want to guard Amelia."
Her comments came like a freight train, and for a time I just stared at her. My voice low and menacing, I said, "What does Amelia have to do with this?"
"Everything," she said in a whisper.
The sound of approaching footsteps reverberated down the corridor before I could demand a justification. Olivia's eyes went wide, then she grabbed my arm and dragged me into the closest office. She signaled for quiet by pressing a finger to her lips as the footsteps got louder, nearer.
My senses on full alert, I strained to hear. Though the sounds accompanying the footfall were low, muted, I managed to catch bits of their speech.
"…verified place..." This time there are no errors.
"...secure the target... kill the rest..."
My blood chilled. Whichever they were, they were not here for a nice talk.
Olivia moved in and tightened her hold on my arm, her lips brushing against my ear as she said, "If they find us, we're both dead."
Her words weigh like a tidal wave, and at that instant everything changed. This transcended our past or our unresolved emotions. This was considerably darker and far more expansive.
And it was barely getting started.
The feet stopped just outside the office door. My breath stopped, and Olivia's hold on my arm tightened to hurt. Her emerald eyes were wide with horror; her face was white. Nobody on the opposite side was here by mistake.
I bent in close, my voice a just audible whisper. " Who are they? What are their wants?
Her mouth opened but no words emerged. Her gaze revealed the anxiety that told me all I needed to know; this went beyond her or me. This was concerning Amelia. Daughter of mine.
My gut twisted when I spotted the glitter of something metallic as a shadow passed under the door's fracture. with a gun. Whatever their identity, they were armed and not leaving without a struggle.
"I need you to trust me," I whispered, my voice low and steady even though every nerve in my body cried for action. Tell me what you are doing. presently.
Her voice was wobbly, but her words flowed fast and almost angrily. They're after someone, something. Though I'm not sure of all the specifics, I know they would not hesitate to murder anyone in their path.
You are the target as well? Already arranging bits of the puzzle, I inquired.
She hesitated, then nodded with uncertain eyes. "They believe I possess something they need. But Ethan, it is more than that. should they discover Amelia...
She trailed off yet she had no need to finish. My hands tightened, a protecting flood coursed through me. That is not going to happen.
Olivia flinched, pushing herself into the wall when the door's handle shook. My brain flew, computing my chances of escaping this unharmed. There were no windows in the office nor other exits. Should they show up, we would be surrounded.
"We have to move," I remarked, speaking deliberately. "Tonight."
"How?" she said, terror tumbling through her voice. "They're right outdoors."
Looking about the room, I looked for anything we may have used as a weapon or diversion. My gaze fixed on a fire extinguisher kept on the wall. Though little, it would have to do.
I murmured, taking the extinguisher and orienting myself near the entrance, "Stay behind me." Every second stretched into eternity as my heart hammered in waiting.
Starting once more, the footsteps passed the door this time. They paused abruptly, though, as a deep, frightening voice said. Check every room. Not one loose end.
My hold on the extinguisher became more firm. Olivia's eyes locked with mine, a flicker of terror mixed with will deep inside them. There was no time to consider or to plan. The door handle swirled and I leaped as it creaked open.
The man collapsed to the ground and the extinguisher hit with a terrible thud. Another man emerged behind him brandishing his rifle, but I was already running forward driven by adrenaline.
"Run!": Shoving Olivia toward the hall, I yelled to her. She stopped for a split second, then ran, her footsteps resounding as I turned to meet the next attack.
One shot burst the suspense like glass. Though white-hot and scorching, pain erupted in my shoulder and I continued. I stopped not sure how to quit. Not throughout Olivia and Amelia's life, when it hung on a knife.
"Ethan! " Olivia screamed through the turmoil, and I turned just in time to see another man approaching her. As I barreled toward him, slamming him to the ground, my eyes fogged with agony and fury.
"Go!" I yelled, in a harsh voice. "Get away from here!"
But the room appeared to stop and the sound of approaching sirens filled the air before she could move. The men looked at one another, their faces changing from hostility to terror.
One of them barked, "Fall back," and turned away from the door.
Olivia collapsed to her knees next to me as the strain at last released, her hands quivering as she pushed on my shoulder to stop the bleeding. Tears flooded her eyes, yet her voice was firm.
Her tone somber, she replied, "We're not safe." " Not yet."