“How long did you know?” I ask him. “And did you have to decide?”
Ethan is almost about to jump me again, but I see him think better of it and sigh.
“I knew you were somehow trying to steal the device from the moment you were in my
office,” he tells me. “I didn’t know it was Simon till you told me. I knew it could potentially have been Simon, but I didn’t want to rule out maybe it was someone else. Maybe you were working for Arsen Hawke or someone else.”
I’m silent as he continues. “When you didn’t take the device and you actually brought it back, I began to think that you weren’t actually trying to steal on your own, but someone was either paying you or forcing you to do it,” he says and I nod. “Which is basically what you confirmed ten days ago.”
“And then?” I ask.
“I knew that eventually if you were being forced to do this, there might come a day where you’d have to fucking choose between yourself and us,” he tells me, his eyes deep and soulful and even through my anger, I can see full of love. He shrugs as he continues. “I didn’t want you to have to make that choice. So I made it for you. I prepared the Trojan Horse script that would stay hidden and only run upon command if needed. As it turns out, it saved us from each other.”
My head is spinning, babe.
I need to sit down.
To think of what’s going on.
How Ethan has just saved me from Simon. But I know you by now, and I know you’re wondering about Simon. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person that takes kindly to being made a fool of. He’s definitely going to retaliate.
All of a sudden the anger is replaced by fear.
Am I going to have to run again?
“Once you mentioned Simon, I knew exactly how he’d try to coerce you,” Ethan tells me as he picks up his tablet and turns on the video call option. He looks at me and smirks. “You might be interested to know that Cheryl is in California right now.”
My heart leaps up into my throat and Ethan recognizes the look.
“Yeah, don’t worry,” he says. “It’s not that hard to figure out where you used to live in California and that your agent was Robert McIntyre.”
I don’t have a chance to explain or even question because that’s when Cheryl comes on the screen.
“Hey there, Cheryl,” Ethan says with a cheery voice. “What’s the status?”
“Robert McIntyre never got a chance to see Today USA,” Cheryl says into her phone, her expression blank. She glances at me and even across the country, I can tell she’s sizing me up. Seeing if I’m any threat to Ethan. “He’ll never catch the reruns of what happened either.”
Ethan nods. “Do I want to know why not?” he asks.
Cheryl doesn’t answer. She just shakes her head.
There’s a moment of silence.
I don’t even know what to say. Is Cheryl saying that he’s dead? Did she have something to do with this?
“Thank you so much,” Ethan says and without any further ado, pushes the END button.
He looks at me.
“You’re free,” he says.
“Ethan?” I ask, going closer to him. The prospect of being free of having to look over my shoulder is insane. “What happened to him?”
“Sometimes porn is still a dirty fucking business, babe,” Ethan tells me, his voice and face serious. “If we don’t ask questions, we never have to lie.”
It sends a small chill. The power that this man wields.
But it makes me feel safe. Because with everything Ethan knows, and with everything it turns out he can do, what he wants most in the world right now…is me.