“Yes.” The admission leaves my mouth before I think to soften it, and it’s enough to push him over whatever line he’d been holding.
Ethan closes the distance in two quick strides and shoves me hard in the chest with his good arm. The force sends me back half a step.
My men react immediately. Two of them move forward at the same time, ready to drag him away before he can touch me again, but I lift my hand before they reach him.
“Stoy!”Stop!The single word cuts through the movement, and they halt instantly, though their attention stays locked on Ethan.
His breathing is rough now, the effort of the shove pulling against the injury that holds his shoulder stiff in the sling. He stares at me with a mixture of fury and disbelief, like he’s still deciding whether shoving me was enough.
“You were supposed to protect her,” he says, his voice tight with anger.
I briefly consider responding the way I would with anyone else who put their hands on me. Instead, I let it pass. He earned that much.
“I’m bringing her back,” I tell him.
Ethan searches my face as if he’s trying to decide whether the certainty behind those words is real or just another promise that won’t mean anything if Rowan doesn’t come home.
After a moment, I gesture toward the house. “Come inside,” I add. “We’ll talk in my study.”
For a heartbeat, it looks like he might refuse. His eyes move briefly toward the men surrounding the entrance before returning to me. Then he exhales hard and nods once.
“Fine.”
I turn toward the door and start up the steps. Behind me, Ethan follows without a word. I can hear the uneven pull of his breathing and the muted scrape of his shoes on the stone, the sound of a man forcing himself forward through anger that hasn’t found an outlet yet.
Inside, the house is quiet. The study door stands partially open at the end of the hallway, warm light spilling across the floorboards. Ethan moves past me as soon as we step inside.
Mikel stops near the doorway, his attention fixed on Ethan the way a man watches something that might turn dangerous again.
I glance toward him. “Give us a minute.”
He hesitates only briefly before nodding and stepping back into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him.
By the time the latch clicks, Ethan is already pacing across the carpet in front of the desk, his steps restless and uneven. His injured shoulder remains stiff in the sling, but the rest of him moves like a coiled spring that hasn’t decided whether to snap or hold.
He stops a few feet away from me, his breathing still uneven from the confrontation outside. His hands remain clenched at his sides, knuckles pale against the dim light of the study. He stares at me. Anger burns in his eyes, but beneath it sits fear.
“You told her she’d be safe around you,” he says finally, his voice rough with frustration.
The words scrape through the quiet room like broken glass. I don’t answer immediately. The accusation deserves more than the first response that comes to mind.
Ethan exhales sharply and turns away, pacing once across the carpet before dragging his good hand through his hair like he’s trying to grab hold of a thought that won’t stay still.
“Rowan trusted you. She trusted you, and now she’s gone.”
I rest my fingers against the edge of the desk beside me, the polished wood cool beneath my palm as I lean against it. The contact gives me a moment to regain my composure before I answer.
“Yes.”
The blunt confirmation affects him more than any argument would have. Ethan stares at me like he expected something else; denial, excuses, or some version of the truth that might soften the reality of what happened.
“You’re just going to admit that?” he demands.
“I’m not interested in pretending otherwise.”
He almost looks like he might laugh, but the sound that leaves him is closer to disbelief than humor. He turns away once more and begins pacing the length of the room, the carpet muffling his footsteps but not the agitation behind them.
“Do you even understand what kind of people come after men like you?” he presses, turning back toward me. “Do you understand the world you dragged her into?”
