Chapter 87

Ethan announced that we would not be able to separate from each other until we figured out who our threat was and how dangerous they could potentially be. After everything that we’d experienced so far, I thought it was safe to deduct that whoever it was was incredibly threatening to our lives.

They were not seeking us out on friendly terms.

“I must get going now,” Mrs. Hudson stood up, her tea still steaming and hot. “I need to get back to the children.”

Ethan and I glanced at each other knowingly. I hopped up from my seat across from her and helped her push her chair back.

“Let us drive you back,” I offered. “We don’t want you walking alone at this hour. Not after what you went through.”

Mrs. Hudson looked between Ethan and I, emotion shining in her eyes.

“Thank you,” She murmured and I retrieved the keys for Ethan’s car. He would come with me, but I would drive. He still needed to rest lightly, and driving could be hard on his body.

After I drove Mrs. Hudson home, Ethan and I went to bed. He came to my room, settled himself into the mattress, and opened his arms for me to crawl into. I gripped my arms around his waist and buried my face in his chest.

It was the best sleep I’d gotten in months.

The next morning, I woke up to an empty bed. Ethan’s side was still warm, meaning he had just recently gotten up. I stretched my arms and legs, loving the burn of the muscles as my joints cracked and popped.

I shook the sleep from my head and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. When I was halfway decent, I found Ethan downstairs in sweats and a t-shirt speaking to Tristan at the kitchen counter. The two of them were in the middle of a serious conversation, I felt a little guilty interrupting them.

“Good morning,” I yawned and gave Ethan a quick kiss to his cheek. I blushed when I glanced at Tristan and saw him giving us an amused smirk.

“I see you two have worked through some of your relationship kinks?” Tristan observed.

I rolled my eyes and went to make myself a cup of coffee. Ethan continued their previous conversation, though a slight smile played on his lips.

Tristan had a binder full of information, it was thick and filled to the brim with files and papers. He set it down on the counter space in front of Ethan so that he could look at it.

“I’ve done as much research as I could into alphas who have ties to the mafia,” Tristan explained, flipping through the binder. “I also looked into some that have a history of hiring assassins to do their dirty work, old money sort of things. None of them have a vendetta against you.”

Ethan rubbed at the stubble forming on his jaw, “This isn’t a very big list, Tristan.”

“I know and that’s why” - He flipped to another folder tucked away in the binder - “I started calling meetings with alpha leaders on your behalf while you were in a coma.”

Ethan raised his eyebrows, impressed by Tristan’s diligence. I supposed that’s why he was the beta and Ethan’s right hand. He was thorough.

“Anything come from that?” Ethan asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” Tristan admitted with a frown. “I even had the idea to go and question Liam’s household.”

I perked up at the mention of that man’s name. The man I thought to be my father, the man who thought I was his daughter. An entire childhood of suffering built on lies.

“Did you talk to them?” I asked, coming to rest my hands on the counter beside Ethan.

“I did,” Tristan looked at me with something akin to pity displayed all over his face. I waited with bated breath to hear what they would have said.

Dora, Helen, and Liam were not stupid as much as they were careless. Dora had already publicly started rumors and spread nasty things about me online, it was obvious there was a feud there. If the men on the beach had been successful, if I had died, she would be looked at first. People would suspect her.

If they wanted me dead, they would have done it before I became a big name in the alpha circle.

“And?” Ethan prompted, gauging the look on my face for any emotional outbursts.

“They told me that,” Tristan gave me a pitying side glance, “Well, they said they don’t know who Ava is.”

Ethan and I exchanged confused looks.

“What?” I shook my head.

“They said that Ava was never their daughter and that they knew of a maid and a young girl who used to work for them and that’s it. They’re denying your affiliation with them at all. Refusing to acknowledge you.” Tristan shrugged and kept his eyes focused on the binder, unsure of how I was going to respond.

I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do or say in a situation like that. They didn’t like me, they didn’t want me then, why would they now? Especially now that they knew they risked invoking Ethan’s wrath should anything happen to me by them.

It was a strange, hollow feeling.

“That’s good then,” I swallowed and looked between the two men. “It means we know for sure who it isn’t and we don’t have to worry about them.”

Ethan put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me to his side comfortingly. I shot a small grin up at him and allowed myself to melt into his touch. It was nice, letting myself be loved for once.

“I’ll keep looking.” Tristan said, snapping the binder closed and gathering his things to leave the house. “I swear I’ll find who is responsible for this, Ethan.”

Ethan nodded his thanks and I went back to preparing myself a light breakfast, and making a serving for Ethan as well. To keep his strength up, of course.

Much of our day went by uneventfully. We watched movies, played a few games of chess, I tried to teach him to cook, and he read his favorite books to me. It was an overwhelmingly pleasant day, followed by an extremely pleasant night.

Ethan and I crawled into my bed, our mouths connected, only separating to remove our shirts, before our lips locked together again.

I straddled Ethan’s lap, pressing sloppy kisses down his chest, licking and biting every now and then to elicit a groan from him. He gripped the underside of my thighs to mold and squeeze the flesh on them, when his phone started blaring.

At first he told me to ignore it, returning our lips to each other, but when the ringing stopped, two seconds later it would start again.

“Fuc-” Ethan whined and grabbed the device off the nightstand. I caught a quick glimpse of the contact.

It was Tristan.

Ethan answered, putting him on speaker.

“Tristan, you’re on speaker, this better be good.” Ethan half-joked.

Tristan mumbled a quick hi to me, then began speaking in hurried and hushed words.

“Ethan, it’s Andrew. Andrew was the one who sent those men after you.”