Chapter 88

“And you’re sure it’s hom?” Ethan inquired, his voice completely serious. He sat up in the bed, and I moved to be beside him rather on top of him so that I could listen intently.

Tristan went on to explain how he discovered Andrew’s involvement. After the way Andrew acted a while ago when Ethan and Mars collaborated to destroy his wedding prospects, I was surprised he wasn’t the first one that Tristan tried to investigate.

It turned out that Tristan did look into him briefly, but nothing came of it, until he decided to look through his bank statements. Which, apparently, were not easy to get a hold of.

Andrew had a consistent financial relationship with several outcast wolf packs. He sent them money, a reasonably large amount, twice a month. He had connections and even founded several rogue wolf fundraisers to get them the finances they needed to prosper outside of the government we currently had in place.

Tristan decoded as many transaction details as possible, emailing them to Ethan as they spoke, and gave as much detail as possible into what he knew about the situation.

Ethan swiped a hand over his forehead, stopping to squeeze the bridge of his nose to relieve a tension headache that was forming as the conversation continued.

“Alright,” Ethan sighed, “We will come into the office tomorrow to start discussing what our next move is to be. We can’t do anything to him, legally, without proof.”

Tristan agreed and bid Ethan a goodnight over the phone. Ethan fell back against the mattress with a groan and he turned his head to look at me.

“I’m sorry,” He mumbled, gesturing for me to lay next to him.

“For what?” I asked as I settled into the spot beside him.

“For dragging you into a mess like this. You don’t deserve to be scared all the time, threatened by men like Andrew, grabbed or running for your life-” Ethan rambled, but I cut him off.

“I’d go through it a hundred times if it meant I got to stay with you.” I kissed the palm of his hand and drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Ethan brought me to the office with him. When he said ‘we’ on the phone the night before, he meant him and myself. He really wasn’t kidding when he said we wouldn't be separated through all of this.

I did my best to help with what I could while he was discussing business propositions with Tristan and other trusted workers. I acted like his assistant, running to get paperwork, alerting workers to meetings, and bringing him coffee or food whenever Ethan started looking a little tired or exhausted.

“Thank you, Darling.” Ethan kissed my cheek every time I set a dish of something in front of him, no matter who was in the room or what he was doing as I did it.

It made me blush and giggle like a schoolgirl every single time.

A lot of days were spent in that manner. Ethan and Andrew, I found out, were competing with each other relentlessly as the days went on.

Ethan would undermine potential customers for Andrew, Andrew would buy out Ethan’s customers if he felt like he needed to. They would bash each other during televised meetings, and they were competing for the exact same resources even if they could get them elsewhere without a fuss.

They were at each other’s throats, ready to rip and slash in order to get what they wanted.

“Is this wise?” I asked Ethan as he prepared to buy an entire supply truck company in order to keep Andrew from getting his deliveries on time.

Ethan grunted, “I will do whatever I need to to keep him down.”

“Why?” I sighed, “Why do all this when it’s so easily avoidable?”

Ethan looked at me, his face hard, but he was not angry at me. He was just angry.

“He had six guns pointed at your head. He tried to take you away from me,” Ethan took a deep, shaky breath. “He tried to have you killed, Ava.”

I swallowed thickly, nodding in understanding.

“I will do whatever I need to so that he knows he cannot mess with you again.”

As horrible as the situation was, butterflies filled my stomach at Ethan’s protectiveness. Andrew deserved to face justice for what he had done, I agreed. Silently, I was just worried that Ethan would poke the bear and push him over the edge.

Then, Andrew would do something even more drastic to get what he wanted.

The cycle continued, though. Andrew would win some corporate battles, Ethan would win others. It was a constant game of cat and mouse as they chased each other around supplies and resources that they needed.

As the date for the alpha chairman fulfillment grew closer and closer, as did the poll results for Andrew versus Ethan in the media. They were neck-and-neck, every day one would be slightly higher than the other, but the next day it would switch.

There really was no telling who would be in the lead when the day came for the election.

Ethan poured himself into his work, meaning I was at the office all day every single day. I liked it at first. I felt needed, wanted, powerful.

The late nights wore on me, though, and I knew they were wearing Ethan down as well. He let his stubble grow into a short beard as he had given up on shaving, and permanent purple moons were evident under his eyes from lack of sleep.

I was sporting very similar eyebags and exhaustion was constantly painted all over my face.

“Ethan?” I asked from the couch in his office. “Do you think he will leave us alone once we reveal that we know everything?”

Ethan thought for a moment, taking a break from a contract that he was writing up for a new buyer to regard me.

“If we reveal what we know, he may destroy the proof. The idea is to gather all the evidence we can to report him to the authorities. I’m doing this to scare him away from us for a little bit while Tristan keeps digging for more information.” Ethan stated, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“What if nothing comes of it? What if we have to have bodyguards forever?”

Ethan opened his mouth to answer, but the office phone on his desk started ringing loudly, shattering the otherwise silent room in its wake.

I cringed at the noise, using a throw pillow to cover my ears until Ethan picked it up to answer.

“Ethan Velasco,” He greeted with a deep voice. I heard the faint sound of another man’s voice on the other end of the call. I knew immediately that the voice did not belong to Tristan or Mars, my interest was piqued instantly.

I left my spot on the couch and quietly approached Ethan’s desk to try and hear who the call was from better.

Ethan’s face was like stone, it held no emotion on the surface, but as I got closer I could feel the anger bubbling just below his skin.

He was boiling.

“Andrew,” Ethan grit out. “What do you want?”