Chapter Fifteen
ASH
Asharp ringing filled my ears, the loud thump of my heartbeat pounding through it.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“He was confused and grunting… in pain. We called the ambulance, and the doctor said he could be having an—”
“Slow down.” My voice didn’t sound like mine—thick, underwater. “What did the doctor say?”
Thump. Thump. Thump.
“Henny, call the pilot.” Ethan. That was Ethan. “We need to get over there right now.”
I closed my fingers around the warm hand gripping mine, the ridges of his rings digging into my skin.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The room tilted—just slightly. Or maybe it was me.
“He said he was having an episode. I don’t… he just collapsed!” Vivian’s voice shot sharp through the line. “On the floor! In the middle of breakfast!”
On the floor… The words didn’t land right. They scattered.
Why is she lying on the floor?
I pulled the phone away. It didn’t help. None of it made sense.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Keep your brothers in here—
“Ash.” A soft sound, followed by a tug on my hand.
I turned toward it and found pale blue eyes watching me, tight with worry.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump—
Vivian’s voice vanished. Someone took the phone from me, and suddenly there were hands cupping my face, holding me still.
“I need that back,” I said—at least, I thought I did.
Ethan shook his head. Voices circled us—Oliver, Henry, tense and too loud.
I needed them safe. I needed—
“Hey,” Ethan murmured, stepping in and lowering his voice so it was only meant for me. “Breathe in for me. One deep breath.”
His thumbs brushed my cheekbones.
I swallowed and inhaled.
You have to keep your brothers in here—
THUMP.
“And out,” he said.
Again.
In—
Keep them—
And out…
“That’s it. Come back to me.” His hands stayed on my face, steadying my focus, guiding me back into my body.
The ringing in my ears ebbed. Sounds returned in fragments—chairs scraping, hurried footsteps, someone speaking into a phone. Ethan’s face sharpened into something fully there—not just a pair of eyes, but the whole person in front of me.
My hands lifted to his wrists—not pulling him closer, just making sure he stayed.
“I’m here.” Something loosened in him when he saw me breathe. “One more?”
I inhaled through my nose and let it out slowly. The rest of the room came back: Oliver holding one phone, Henry speaking into another, Charlotte typing fast.
“The car is outside,” she said.
Henry pocketed his phone. “Plane will be ready by the time we get there. Let’s go.”
Ethan’s hands slipped from my face, but when he stepped back, I didn’t let go. Our fingers caught and laced in the same motion. He didn’t question it—just held on and led me toward the door.
The restaurant blurred behind us, then the hallway, the rush of cool air outside, the car pulling up fast. Oliver took the passenger seat, and the rest of us slid into the back.
“I’m getting his doctor on the phone,” Oliver said, already dialing. “I couldn’t understand half of what Vivian said.”
Thank God. Not just me.
My hand flexed around Ethan’s. He stayed close, knee pressed lightly against mine, eyes flicking up to check on me before he looked away again.
Get it together, Sebastian. They need you.
A vague memory surfaced—Henry mentioning tests, something I hadn’t paid much attention to at the time.
“What were the tests?” I asked, leaning forward.
The sound of my voice startled all of them.
“The ones from a few weeks ago?” Henry said. “Cardiac panel. EKG. They were checking for an arrhythmia.”
“So it could be a heart attack?”
He exhaled. “Yeah… it could be.”
Fuck.
“He’s conscious,” Oliver said. “That’s good.” He straightened as someone picked up on the other end. “Hello?” His tone changed instantly.
Another squeeze of my hand.
“You’ll be there in no time,” Ethan said quietly.
Something about that phrasing jolted me. “We will,” I corrected. “You’re coming, right?”
He blinked like he hadn’t expected the question. “I have classes and work—”
“Ethan, I own the company. You’re coming.” The firmness didn’t even sound like me—it was threaded through with panic I couldn’t hide.
He couldn’t stay behind. I needed—
God.
I needed him.
After a beat, Ethan nodded without arguing. “I’m there.”
The knot in my chest eased just enough for me to breathe in again. He adjusted in his seat, the side of his body a steady pressure against mine. The contact helped, and I finally let the breath out. A shaky one.
My head felt stuffed with cotton, but Oliver managed to get someone on the line who could actually explain what was happening.
The doctor said they were treating it as a possible cardiac event.
He’d collapsed, was disoriented and in pain, and they couldn’t say yet whether it was a heart attack or something else.
They wouldn’t call it anything definitive until the tests were done—an EKG and bloodwork to check cardiac markers.
He’d been conscious when the paramedics arrived, which they said was a good sign, but they rushed him to Mount Sinai for evaluation anyway. Until those results came back, there was nothing more they could tell us.
That was it. That was all we got.
By the time we reached the plane, he’d already been taken in—sedated and being prepped for the rest of the tests. And we still had nearly nine hours in the air ahead of us. Nine hours of not knowing. Nine hours of holding myself together while every part of me braced for the worst.
The car slowed, and before it had fully stopped, Henry, Charlotte, and Oliver were already moving, heading for the jet.
We followed without a word, Ethan’s hand still in mine, only loosening as we passed through the cabin corridor.
The crew greeted us politely—voices lowered, movements careful, as if they were holding their breath too.
I dropped into the window seat in the larger lounge, the one arranged so we could all sit facing each other.
Charlotte and Oliver took the seats opposite me.
Henry settled onto the couch to our left.
Ethan sat beside me without a word, close enough that I could feel the warmth of him through the armrest. After what felt like a lifetime, the engines roared to life, vibration settling into my bones as the plane began to move.
Henry leaned forward, already talking logistics with Oliver. “We can set up camp in my apartment,” Henry said. “I’ll ask them to get it ready for you. And the kids, if you want.”
“Definitely.” Oliver’s eyes dropped back to his phone, a deep crease between his brows. “I’d rather stay close.”
“I’ll get my mom on the phone and have her bring them over tomorrow,” Charlotte added. Her gaze flicked to me every so often, like she wanted to say something but didn’t know how.
Ethan stayed beside me. Quiet.
I stared out the window as the ground began to blur, the city stretching into something distant and unreal.
My father almost died today.
The thought moved through me without resistance, too large to fight.
I’d spent weeks—years—obsessing over timing.
Over consequences. Over doing things right.
Holding the line. Managing outcomes. Containing fallout.
As if control alone could keep everything from breaking apart.
And none of it meant a damn thing if you ran out of time to do the things that actually mattered.
He almost died.
While I buried myself in problems I couldn’t fix—contracts unraveling, Elena’s measured disappointment, headlines dissecting my company and my name—I kept telling myself I could contain them.
That if I pushed hard enough, worked fast enough, absorbed enough pressure, I could stop everything from collapsing.
Instead, I watched control slip through my hands piece by piece.
The company.
My authority.
My brothers’ trust.
Luca, waiting for something I couldn’t give.
Ethan, held at arm’s length because I didn’t know how to choose him without breaking everything else.
And still I dug my heels in. Refusing to call. Refusing to speak to my father until he apologized first. As if pride could buy time.
What if we didn’t make it there in time? What if his last memory of me was a cold phone call and silence?
Why did I keep wasting time like this?
I knew better. I knew how fast things changed. How quickly you could lose people.
Keep your brothers in here—
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to push back the pressure building behind them.
The seatbelt sign chimed.
Beside me, Ethan moved, his hand brushed mine—tentative, almost unsure if he was allowed anymore. I didn’t even remember when I’d let go, but I fucking hated that I had. I hated the distance. I hated that I’d been the one to create it.
Fuck control. It was costing us everything.
I reached for his hand and closed mine around it, firm this time. “We broke up.”
Ethan stiffened beside me.
I didn’t look at him when I said it. The words came out flat and low, but the silence that followed spread through the cabin. When I finally turned, he was staring at me like he was checking to see if I was real.
“Get up,” he said quietly.
I stared back at him, blank, the words still lodged somewhere in my throat.
“Come with me.” His voice softened, but his hand was already urging me to my feet, pulling me gently toward the bedroom at the back of the plane.
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t hesitate.
The door clicked shut behind us, sealing us into the quiet of the back cabin. Ethan moved deeper into the room, his back to me. He paced once, twice, then stopped.
I sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to turn, part of me braced for anger. But when he did, his expression was still soft.
“Ethan—”
He shook his head, lifting a hand to stop me. “It’s not the time to have this conversation, Ash.”
“I just need to say—”
“I know.” His tongue flicked over his lip before he took a step closer, stopping between my knees, his hands settling on my shoulders. “And you can. Just not right now.”
“It has to be now.”