7. Chapter Six
CHAPTER SIX
ETHAN
E than’s phone rang; quickly, he picked it up. Matthias was on his way to drop another stuffed zebra off at Margery’s house.
Every single time she got one of his presents, it was his favorite moment. Every emotion she went through played a melody on his heart. To see how much he was affecting her either in person or through the cameras, but either way, he loved every second of it.
He would have hand delivered the present himself, but he had to brief several people on the fights going on later. They were having some trouble with a rowdy group of customers, and he wanted to get it under control as soon as possible. He didn’t like having things go sideways, but he couldn’t control everything or prevent everything.
“Yes? Did you deliver the package?” Ethan asked.
“Package was delivered. But there was a slight problem,” Matthias replied .
Ethan went on full-alert. He didn’t like the word problem when it came to Margery.
“What problem?”
“Someone tried to rape her.”
His heart stopped for a couple of seconds. Somebody tried to rape her. How had that happened?
“Who? Where is he now? Did he hurt her?” Ethan fired off.
He knew he hadn’t raped her, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t hurt her.
“I believe his name is Diego Longbottom. He should be with the police right now, and he will be getting processed soon. I told her to call the police. Apparently, he’s a known rapist that they have been trying to catch for a while.”
Of course, someone would try that when he wasn’t available. Thankfully Matthias was there to help her, save her.
“Did he hurt her?” he asked once again.
It didn’t get past him that Matthias ’hadn’t answered his last question. Did something bad happen to Margery? Was she on her way to the hospital?
“You better fucking answer my question real soon.”
Ethan grew impatient as he waited for Matthias to answer the question. What was wrong with Margery? If anything had happened to her, he was going to go after the guy who did this and make him suffer. Even if he didn’t harm her, he was still going to go after him. But the deciding factor of how much he was going to torture him depended on how badly he hurt her.
Nobody messed with his girl and got away with it .
Nobody looked at her the wrong way and got away with it.
She didn’t know, but he had hurt several customers who were rude to her and nasty with how they spoke. It wasn’t always physical harm; sometimes, he had Rolo hack into their bank account and drain their money, send a text that ruined their life, posted pictures that they didn’t want out, and so much more.
Ethan didn’t like it when anyone was rude to her. There was no reason to when she had been a saint toward them.
He even threatened men who looked at her weirdly on the street , and told them to never look at another woman that way again, especially his woman. Ethan had only had a couple of men who were brave and talked back, but once they found out who he was and what he was going to do with them, a lot of them pissed their pants.
“She might have a couple of bruises and scratches, but nothing major. I made sure he had a couple of bruises, but he ’isn’t dead. Figured you wanted the honors,” Matthias finally spoke.
“I’ll have Rolo figure out where he’s being held.”
“You sure you want to do it there? We can figure out a way to get him out.”
“No, I want the other inmates around to know that they don’t mess with my woman. If they do, they’ll spend hours and hours being tortured before they finally get the sweet relief of death. They need to know there are consequences.”
Ethan was going to have so much fun doing it. Anytime he had the opportunity, he took it. To have the control he had over whether they lived or died. To torture them just enough but keep them alive until he wanted to kill them.
The power.
He craved that feeling.
He loved that feeling.
To be in control of their lives without being able ’to do anything about it. To have them begging for him to either be put out of their misery or pleading for him to let them go.
“Whatever you want, boss. You’ve got it.”
“Did he have any tattoos? Was he known anywhere?”
“From what I can tell, no. He’s a loner who gets off on preying on innocent women. Even if he is, you know we can take them.”
Ethan wasn’t worried about that. Even if Diego had a group, Ethan had way more men and could easily take them out. He just wanted to know so he could be prepared in case they did have to kill others. Ethan didn’t want to go in blind.
“Good. Thank you for helping.” He really appreciated it. He knew Matthias would have done it if it was just a random person, but it wasn’t. Margery was his girl .
“Let me know if you need any help. I’ll tell the other people to keep an eye out in case we run into trouble.”
Ethan and Matthias said their goodbyes, and he hung up. Now, to teach this guy a lesson.
“Man, I didn’t know!” Diego yelled.
Ethan threw his fist in the guy’s face. There was a crunch from the guy’s nose, and Diego screamed in pain.
Ethan wished he could make Diego suffer more, but he was under time restraints. Michelangelo, the correction officer on duty, only gave him a certain amount of time. But he didn’t need a lot of time. Diego was a dead man. If he wasn’t going to kill him, there were plenty of other people in the jail who would happily kill him.
“Please, I really didn’t know. If I would have known, I wouldn’t have tried to… I promise.”
“Too late,” Ethan countered as he pulled out his gun. A silencer was already attached.
“Please, I’m begging you. You don’t need to kill me. I promise I will never rape another woman again. I promise,” the guy begged. “Plea?—”
But before he could finish the word, Ethan shot him. Diego’s body hit the ground and Ethan got his phone out and took a picture.
He walked out of the cell and looked around. Everybody was looking away.
“This is a warning. Don’t fucking mess with my girl,” he barked as he walked down the corridor.
“And who the fuck are you?” someone shouted back.
Gasps were heard all around the room.
“Shut up!” another person hollered.
Ethan walked over to the cell where the first man had jeered. He was stupid enough to be hanging his arms between the bars.
Before the guy could move, Ethan grabbed hold of his arms and yanked them forward. The guy screamed in pain, and tried to get out of his hold, but Ethan’s grip just grew tighter.
He leaned forward, getting closer to the guy’s face. “I’m Ethan Fucking Montgomery. Yell at me again, and you’re a dead man.”
The guy’s face went pale, and he quickly nodded. Ethan tugged at his arms one more time before he let go.
Ethan continued to walk down the corridor and toward Michelangelo. He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.
“Thanks, Michelangelo. Your daughter’s treatment is paid for another six months.”
Michelangelo grimaced but nodded. Ethan knew he didn’t want to do this, but being a corrections officer didn’t pay enough. His daughter was sick with cancer, and her treatments were super expensive.
Michelangelo had come to him a year ago asking for money, a loan. When Ethan found out he was a corrections officer, he offered him a deal. Ethan would pay for his daughter’s treatments, and anytime they had a guy go into the system, he would take care of them. And if at any point he needed to teach someone a lesson, he’d look the other way.
Ethan had his guy, Rolo, make sure the cameras were on a loop. The authorities would never be able to figure out it was Ethan or any of his men who had come in.
It was a nice little arrangement. Once his daughter was cured, Ethan would offer him a much better deal, one he wouldn’t be able to refuse.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Ethan chuckled as he walked out of the building.
“It’s done,” Ethan told Matthias over the phone.
“Expecting any trouble?”
“No. None at all. I got the message across.”
“Dropping off the envelope?”
Ethan grunted and hung up. Normally, Matthias wasn’t one for asking questions, but once he got started, he didn’t stop. Ethan was not in the mood for questions.
But when was he?
Ethan’s grip on the envelope tightened as he walked closer to her house. Margery had become so paranoid that she was now leaving to go to a cabin for a couple of days.
He had done that.
He loved every second of it.
He just wished he could feel her pulse when she found the envelope. He wanted to feel her heart racing and see the turmoil that crossed her face.
But that wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t be able to feel her heart rate pick up when she saw what was inside the envelope.
He couldn’t wait for the day when she was finally in his arms. But that day wasn’t today. He still wanted to have a little bit more fun. Not all the stuffed animals had been delivered. Ethan wasn’t about to end the game early.
Where was the fun in that?
Quietly, Ethan walked up the steps to her porch. He gently placed the envelope down on the ground and waited a couple of seconds. She was moving inside, her footsteps gave her away.
He wished it was dark so he could slip into her house and get close. To smell her body wash on her. To hear her breathing pick up when she realized somebody was watching her. To see the fear filter across her face.
Ethan groaned and adjusted his pants. He couldn’t wait for that time.
He was just going to have to be patient.