Chapter 30 - Ethan
Sarah should have listened. I warned her. I’m meticulous about warnings. They’re not emotional and dramatic responses. They’re statements of future fact.
Ignore them, and the future becomes… unpleasant, depending on your chosen resolution. I plan to make Sarah’s become a living nightmare. Death would be too easy, so I’ve come up with a better idea.
I‘m sitting behind my home office desk when Marcus arrives. Marcus doesn’t knock as he strides in, excitement on his face that I have a job for him.
He loves the drama. His leather jacket creaks as he sits in the chair opposite me.
Calm eyes hide the things he has seen. A man who has seen worse than consequences and learned to treat them like the weather, to always be prepared for the unexpected.
“Uh-oh, you look irritated,” he says.
“I’m past irritation.”
That makes him smile faintly and he stands and walks over to the bottle of whiskey on the side table and he pours himself a drink without asking.
“Tell me about the problem.”
“Sarah. She was instructed to disappear quietly, warned not to contact Leo and make threats. But she ignored the warnings.”
“Blackmail?”
“She tried.”
Marcus exhales. “Blackmail is a hobby for stupid people.”
“She believes herself exceptional.”
“Wannabe gangsters do.”
I stand from my chair and move over to look out of the window, needing to gain control of my anger, which is becoming borderline impossible.
“She threatened to expose a private agreement. Called it kidnapping. Said Leo would hate me,” I turn and lean against the window to face Marcus, and he listens to me carefully.
“And?”
“She also made threats to him. Went against my instructions for this to be forgotten.”
“You’re pissed.”
“I’m murderous. Now is the time for action.” I walk to my desk, open a drawer and remove the file with all the details of my plan. Sarah’s future.
“She didn’t listen,” I say. “That means she must be… redirected.”
Marcus studies the file for a few minutes before raising an eyebrow at me with a large grin on his face. I knew he’d like this.
“I thought you wanted her gone.”
“Gone is a flexible word, it doesn’t have to mean dead.”
That’s a mess I need to avoid for multiple reasons. Also I like the idea of keeping her alive in hell. Knowing the control I will have over her, how she will regret every day of her life crossing me.
“I want her unreachable but accessible to me.”
He nods slowly. “That can be arranged.”
The door to my office opens gently, and I look up. Leo. And from how pale his face is, he has been listening at the door. His eyes scan over Marcus before looking at the file in his hand then redirecting his attention back onto me.
“How long have you been planning this?” he asks quietly.
Marcus glances between us, but I don’t lie.
“Not long.”
Leo steps inside and closes the door behind him.
“What exactly are you planning?”
Marcus speaks gently. “You weren’t meant to hear this, Leo. The less you know, the better,” he says, but Leo ignores him.
“Ethan, you said she would be out of our lives.”
“She will be, but circumstances have changed, considering she doesn’t listen.”
“You’re talking about ruining her life.”
“Yes, and if you have a problem with that, you should leave so I can continue my meeting with Marcus.”
His breath becomes uneven. What’s going on with him?
“I hate her and what she is doing. Why can’t she just let it go? She doesn’t even fucking like me.”
“It’s all about control. She was outplayed and lost.”
“But I didn’t ask for this.”
Marcus clears his throat. “This isn’t about revenge.”
“It’s consequences for your actions. She was given plenty of opportunity to walk away after she tried to blackmail me, but she won’t stop and I refuse to live with that nuisance," I say, trying to make it clear to Leo that Sarah is a bad smell that will never go away unless you gain control.
Leo looks at me like he’s seeing me clearly, understanding what I’m saying. Taking the rose tinted glasses off, but again the human in him breaks through.
“You can’t do this,” he says, and I step closer.
“Leo,” I say, but he pulls away and flinches.
Good. He needs to understand this is not affection speaking, this is his new reality.
“She will never stop,” I tell him. “She will circle you forever. Appear when you think you’re safe. Use your name when it benefits her. Hurt you because it costs her nothing.”
“I can block her.”
“You already tried. She will try to hurt you,” I continue softly. “Or she will use others to do it.”
Marcus folds his arms. “You don’t need to like what we do. You just need to survive it and move on. Don't think about it.”
Leo sits heavily in the other chair next to Marcus.
“This is insane.”
“No,” Marcus says. “It’s smart. This is who Ethan is, Leo. Who we are. We’re not good people but we protect what’s ours. Deal with it.”
Leo rubs his face.
“You’re talking about erasing her.”
“Only her life as she knows it,” I say.
“She’s still a person.”
“You need to stop, Leo. I couldn’t give a fuck if she’s a person. She needs to be out of our lives.”
“What if I say no?” he challenges with a rare fire behind his eyes. I consider him, then answer honestly.
“You won’t,” I say with complete confidence. Leo knows he belongs to me and that this is not a talking point.
“I don’t want to be part of it, or to know any of the details.”
“You won’t be.”
“I don’t want blood,” he says, and I want to groan in annoyance. Luckily Marcus notices my patience is reaching at this point.
“There won’t be any, if she complies quietly,” Marcus says, and it’s as good a response as Leo will get. There are no guarantees in situations like this.
“I hate this,” he says. “I hate that I’m allowing this to happen.”
All I can do is rejoice in my head, because this is the moment he loses the last piece of innocence he was trying so hard to still own.
I look at Marcus and he nods once. The decision and plan is final.
Leo stands and walks out of the office and I don’t stop him. The lock clicks softly and Marcus exhales like he has held in his breath this entire time.
“Well. That went better than expected.”
“He’s adapting, he will get better with time.”
“Will he become like you?”
“No, he will just understand safety has a price.”
Marcus finishes his drink.
“I’ll contact Dima to arrange the meet up and we’ll move her within forty-eight hours. Do you want to be there when we get her?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Psycho,” he laughs as he heads out of my office, and I recline back in my chair, feeling accomplished for the day.
A message pops up on my phone:
Leo: I’m going for a walk.
I smile faintly as he already knows that isn’t how this works. Sarah is a loose thread and loose threads unravel entire lives. I will not allow that. Not when Leo is finally where he belongs.