Chapter 4

I was almost out of the hospital, heading for the exit where Marcus's driver was waiting, when Ethan's phone, which Ben must have given him, started ringing from his room.

I paused, an involuntary reaction.

Even from a distance, I could hear the change in Ethan's voice as he answered, that instant switch to tenderness.

"Olivia? Baby, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Her voice, though muffled, was audible, high-pitched and frantic.

Suddenly, Ethan was shouting, panicked. "What? Where are you? Don't move, I'm coming!"

Ben's exasperated voice cut in. "Ethan, you can't! You just got out of surgery yourself! You're not stable!"

"She needs me, Ben!" Ethan snapped. "She's scared! Someone's threatening her!"

He must have brushed past Ben, because the next moment, Ethan burst out of his room, still in a hospital gown, IV line trailing from his hand, his face pale but set with frantic determination.

He rushed past me without a second glance, not even registering my presence.

Invisible again.

I watched him go, a familiar ache in my chest. How many times had I been the scenery while he rushed off to Olivia's drama?

Too many.

He returned to his and my shared apartment three days later, looking tired but otherwise unharmed. Olivia's crisis, whatever it was, had apparently been resolved.

He found me packing the last of my essentials.

"Amy?" He looked surprised, then his expression softened into that patronizing smile. "Still playing hard to get after my proposal? It was romantic, wasn't it?"

He tried to pull me into a hug. I sidestepped him.

"I thought we could go out tonight," he continued, oblivious. "Celebrate properly. Just the two of us. I've booked a table at Per Se."

"And Olivia?" I asked, my voice laced with a sarcasm he probably wouldn't detect. "Will she be making a dramatic entrance there too?"

He waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about Olivia. She's... resting. Tonight is all about us, Amy. Our future."

He still didn't get it. He never would.

"Fine," I said. Let him have his little fantasy a while longer. My flight with Marcus was booked for the next morning.

In the car, on the way to the restaurant, his phone rang. Olivia, of course.

Her voice was a hysterical sob. "Ethan! He found me! He's going to hurt me! Help me!"

Ethan's face went white. He slammed on the brakes, U-turned illegally, and sped off in the opposite direction, tires screeching.

"Hang on, Olivia, I'm coming!" he yelled into the phone.

The car lurched, throwing me against the door. My head hit the window, hard. Pain shot through my temple, but Ethan didn't notice. His eyes were fixed on the road, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

He raced to an abandoned warehouse complex by the docks, a desolate, menacing place.

A man stood in the shadows, holding a struggling Olivia.

"Cole!" the man snarled. "You ruined me! Bankrupted my company! Now you pay!"

Ethan jumped out of the car. "Let her go! Take me instead!"

The man laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Oh, I will. But first, a little insurance."

Ethan tried to reason with him. "She's not the one you want. She means nothing. It's a mistake."

Then, Ethan did the unthinkable.

He turned, his eyes wild, and pointed at me, still dazed in the passenger seat.

"Her!" he shouted at the kidnapper. "Take her! She's the one I love! Amy! She's everything to me! Olivia is just a fling!"

I stared at him, stunned. My mind reeled. He was sacrificing me. To save Olivia. Again.

He was using my supposed value to him as a bargaining chip, a human shield.