Chapter 3

Ethan decided to leave his remaining project files for Kevin.

No point staying.

He headed for the elevator.

Victor was there, waiting. Alone this time.

"Need a hand carrying your box of shame, Miller?" Victor drawled, that smirk back in place.

Ethan stopped.

He looked at Victor.

"Funny, Cole. I' d offer to help you with your wet shirt, but it looks like Bella' s already got you covered. Or uncovered, depending on the time of day."

The words were out before he could stop them. Sharp. Reciprocal.

Victor' s smirk vanished. He was speechless for a second.

Ethan pressed on, tired of the games.

"Look, I'm not your enemy, Victor. Bella wants a divorce. She's with you. I get it. It' s done."

Victor recovered, his eyes narrowing.

"You get nothing, Miller. You think you were ever in her league? She was slumming it with you. A charity case. Now she' s back where she belongs, with someone who can give her the world, not just patch her company' s crappy code."

His voice was laced with contempt. The rich kid, looking down on Ethan' s background.

Ethan' s parents had lost everything to a Ponzi scheme. Olivia Hayes' s family, old friends, had helped him. Paid for his education at Stanford.

He owed them. He owed Olivia.

Ethan' s calm returned. He knew Victor' s type. All bluster.

"Is that what Bella told you? Or is that what you tell yourself to feel better about Olivia Hayes kicking you to the curb? Word is, she found you... lacking."

He hit a nerve. Victor' s face flushed.

Olivia had indeed dumped Victor years ago, a fact Victor preferred to forget. It was part of why Olivia wanted him neutralized. Personal, as well as professional.

Victor clenched his fists.

"You son of a-"

He took a step forward, then seemed to think better of it.

He spun on his heel and stalked off.

Ethan watched him go.

He felt a pang of self-reproach.

Why did he even bother? Victor was insignificant.

The pact with Olivia. That was what mattered.

And getting out.

He remembered the day his parents told him the money was gone. Their faces.

He was orphaned not long after, a car crash. Some said his father was distracted, ruined.

Olivia' s family had stepped in. She was older, already a rising star in finance.

She' d seen his potential. And his pain.

"Ethan," she' d said, years later, when Victor Cole re-emerged in Austin. "This man, Victor, he' s poison. He was connected to the people who ruined your parents. He' s trying to get his hooks into Bella Rossi. Her company, InnovateATX, is a competitor to one of my investments. And frankly, I just don't like him. He wronged my family too."

The pact was formed.

"Get close to Bella. Protect her if you can, but mostly, get me information on Victor. Enough to bury him. Do this, and I'll fund Principia. Your AI ethics startup. No strings."

So he' d pursued Bella.

He' d used his tech skills, his quiet charm.

He' d planned to stay detached.

But Bella... she was brilliant, driven, and under her corporate armor, vulnerable.

He' d genuinely fallen for her. Hard.

He' d put Principia on hold, helped her build InnovateATX.

He thought they were building a life.

He remembered the night she' d proposed, in a way.

Drunk, after a company success.

"Ethan," she' d slurred, smiling. "You' re always here. Always... good. Marry me?"

He' d thought he' d won. The pact, Bella, everything.

Olivia had warned him.

"Don't lose yourself in this, Ethan. She's a means to an end. For both of us."

He' d been so confident.

"I can handle it, Olivia. I love her. She loves me."

He' d lost that bet. Spectacularly.

The elevator arrived.

As he stepped in, Bella appeared, storming towards him.

"Ethan Miller! Did you say something to Victor?"

Her face was flushed, angry.

Ethan sighed. Victor, the master manipulator, had already twisted the story.

"Bella, he' s playing you."

"He said you threatened him! That you were bitter about the divorce!"

She was right in his face, furious.

Ethan felt a profound weariness.

"You know what, Bella? Tell him I apologize. Profusely. For existing."

He met her gaze, his own empty of any feeling for her.

"And do me a favor. Stay away from me for the next twenty-nine days. Please."

Bella recoiled, as if struck.

She searched his face, probably expecting anger, pleading.

She found nothing.

"You... you really don' t care anymore, do you?" she whispered, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. Fear? Disbelief?

"Care?" Ethan said, a humorless smile touching his lips. "Bella, I'm counting down the seconds until I'm free of this. Of you."

The elevator doors closed, leaving her standing there, speechless.