Chapter 4

Ethan' s gaze was heavy, pinning me to the sofa. The air crackled with a tension so thick I could barely breathe. He ignored Emily completely, his focus entirely on me.

"Did she put you up to this?" he asked, his voice low and cold as he nodded curtly in Emily' s direction. "This sounds like one of her little dramas."

"Hey!" Emily snapped, stepping forward. "This has nothing to do with..."

"Stay out of it, Emily," Ethan cut her off without even looking at her. His eyes remained fixed on me. "Liam will be home in five minutes. I suggest you go and have this conversation with him."

His tone was dismissive, as if shooing away a fly. He then turned his steely gaze back to me. I felt a desperate urge to look at Emily, to draw strength from her, but I was trapped by his stare. My silent plea for help went unnoticed. Emily was already dialing Liam' s number, her own battle about to begin.

Ethan' s expression softened almost imperceptibly, but his voice was still firm. "Whatever is going on with them has nothing to do with us. My marriage is not ending."

It wasn' t a promise. It was a declaration of fact. Like announcing the sun would rise tomorrow.

There was something in his voice, a deep, resonant certainty that vibrated through me. It was the same tone he used to close billion-dollar deals, a tone that left no room for argument. And despite my anger, a traitorous part of me felt a sense of security in it. For a fleeting moment, all my thoughts of divorce, of freedom, of male models, simply evaporated.

Just as he took a step toward me, a car screeched to a halt in the driveway. The front door burst open and Liam stumbled in, looking flustered and panicked.

"Em! Baby, I can explain!" he shouted, his eyes scanning the room frantically.

Ethan let out an exasperated sigh. "Liam," he said, his voice laced with annoyance. "Take your wife home."

Liam finally spotted Emily, who was standing by the window with her arms crossed, her phone held up like a weapon.

"Explain this, you cheating bastard!" she yelled, showing him the screen.

Liam ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. "It' s not what it looks like! We just had lunch! You know how you get, Em. You once threw my platinum record out the window because a fan hugged me for too long."

"This is different!" Emily shrieked. "This is Olivia!"

While the storm raged between them, Ethan calmly took my hand. His touch was warm and steady. "Let' s go upstairs," he said quietly.

He led me out of the room and up the grand staircase, the sounds of Emily and Liam' s argument fading behind us. He didn' t release my hand until we were inside our bedroom, the door clicking shut behind us.

The room was silent. I finally found my voice.

"Why, Ethan?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "Why would you make Olivia the face of the company? You know how Emily feels about her."

He looked at me, genuinely confused. "This is business, Sarah. It has nothing to do with Emily or Liam. Olivia has a good public image. She' s like family. It was a logical choice."

"Family?" I repeated the word, a bitter taste in my mouth. I remembered something. A few months after we were married, I was looking for a pen in his study and opened a locked drawer I' d never seen him use. Inside, there was a single, small, framed photo. It was a picture of a teenage Olivia, smiling brightly at the camera. Liam had a similar photo on his piano, but Ethan, the man who kept his desk clear of all personal effects, had one hidden away.

I never asked him about it. I just quietly put it back and locked the drawer. Later that week, I checked again. The photo was gone. I' d convinced myself it was nothing, a forgotten memento. But now, his words brought the memory back with painful clarity.

He saw the look on my face. "What is it?"

I shook my head, choosing not to bring it up. What was the point? He would just have another logical explanation.

Instead, I walked over to the window and stared out at the perfectly manicured lawn. I didn't say another word. I didn't need to. My silence was an answer in itself.