Chapter 4 Ethan pov

Ethan's POV

I slammed the glass of scotch onto the bar cart harder than I meant to. Liquid splashed over the rim, but I didn't care. The bitter burn in my throat did little to dull the ache in my temples or the acid coil of rage in my gut.

She was there.

Piper.

I could feel it the moment I stepped into the office, the scent of her perfume still lingering in the air like a ghost. That soft, floral note she always wore-lavender and vanilla-embedded itself in my memory years ago. It clung to the corners of the room, cloying and suffocating.

She'd been snooping.....In my office.

"Damn it," I muttered under my breath, running a hand through my hair as I stalked toward the window, staring down at the city like it might offer me answers.

I should've changed the locks but I had underestimated her, again.

She used to be so easy to manage. She would cry a little, scream a little, then fall into bed with me like nothing ever happened but this Piper? She wasn't melting into my arms anymore. She was fighting, snooping and plotting.

I clenched my fists.

She had a flash drive, I Knew it. The laptop had been moved, not by much, but enough that my instincts screamed at me. She took something, and now she is running my team just told me that she is with a guy named Cameron, who was the former head of my security team. Cameron, that damn boy scout, even after I fired him, he still finds a way to cause trouble.

The intercom on my desk buzzed. "Sir, the driver's downstairs."

I didn't answer. I didn't need the car, not yet.

Selena had already texted, she wanted me in her arms and she ad sent me a picture of her in a lingerie with a text "I want you, daddy."

I walked back to the bar and sat down, tapping a finger rhythmically against the polished wood surface.

Piper had the data but data alone wasn't the threat. It was what she did with it.

And she wouldn't go to the police. I made sure of that. All those therapy sessions I guilted her into, all the times I "worried" aloud about her anxiety, her erratic moods-it built a neat little foundation. One I could lean on if I needed to paint her as unstable but the thing that gnawed at me now, the thing I couldn't shake-she knew about something.

And if she knew that... Then she was getting close to him.

C.H........Christopher Hale.

I let out a slow breath, watching the city lights blink like a warning. Hale was the last piece holding everything together-and the first one who'd bring the whole damn house down if Piper reached him.

My burner phone buzzed on the desk and only two people had the number.

I picked it up. "Talk."

"She's at Cameron's," Jane, my private investigator, said flatly. "We traced the laptop activity and she uploaded the files. We can't touch them remotely."

I swore under my breath.

"Do we know if she made a backup?" I asked.

"Assume she did, I don't think she is that stupid."

"No, she is not," I said bitterly. "Not anymore."

There was a pause, then she asked quietly, "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing yet. Let her think she's safe. Let her feel like she has the upper hand. The higher she climbs, the harder she'll fall."

Jane exhaled sharply. "You better be right, Ethan. If she finds Hale, he won't hesitate to go nuclear. He's not loyal to anyone."

"I know how to handle Hale."

"No, you don't. You owe him."

My jaw tightened. She wasn't wrong. I did owe Hale, for everything-the initial capital, the insider trades, the shell companies. He built my empire, then stood in the shadows, collecting interest and if Piper got to him first, everything would fall apart.

I ended the call and tossed the phone aside. I needed a contingency plan. My mind whirled through options– I had to contain this. I logged into my private account and opened the last-known communication thread with Hale. It was months old. I'd gone dark intentionally, hoping to sever ties.

But desperate times...

"We need to talk. Now." I typed. "I think Piper knows about you."

The message sat there, left unread with no response.

Damn it.

A knock at the office door startled me. I stood on edge. The waiter peeked in. "Mr. Miller, there's someone downstairs. Says it's urgent. He wouldn't give a name."

"Did you get a look at him?"

She nodded, pale. "yeah, he is tall, bald with tattoo on his neck"

My blood turned to ice.

No. He wouldn't...

I was already moving. Down the stairs, through the private exit, past the polished glass walls that now felt like a trap. I burst into the back hallway and found him leaning casually against the wall like he owned the building.

Christopher Hale.

Hale looked up slowly, a smirk playing on his lips, eyes glinting with something that sent a shiver down my spine. He hadn't changed-same tailored coat, same quiet menace wrapped in silk and steel. The tattoo on his neck, a black serpent coiled around a dagger, twisted as he moved.

"Ethan," he drawled, pushing off the wall. "Been a while, Miss me?"

I straightened my shoulders. "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should your ex-wife in possession of files that could burn us both alive," he said, stepping closer. "But here we are."

"You got my message?"

He scoffed. "I don't respond to panic texts, Ethan. I respond to solutions right now..." He reached into his coat slowly and pulled out a flash drive. "You've got a problem I'm not sure I want to fix."

My jaw locked. "You came here to threaten me?"

"No." His grin widened. "I came to make a deal."

I hesitated. "What kind of deal?"

He leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper. "Piper wants the truth and so do I. You lied to both of us and you owe me more than my silence now."

My stomach dropped.