Ch. 301..305: Fatal Kiss Of The Vampire Chapter 301-305
Chapter 301: This Is Destiny
Ricky’s men arrived at Dora’s house just in time to see her car pulling away from the curb, and they followed after her. Not knowing where she was going, one of the men asked Ricky, “Shall we tell Lord Ethan?”
“No, Ricky replied. “Let’s wait for a while longer.”
To their surprise, Dora’s car stopped at the Hamorna TV station. It wasn’t convenient for Ricky and his fellows to get inside, so they stayed near the door and waited for her.
Inside the station, Lucas was the first person to spot Dora, and he demanded to know why she was there. Nina seemed pleased, though. She gave her a hug and said, “What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?”
“Oh, nothing,” Dora replied. She was wearing a high-end dress and had a new hairstyle. She looked elegant and charming. One would never have guessed that she had once been a man. “I just want to check on the actors from my company.”
Despite her explanation, Lucas knew why she was really there. He mumbled, “Bloody witch.”
Right at that moment, Dora turned to Lucas with a surprised look on her face, “Aren’t you Kylie’s agent?” she wondered. “Is she here for the show as well?”
Lucas looked at her skeptically and demanded to know what her game was, and he called her a bitch. Nina, who was standing aside, felt embarrassed for Dora because she didn’t really know what was going on. Peak Pictures and Garcia Entertainment were competitors, so she assumed that the animosity she felt was nothing more than friendly rivalry. “Kylie isn’t here,” she said. “She’s at a photoshoot. Should I look up her location for you?”
Dora nodded, and Nina found the information for her.
Once Dora was gone, Nina turned to Lucas and said, “Please don’t do that again. You’ve embarrassed us all.”
Lucas shrugged. “Whatever. It’s only Dora. Fuck her and her opinion of us. We have bigger fish to fry. After all, we need to be there for Kylie!”
“Oh, what happened to Kylie?” Nina asked.
Lucas suddenly turned red. He had forgotten that Nina didn’t know about Kylie’s disappearance yet. “She has acute gastroenteritis,” he lied.
Hearing this, Nina was very concerned. “Really? She gasped. “Then I must go and visit her later. Which hospital is she in?”
Lucas licked his lips, paused, and then he said, “You know that Kylie’s a popular actress. She didn’t go to the hospital. She had her private doctor come to her.”
Nina nodded skeptically. “Then I’ll go to the hotel to visit her,” she replied.
“She’s not in the hotel either,” Lucas said. “She returned to her home in Seattle.”
Something about this conversation felt strange to Nina. She looked and Lucas and said, “I feel like you’re lying to me or holding something back. What are you hiding from me? I care about Kylie’s wellbeing. You can trust me!”
“I’m sorry, Nina,” Lucas sighed. “You are right, but I am not at liberty to tell you anything more. If I did, it could put Kylie’s safety at risk.”
Nina had been stood up by actors before, so she understood what was going on. “Lucas,” she snapped, “you should know that Kylie signed an agreement with Hamorna TV, not me. Aren’t you afraid that her reputation will be damaged if she doesn’t show up to work?”
“Kylie’s reputation is none of your business,” Lucas growled. “No matter how much compensation is needed to breach her contract amicably, if needed, I’ll pay it.”
***
Kylie walked out of the cabin and into the mid-day sunshine. When she’d first stepped out of the house, she had been completely surprised to find herself within walking distance of a sizable beach. She had assumed that she was still in the city, but she’d been completely wrong.
Lucy looked in the direction of the water and found Stephen casually fishing out on a peer. So much had changed over the past twenty-four hours. He had come to the cabin as a prisoner but, not only had she been allowed a full run of the place, but she was also free to leave whenever she wanted.
Kylie walked up to the beach and called out to him: “Have you caught anything?”
Stephen shrugged as he turned to face her. “Nothing worth keeping,” he yelled back. “Anything that I’ve caught so far, I’ve set free.”
“That was kind of you,” Kylie laughed. “Keep trying, though. If you do catch anything worth keeping, we could have cream soup tonight.”
Stephen fixed his eyes on her for a moment, raised his eyebrows, and asked her if she was feeling better today than she had been feeling the day before. Kylie smiled and told him that she was fine. “I am seldom sick for long,” she added. “I have a strong constitution.”
All of a sudden, there was a jerk on Stephen’s line, and they were both surprised. Stephen pulled the rod slowly towards him as he reeled it in. Kylie, on the shore, jumped up and down happily. “You’ve caught a fish,” she exclaimed, “and this one looks like a biggie!”
Kylie saw that the fish was struggling on the surface of the water, and she hastily ran out on the peer with a fishnet. Frantically, she asked Stephen, “What do I do. I’ve never been a fisherman!”
“Give it to me,” Stephen shouted. Very quickly, he had the net in his one hand and his fishing rod in the other. He lowered the net, situated it under the fish, and once it was in position, he lifted it out of the water and emptied it into the bucket he’d brought with him.
Curious, Kylie looked into the bucket. The fish was flopping around. Its mouth was opening and closing as if it was gasping for air, and its eyes were looking up at her in accusation. Kylie realized it was dying, and the process was infinitely more horrific than she ever would have imagined it could be.
Kylie was just about to throw up when the fish, somehow, managed to jump out of the bucket and slap her across the face with its tail while it made its escape. Not knowing what to do, she shouted to Stephen, “Help! It’s getting away!”
It seemed that any energy the fish had reserved for that final escape attempt had been tapped, and Stephen caught it easily with only one hand. He laughed and brought the creature to his face. He looked it in the eyes and said, “Now, now. We’ll have no more of that.” And then he squeezed the creature until its eyes popped out of their sockets, and he threw it back into the bucket.
Feeling sick to her stomach, Kylie told Stephen she was going back to the cabin. He nodded, but before she’d made it more than a couple of steps, she slipped on the water that had made its way onto the dock while they’d fought the fish.
Stephen reached out and tried to steady her, but his quick shift of weight only made things worse, and a moment later, they were both flats against the wooden slats that made up the dock, one on top of the other. They had both had the wind knocked out of them, and it wasn’t until they’d caught it again that Kylie realized that she was lying on top of him. In fact, their faces were mere inches from each other.
Kylie stared at Stephen blankly. Compared to Ethan’s sharp and cold eyes, his was incredibly gentle. She was vaguely aware of her breasts pressed to his chest. More keenly, her mind focused on the slowly growing stone in his trousers. She was blushing. Her heart was beating fast. She wanted to roll off of him, but she was frozen in place.
Stephen could feel Kylie’s breath on his face. It was hot as it flowed from her open mouth. This is destiny, he thought suddenly as he arched his neck and pressed his lips to hers. Just as his tongue slipped out and touched her lower lip, a large fish skipped across the water, and the spell that had been cast over them was broken.
Kylie scrambled to get up, but she stumbled and fell back into Stephen’s arms again. Her face was flushed, and she looked around frantically, desperate to avoid making eye contact with him.
Ever the gentleman, Stephen helped Kylie stand up, and he escorted her back to the beach. As soon as he was certain that she was okay, he went back out on the dock and collected his gear.
Chapter 302: Quit Exaggerating
Once Stephen was back on solid ground, he showed the fish to Kylie.
Kylie tried not to make an ugly face and said, “If you clean it, I would still be willing to make that cream soup that I was talking about?”
“You?” Stephen looked at her with doubts.
“Yes!” Kylie exclaimed. She was quite exacerbated. “I am a very good cook. I can make watermelon stew, fried mango with eggs, pepper cake, and yes, even cream fish soup!”
Stephen frowned. “Thanks, but no thanks,” He replied. “I’ve heard that your cooking has made too many people sick. Why don’t we change out of our wet clothes, and then I will cook something for you.”
Hearing this made Kylie feel sad, but she said nothing, and when Stephen offered her his hand, she took it and allowed him to lead her up to the cabin.
Lucas had rejected all of the recent jobs that had landed on his desk for Kylie. Some people were suspicious about this, but he was doing everything that was possible to keep her disappearance a secret. Not only was he returning her emails for her, but he was also pretending to be her on social media. One thing that she couldn’t explain away or ignore though, was the fact that Dangerous Word had not finished shooting, and they could not wrap up until Kylie showed up and played her parts.
Lucas had asked Ethan for advice. The film had been scheduled to be released in a month’s time, but without Kylie, the studio was wondering if it would ever be completed. If she didn’t show up and honor her contractual duties, they were threatening to sue her, not just for the cost of making the film, but for all projected profits.
Ethan had read through all the documents and contracts, and he had suggested that the studio use a body double for the remaining scenes. “If you do that,” he’d said, “then Kylie with surrender any money owed to her.”
The studio had ignored his proposition. They hadn’t even called him back.
After Kylie had been gone for a while, Nate suggested that he take a break from looking for Kylie and see if he could find Nico, but Ethan just looked at him and said, “Just leave the hot potato for him.”
Nate looked at him curiously and said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you okay…? I think you need a break. Catch up on your sleep. Even if you don’t look for Nico, it is clear that you need to take a break from looking for Kylie. It clearly hasn’t gotten you anywhere. For once in your life, can’t you just let the police do their job?”
“Fuck off,” Ethan sighed casually. “I am fine. I don’t need to slow down. If anything, I need to step up my efforts, at least until Kylie is found!”
“You’re a human,” Nate argued. “You’re not a robot. Like everyone else, you need to rest occasionally!”
Ethan slowly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face had grown a short unkempt beard. It did not suit him. He opened his mouth as if he had something more to say, and then he closed it without uttering a single word.
“Since Kylie disappeared,” Nate continued, “you haven’t closed your eyes even once. You have been drinking pot after pot of coffee. Look at your hands; they’re shaking! No one can go on like this indefinitely. If you don’t take a rest, I’m afraid that the next time Kylie sees you will be at your funeral…”
“Quit exaggerating,” Ethan scoffed. “Leave me alone, please. Your demeanor is hindering my concentration.”
“Whatever,” Nate sighed as he stepped into the hallway. “It’s your funeral.”
Behind him, he heard Ethan standing up to close the door to his office. Sensing that something was wrong, he turned back in time to watch his boss collapse to the floor. Nate smiled. He had assumed that if Ethan didn’t rest on his own accord, nature would eventually put him to bed. Better now than later, he thought.
Once Nate had assured himself that Ethan hadn’t been hurt, he called Ricky, and between them, they were able to carry him to his room and tuck him into bed. Being this close to him, Ricky said, “He positively stinks. When was the last time that he showered or changed his clothes?”
“Not since Kylie disappeared,” Nate replied. “It is quite disappointing. I had always thought that Ethan was stronger than this…”
Ricky put his hand over Ethan’s hand and said, “He may be asleep, but let’s not talk this way in front of him. It is starting to make me feel uncomfortable. Likely he will sleep for a long while, but we have no guarantee that he isn’t awake already; eyes closed as he listens to us talk…”
“Don’t worry,” Nate laughed. “After what he’s put his body through, he’s gonna be out for days!”
***
Stephen had labored in the kitchen for over two hours to create the creamed fish soup that Kylie had promised him. He placed the pot on the table, set out bowls and spoons for himself and Kylie, and then he called her in. “Kylie,” he shouted. “Dinner’s ready.”
Kylie had been sitting on the back deck, watching the water as the waves came up halfway along the beach and receded. “I’m coming,” she called back as she stood up. She stretched, yawned, opened the back door, and tried not to gag. The smell that assaulted her nose was noxious. She decided right then that she wouldn’t eat the soup, but when he saw the hopeful look on Stephen’s face, she couldn’t help but push down any evidence of her disgust. She knew that if she didn’t enjoy the soup that she would hurt his feeling. After everything he had done for her, that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Stephen led her to the table, sat down across from her, and ladle the soup, first into her dish, and then into his own. “Eat,” he said. “Tell me if it isn’t the greatest food that you’ve ever eaten.”
For a second, she thought she wouldn’t be able to eat it, but then he ran a spoon through the hot liquid, and like magic, the aroma began to improve. Compelled by this new smell, Kylie dipped her spoon into the bowl, tasted it, and found that it was delicious.
Chapter 303: He Doesn’t Care About You
Once Kylie had taken her first bite of the soup that Stephen had prepared for her, she attacked the bowl with vigor and, before Stephen knew it, it was empty. “It’s really good!” she exclaimed as she ladled out a second portion for herself. “Did you add any unique spices into it? I have never tasted anything so good!”
Stephen, who was sitting opposite her, who hadn’t taken a single bite from his bowl, laughed. “There is a quite unique spice in it,” he exclaimed. “It is called Botulinum. It is one of the most dangerous poisons known to man. It has a unique property in that when it is added to food, and it improves the flavor.”
“If there’s such a delicious poison,” Kylie laughed, “I’d like to eat some more of it.”
Kylie quickly finished her second bowl of soup, and then she burped loudly, thanked Stephen for the meal, and went into the living room to stretch out on the couch. After eating so much, she felt tired, so she closed her eyes and allowed herself a quick cat nap while Stephen cleaned up the dinner dishes.
After about forty-five minutes, Kylie was rudely woken up by Stephen, who was shaking her. “Do you know how to play any games?” he was asking her. He had two cell phones in his left hand, and he was shaking them in her face. “If so, it would mean a lot to me if you would teach me!”
“Kylie sighed as she sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Alright,” she said, “I will teach you.” She took one of the cell phones out of his hands. “As long as I am teaching you, though, you must treat me as you would a universally respected master. Do you understand?”
Stephen nodded and, with a sweet smile, he said, “Yes, master.” His eyes were full of love for her, to the extent that Kylie could easily imagine a lesser woman losing themselves in them.
Before opening up the Play Store Application, Kylie logged into her email account. There were many messages, and many of them were from William, which made her frown.
Stephen looked at her curiously and asked her if there was anything wrong.
“It had just occurred to me that the anniversary of my father in law’s death is coming up,” she replied. “I would like to go home in time to mourn his passing with my friends and family.”
“Let’s see what happens,” Stephen suggested. “For now, let’s not talk about it.” Stephen showed her his phone. He had downloaded a game called Ants vs. Pants. “I need you to show me how to choose my characters!”
Kylie hurriedly deleted all of her messages, and then she began to teach Stephen how to create an account, how to choose characters, the basic rules of the game. “The game is still a little bit glitchy,” he warned her. “It is a knock-off of Plants vs. Zombies. You can see that it only has three stars. If anything weird happens, even if you like the game, you may as well just choose another game. Clash of Clans is very good.”
“Tell me about the glitch,” Stephen prompted her.
“If you get a phone call while you’re in the middle of a match,” Kylie explained, “you will be kicked offline, and your game will automatically close down. This kind of glitch can be particularly bad in games that involve teaming up with other people in RL. Your teammates will curse you and warn others that you are an unreliable player.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Stephen laughed. “I don’t have a sim card in my phone.”
Kylie smiled and said, “That is very smart of you.”
After playing for over ten minutes, Kylie stood up and said, “I ate too much soup. I have to go to the bathroom. If you don’t want to lose, wait for me to return before you start a new match.
“Okay,” Stephen replied.
Once Kylie was in the bathroom, she pulled out her phone and wrote a quick message to William: “I am not at liberty to say where I have been taken. Just know that I am fine. I am afraid that I might not be able to make it to the anniversary of your father’s death, though. Talk to Ethan. He can explain everything to you.”
After pressing send, Kylie cleared the chat history and removed William from her friend list. With that done, Kylie took a quick piss, washed her hands, and returned to the living room. As instructed, Stephen was waiting patiently for her to return.
Kylie sat down across from Stephen, opened the game on her phone, and invited him to join her in a match. “I just sent you an invitation,” she explained. “Press ACCEPT. The best way to learn is to play. As we fight each other, I will feed you with little tips that will help you advance quickly once you start entering real tournaments.”
Kylie and Stephen played for over an hour, and eventually, Kylie began to feel sleepy again. After their match was completed, she exited the game, looked at Stephen, and said, “I’m very tired. I can teach you how to play more games later. For now, though, I think I really need to take a nap…”
“Go ahead,” Stephen replied. “I think that I am ready to begin playing with other people online anyways.”
Kylie set down her phone, stretched out on the couch, closed her eyes, and, within minutes, she was asleep.
Stephen won his first two matches but lost the third, fourth, and fifth, which he found very discouraging. He closed his phone and, when he turned around, he saw that Kylie was asleep. She looked peaceful, but it was cold in the house, and she was shivering. Seeing this, he went into the Hello Kitty room and brought out the pink blanket she’d been using.
Once Kylie was tucked in, Stephen placed a camera near her face, and he pressed RECORD. Leaning forward, he rhythmically whispered into her ear, “Kylie, Ethan betrayed you. He doesn’t care about you. You’ve never been anything more than a temporary substitute for Dora, a box to grind against in the night while he waited for the opportune moment when he could toss you aside when it was once again safe for him to be with his true love…”
Chapter 304: His Strong Stamina
Nate and Ricky jumped nervously at the sudden sound of Ethan’s voice. After being awake for as long as he had been, they had expected that he would be asleep for days. He had only slept for a couple of hours, though.
Lucas looked at them incredulously and said, “How can this be? Go check on him. Maybe he is talking in his sleep…”
Nate and Ricky went in the direction of where Ethan had been sleeping, and when they opened the door, they found him sitting up on the couch. He was in the middle of a yawn when they walked in and saw them, he laughed. He looked at Nate and said, “It looks like you were right. I feel so much better after having had that nap!”
“I am glad that you are feeling better,” Nate replied, “but I think you need more sleep than that. If you don’t take care of yourself, you are just going to collapse again, and the next time it could be a lot worse. You were very lucky that you had such a clean fall. What if you’d bashed your head on the corner of the desk? What if I hadn’t been there to ensure that you were okay? I am afraid for your safety!”
Ethan looked Nate up and down. After this quick appraisal, he said, “I appreciate your concern, but you are not my mother, and I am not your child. Any risk that I take is within my right to take. Furthermore, don’t you know that I wouldn’t be able to sleep even if I tried to sleep? Even awake, my imagination runs wild. I have envisioned every possible road that could have led to Kylie’s present status, and none of them are pretty. Don’t you see that, even now, I do not know if she is alive or dead – and you want me to relax and take a nap as if everything was hunky-dory? Fuck off!”
Nate looked Ethan in the eyes and said, “Let’s settle this the old fashioned way. We should fight. If you win, even in your weakened state, then you will have proven your strength and ability to carry on; and I will let the matter alone. However, if I should win, you must agree to go to sleep and stay asleep for at least twenty-four hours. You are bigger and stronger than me. If I can beat you, then you will have to admit how badly you actually need to rest.”
Nate offered Ethan his hand. “Is it a deal?”
Ricky looked at Nate as if he’d gone insane, but he said nothing.
Ethan grinned as he shook Nate’s hand. “I like the way you think,” he said as he stood up. After rolling up his sleeves, he chugged a bottle of water and invited Nate to come at him.
Nate went into a rough boxer’s stance with his right side leading the left. Once he was within striking distance, he shot his fist out in the direction of Ethan’s face. He had hoped to break his nose right away. If he could accomplish that, he knew that his chances of winning would go way up. Stephen saw it coming through, and he blocked it easily, which threw Nate off balance and opened him up to a punch in the gut from Ethan.
Pain fired through Nate’s body as he bent forward. He was wheezing, and he was trying to catch his breath. Even with his eyes as foggy as they were suddenly, he could see the cockiness in Ethan’s eyes. He knew that Ethan could finish him off any time that he wanted, except he was biding his time. He was giving Nate the change to recover his breath and stand up straight. He was giving Nate a second chance.
After a few minutes, Nate recovered enough to find his boxer’s stance once again. This time he decided that he would wait for Ethan to come to him. Seeing what he was up to, Ethan stepped into an Aikido stance. Once that was established, his front foot slid forward, his body did a complete 180, and he caught Nate off guard with his hind leg.
Nate fell backward, and he rose up against his hands in protest. “No fair,” he cried. “I didn’t know that you knew Aikido.”
“Of course, it’s fair,” Ethan chuckled. “You were the one who challenged me to a fight. Do you give?”
Just then, Ricky stepped forward. He looked at Ethan and said, “Nate did not know what he was up against. I would like to be allowed to take his place. Would you allow it?”
Ethan nodded, and as soon as Nate had crawled to safety, this new fight began. Even though Ricky was a lot better suited to fight Ethan, under normal conditions, Ethan could have beaten him easily. Even now, with Ethan in this weakened state, it was close. Ethan knew how to fight better than anyone that he’d ever known, and he had the stamina that seemed to know no end.
Ethan and Ricky had been fighting for over an hour, and still, there was no clear winner. Watching on, Nate was worried that it might go on forever. His fears were alleviated when the door opened, and a slew of Ricky’s men barged into the room. Seeing them, Ethan punched Ricky in the throat – something he wouldn’t normally do – and Ricky collapsed to the floor.
Turning back to the men, Ethan sighed and said, “If I must fight you all in order to prove my competence, bring it on!”
The men looked at each other nervously, and then they attacked.
Ethan was normally a gentleman. When he fought, he never fought dirty – except when he absolutely had to. Ricky had been dirty to sick his men on him, so he’d brought their fight to a quick end by punching him in the throat. Ricky had sicced ten men on him, and ten against one was not fair, so he began to fight in ways that he normally wouldn’t have. When the first guard came at him, Thomson kicked him in the balls, and when he bent forward in pain, he smashed the man’s face with his knee.
Ricky watched as, one by one, Ethan took down his men. Finally, when there were only five of them left standing, he looked up and said, “The one who takes down Ethan can marry my sister!”
In the beginning, Ricky and Nate had set out to help Ethan, but now it had become personal. They no longer wanted to help him. Now they wanted to hurt him.
The man closest to Nate looked down at him, frowned, and said, “If the only way to win your sister’s heart is to defeat Ethan, I am afraid that she will grow to be a lonely spinster…”
Hearing this, Ricky felt his rage grow inside him, and he was able to find a reserve of strength that he hadn’t known existed inside of him. Ethan was busy fighting one of Ricky’s peons, so he was completely ignorant of the fact that Ricky had found his feet again.
Grinning, Ricky waited for the opportune moment to strike his opponent.
Chapter 305: It’s A Drowning Fish
Ricky roared as he jumped on Ethan’s back. Grabbing his head, he tried to reach around in order to get his fingers into his victim’s eye sockets. Ethan was too quick for him, though. He grabbed his wrists and tossed him in the direction of the wall. Ricky’s head hit the wall first, and then his back and shoulders.
Just as Nate fell to the floor, Lucas – who was curious about all of the ruckus that he’d been hearing – walked into the room. “Oh my God,” he gasped as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. “What is going on here?”
Seeing all of the men on the floor, Lucas was frightened, so he took two steps back. Then, from the safety of the hallway, he shouted out to Ethan: “I don’t know what this is all about, but are you almost done? William has been calling, and he wants you to call him back as soon as possible!”
Thomson grunted as he kicked the last of Ricky’s men in the ribs. He turned to Lucas briefly and said, “I have nothing to say to him. He knows that, so why the fuck would he call me?”
“I have no idea,” Lucas replied quickly. “Perhaps it has something to do with the anniversary of your father’s death…”
Ethan looked around the room. Other than him, there was no one left standing, so he assured Lucas that it was safe for him to come in.
Just as Lucas entered the room, his phone rang. He checked the caller ID and showed it to Ethan. “It’s William,” he said. “Why don’t you take the call?”
William was surprised when Thomson answered Lucas’s phone, but he didn’t allow it to slow him down. “Ethan,” he exclaimed, “I’ve got news of Kylie!”
Nate, who was standing not far from Ethan, could hear every single one of William’s words. He turned to look at Ethan as the words reached his ears – and any animosity that he’d felt towards Ethan melted away. Not only that, but he actually felt guilty about his actions. He had only wanted to help, but things had escalated too fast. Before he knew it, he’d no longer been in control of his facilities; he’d gone berserk.
“Tell me everything,” Ethan ordered.
William said, “I was playing Ants vs. Pants when I received a message from Kylie. Her user ID was Advancing Soldier. Anyways, in her message, she said that she couldn’t say where she was, but she assured me that she was safe. I tried to reply, but she’d already removed me from her friends’ list. She has a new user name now. It’s A Drowning Fish.
“Alright,” Ethan replied. “Thank you. Her new user name is a secret message to me. I now know where she is, or at least I know where to go to start looking for her.”
“Are you going to save her?” William wondered.
“Of course I am,” Ethan replied as he hung up the phone and handed it back to Lucas. He rolled his eyes and said, “That William; he really is a stupid cunt, isn’t he?”
Ethan ordered everyone out of the room and, once he was alone, he sat down on the couch and dialed Stephen’s number into his handy. When Stephen answered the phone, he said, “Hello, Stephen. I just wanted you to know that I’d like to leave for Seattle tonight.”
When Stephen replied, he sounded very confused. “What happened?” he wondered. “Have you given up on ever finding Kylie?”
Ethan ignored the question and asked a question of his own. “You have a ship,” he said. “Do you think you could give me a ride?”
Nate was listening from outside of the room with his ear pressed to the door. Now that they had a lead about Kylie’s whereabouts, he couldn’t figure out why Ethan was skipping town. It made no sense to him. It was only later that it occurred to him that maybe Kylie was in Seattle.
In the background, Ethan heard a woman’s voice. “Stars,” she called, “can you come and help me with the zipper on the back of this dress?”
Hearing this, Ethan’s face grimaced and froze. He had always wondered who Kylie’s friend Stars actually was. He had figured he was some handsome man that she’d met in Europe or South America. it came as a complete shock to him to discover that Stars had been Stephen all along!”
“Can I put you on hold for a moment?” Stephen wondered.
Ethan was about to say no, but Stephen had already set the phone aside.
Ethan could hear Stephen talking in the background. “You are very beautiful,” he sighed. “You look just like a princess.”
“Are you praising me or the dress?” he heard Kylie reply as she laughed.
“The dress is beautiful,” Stephen replied, “but your beauty outshines it and makes it more beautiful than it otherwise could ever be!”
Ethan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d thought that she’d been kidnapped. He’d been awake for days with worry. He’d beaten a dozen men to within an inch of their lives in order to be allowed to keep looking for her. All the while, though, she had been vacationing on a boat with Stephen and playing dress-up. His teeth were grit together tightly, and he was practically foaming at the mouth.
Ethan tried to calm himself down. “Perhaps this is not what it appears to be,” he muttered to himself. “Maybe she is being forced to act in a certain way or risk Stephen’s wrath. If she didn’t want to be with me, wouldn’t she have just said so? Why the ruse?”
But what do I do now? Ethan wondered. By all accounts, I could act as though I hadn’t heard a thing while I was on hold. I could go to Seattle in search of Nico as I’d planned, and confront Stephen when it is more convenient.
Now that he knew for sure that she was safe, rescuing her lost its immediacy on his to-do list.
As Ethan thought this, he paced the room. Every once in a while, he stopped to look at the splattered blood on the floor and walls. It was oddly comforting. It reminded him of what he was capable of when he got his ire up.