EpisodeFour
1563 Words
Sophie did not sleep.
Ethan’s apartment was too quiet. But, the quiet did not make Sophie relaxed, instead it made her feel quite uncomfortable.
Sophie lay awake in Ethan’s guest room, her mind buzzing. Everything from earlier kept replaying, over and over.
Ten years ago, she had walked out of Ethan Blackwood’s life without looking back. She’d convinced herself she didn’t belong in his world, so leaving felt easier.
Now she was under his roof again—with her daughter asleep nearby.
And the worst part? It didn’t feel temporary. It felt like something that wasn’t ending anytime soon, and that made her even more uneasy.
It was almost sunrise when she heard a knock on the door.
She sat up. “Yes?”
“It’s me,” Ethan answered.
She thought as much. She stood up and went to open the door.
He was already dressed in a well ironed brown suit, with his tie slightly loosened at the collar. Even this early in the morning, he looked put together, calm, controlled and powerful.
“Are you going somewhere, I can see you’re dressed,” she said quietly.
“I have a board meeting in an hour.” Ethan replied
Her tummy growled. “About Lily?” She asked curiously.
“Yes.”
He didn’t sugarcoat it.
Sophie stepped aside so he could come in to the room
“They want clarity,” he continued. “They want to know how this affects succession. Shares. Control.” Ethan said.
“She’s ten.”
“And they’re businessmen.”
Her hands were trembling beside her thighs. “You’re not giving them anything, right,” she asked
He looked into her eyes carefully. “You think I would?”
“I don’t know what you’d do to protect your company.” She said
“And you equally don’t know what I’d do to protect my only daughter.” He shot back.
Sophie felt her chest tightened, she did not know why the words hit her hard.
He moved forward to Sophie. Not threatening. Not aggressive. Just closer.
“Lily is not a liability, She’s not a weakness. And I won’t allow anyone to treat her like one.” He said quietly.
She saw how he said that with no hesitation and he was quite certain about it, but she was still scared.
“You handle things logically, not emotionally,” she said quietly.
“And you think logic wins. Doesn’t it?” He said, looking at her that he almost lost his eyes on her.
“Not always.” Sophie responded.
For a moment, they both went quiet, staring at each other emotionally.”
A small voice interrupted the moment ,“Mama?”
Sophie turned immediately, and opened the door.
Lily stood there,with her hair messy from sleep, and her hands rubbing her eyes.
Her eyes moved between Sophie and Ethan.
“Are you leaving us?” Lily asked Ethan.
Ethan’s expression softened as he bent down to Lily’s level, gently patting her shoulder. “No, sweetheart, just for a few hours,” he said quietly. “I’ll be back before dinner.”
Lily hesitated. “Promise?”
“I don’t break promises.” Ethan said, crossing his fingers.
Sophie felt that sentence landed somewhere deep.
“No one would hurt you here, you are safe,” he said gently. “And if you need anything, let me know, or you tell your mom.”
Lily nodded slowly.
Then she surprised them both.
“Are you going to fight someone?” Lily asked, looking at Ethan carefully.
“Why did you say that” Ethan asked Lily, holding her shoulders
“Because Mama looks like she’s about to.” Lily said.
Sophie exhaled sharply. “Lily.”
But Ethan almost smiled. “Something like that,” he said calmly. “But I fight quietly.”
Lily seemed to be satisfied with the reply Ethan gave.
After he left, Sophie stood by the upstairs window and watched his car disappear down the driveway. Her chest tightened as she stared after it, unsure of what would happen next.
“Do you like him?” Lily asked suddenly.
Sophie froze. “He’s your father,” she said carefully.
Lily looked at her carefully.
Children were dangerous like that.
Sophie crouched down. “I don’t know him anymore.”
Lily turned her head, falling Sophie directly, “He looks sad.”
Those words caught Sophie suddenly.
“Sad?” she asked.
Lily did not respond, Sophie swallowed.
Maybe Lily saw things she didn’t.
The rest of the morning passed quietly. Staff moved respectfully around them. They were served breakfast in a dining room that is almost bigger than Sophie’s entire apartment.
Around noon, Sophie was walking in Ethan’s big building, admiring the uniqueness when she wandered into Ethan’s study room. She didn’t mean to, she told herself she was just exploring and admiring the marble glass all over the house.
But the study felt like the center of him. Dark wood shelves. Order. Precision.
And on the desk, a folder lay slightly open. She should have walked away. Instead, she stepped closer to see what’s in it.
Her name was printed on the top page, “Sophie Bennett.” Her pulse quickened, she did not hesitate to open it . She saw documents in the folder. “School records, medical history, financial reports, and a private investigator’s summary.
Her breath caught.
Ethan has been investigating her and Lily. “For how long,” she said to herself.
As she stood there with the files in her hand, the door opened behind her.
She turned immediately, facing the door. Ethan stood there, he had returned earlier than expected.
Ethan looked at the file in Sophie’s hand, but she did not care.l.
“You hired a private investigator?” she asked. Her voice was shaking, even when she tried to control it.
“Yes.” He didn’t deny the allegations, neither was he sorry.
Sophie could not say anything, she just stood there and stared at him. He moved closer but still kept distance between them.
“When I found out about Lily, I needed facts. Not assumptions.”
“So you invaded my life?” Sophie finally asked.
“I ensured she was safe.” Ethan shot back.
“She has always been safe with me,” Sophie said, almost crying.
Sophie’s heart almost pierced, “You could have asked me.”
“And if you had lied?” He asked, almost immediately.
She stared at him. “I wouldn’t, she’s my daughter.”
“You left without telling me you were pregnant.” Ethan said.
The words hit her so hard that they both went silent for a second. She swallowed hard. “I was scared.”
“And I was denied the right to know.” Ethan shot at her.
She felt quite guilty, but did not let that show. “That doesn’t give you the right to do an investigation on me without my consent, that is spy,” she said.
“I didn’t spy. I protected her.”
“From what?”
“From everything.”
A thick tension grew between both of them, Then Lily’s laughter echoed faintly down the hallway. Both of them turned toward the sound.
That was the problem. Everything always circled back to her.
Ethan’s voice lowered. “I won’t apologize for making sure my daughter wasn’t in danger and wanting the best life for her”
“She has always lived her best life.” Sophie said.
“You don’t get to decide that alone anymore, I am her father, and I have every right to her” Ethan said with a little tone of power and control.
For ten years, Sophie had controlled every decision about Lily. Now she cannot do that alone anymore, and she wasn’t prepared to share the control with anyone else.
“You don’t get to come into our lives from nowhere and take over,” she said quietly.
“I’m not taking over.” Ethan said calmly.
“It feels like it.” She replied.
His jaw tightened slightly. “Then we fix that.”
“How?” she asked
“We establish terms.” The word felt cold.
“Terms?” she repeated.
“Yes. If you’re staying here, we define boundaries.”
She laughed softly, even though it wasn’t funny. “This sounds like a merger.”
“This is reality.”
She looked at him long and hard.
The powerful billionaire, the controlled strategist, the man who solved problems by structuring them.
“Fine,” she said finally. “Terms.”
But inside of her, something unsettled was growing. She had opened the folder but she hadn’t checked the last page. Ethan stepped forward to the table and gently closed it, like he was hiding something he didn’t want her to see on the last page.
“What’s on the last page?” she asked quietly
His expression remained the same, “You don’t need to worry about it.”
That wasn’t the answer to the question she asked, she knew he was hiding something
“What did you find?” He looked at her carefully.
And for the first time since she stepped into this house— He hesitated, he didn’t answer her question.
Is he hiding something?
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