EPISODE8 THEALTIMATUN
751 Words
The Hart family estate had never felt more like a courtroom.
Lena stood in the center of the sprawling living room, her mother’s grip tight around her wrist like she was a child caught stealing. Across from her, Daniel Hart’s face was a mask of barely contained fury, his usual warm brown eyes gone glacial.
And Ethan—
Ethan looked like he’d been through a war.
He stood by the fireplace, his knuckles scraped raw (from punching the porch wall, Lena guessed), his shirt still damps from the storm. His gaze locked onto hers the second she walked in, desperate and burning.
I didn’t sleep with her.
She wanted to believe him. God, she ached.
Daniel spoke first. “Sophia tells me you two have been… inappropriate.”
The word landed like a slap.
Lena lifted her chin. “We kissed. Once.”
“Bullshit.” Claire’s voice cut through the room as she slinked in from the kitchen, holding a mug of tea like she owned the place. “They’ve been sneaking around for months.”
Ethan snarled, “Shut your mouth.”
“Or what?” Claire smirked, patting her flat stomach. “You’ll deny our baby again?”
Sophia made a choked sound. “This is sick.” Her nails dug into Lena’s skin. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Lena wrenched free. “We’re not related by blood! We didn’t even meet until we were teenagers—”
“That doesn’t matter!” Daniel roared, slamming his fist on the coffee table. The ultrasound photo fluttered to the floor. “You’re siblings in every way that counts!”
Ethan stepped forward. “Dad—”
“Don’t.” Daniel’s voice cracked. “You lied to us." You betrayed this family.”
A beat of silence. Then—
“Then I guess I’m not your family anymore.” Ethan’s words were quiet, final.
Daniel flinched like he’d been shot.
Claire’s smile faltered.
Sophia seized Lena’s shoulders. “You’re leaving. Tonight.”
Lena blinked. “What?”
“There’s a flight to Paris at midnight,” Sophia’s voice trembled. "Your aunt’s apartment is empty. "You’ll stay there until…” She glanced at Ethan with undisguised revulsion. “Until this infatuation passes.”
Lena’s knees nearly gave out. Paris. Thousands of miles away. Forever.
Ethan was across the room in three strides. “You can’t send her away because of me—”
“Watch me.” Sophia shoved a plane ticket into Lena’s hands. “It’s this, or I tell everyone what you’ve done. Imagine the headlines: "Step-siblings in twisted affair.”
Lena’s vision was blurred. The ticket burned her fingers.
Lena Carter. One-way. Departure: 11:55 PM. Ethan grabbed her free hand. “Don’t.” His thumb brushed over the compass necklace he’d given her. Always find your way back to me.
Claire cleared her throat. “There’s just one more thing.” She pulled an envelope from her purse. “Paternity papers. Sign them, Ethan, or I go public about you and Lena.”
Lena expected Ethan to explode. Instead, he let out a hollow laugh.
“You’re unbelievable.” He took the envelope… and ripped it in half.
Claire gasped. “You’ll regret that!”
“No.” Ethan’s voice was steel. “Get out of my house.”
For the first time, Claire looked scared. She turned to Daniel. “You’re just going to let him—”
“OUT.” Daniel’s bellow shook the windows.
Claire fled, her heels clacking like gunshots.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Sophia squeezed Lena’s arm. “Your bags are already in the car.”
Ethan’s grip tightened. “Lena, please—”
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
So she ran.
Out the door, down the driveway, past the idling town car where her suitcases sat packed. She didn’t stop until she hit the cliffs, the ocean wind whipping her hair like punishment.
Ethan caught up to her at the edge of the world.
“Don’t go.” He cupped her face, his voice raw. Stay. Fight.”
Lena’s tears were hot and endless. “I can’t.”
She kissed him one last time—salt and sorrow and goodbye—then tore herself away.
The compass necklace snapped in her fist as she yanked it free.
She pressed it into his palm.
“Find your way home.”
Then she walked to the car without looking back.
- Writer
