When Love Remains

Chapter 4

"I don’t know," Sofia says softly. “Hello.”

A cracked voice crackles through the call, and she gets the chills. "You think Ethan Blake is your biggest problem? "You don’t know what’s coming your way from now on."

Sofia’s heart skips a beat. “Who is this?” she demands.

The caller cuts her off before she could ask more questions.

Sofia looks at the phone with her shaky hands and wonders what she could do next.

“Sofia, who was that?” Nina asked.

"I... I don’t know," Sofia stammers. ‘But whoever the person is, knew about Ethan.

Nina’s eyes narrow. "And this isn’t all about him, Sofia. Someone is orchestrating this".

Sofia holding the phone with fear and resolve flickering in her eyes.

The night deepens but Sofia couldn’t sleep. She is curled up on her old sofa, her phone still in her hand, remembering the warning she heard on phone. The words gnaw at her: You think Ethan Blake is biggest problem? "You don’t know what’s coming your way from now on."

Across the room was Nina sitting like a caged tiger with her icy green eyes turning towards the phone. ‘We gotta go to the police,’ she insists.

And say what to the police?" That someone called me warning or what? I know they’ll say it’s nothing, it’s a probably a prank."

‘This doesn’t sound like a prank,’ Nina said. "The person sounded like someone who knows everything about Ethan.

Sofia sighs, with her mind racing. ‘I don’t even know where to begin. Perhaps it’s someone from Ethan’s world, someone trying to intimidate me so I don’t fight for custody of Liam with him. Or could this be another move from Ethan himself?

Or….

“Or what?” Nina presses.

‘Or someone from my buried past.’

Nina turns to Sofia meeting her gaze. “What does that mean? Is there something you are not telling me?"

Sofia paused with the secret weighing down on her chest. “There’s a lot about my marriage to Ethan that I’ve tried to forget,’ she whispers. "But some things... don’t stay buried."

Sofia talks as she recalls the painful and sorrowful memories she had with Ethan.

They enjoyed their marriage, starting with fun-filled and romance. Ethan was her a savior, bringing her from her quaint little world to a world of luxury and wealth. But that world soon became blank.

She recalls how everyone at Ethan’s firm whispered, and how people stopped talking when she walked into the room. The harassment from his family, who always think of her as a nobody. Then the worst betrayal was the day that Ethan accused her of a******y, with a fake proof, to justify his frustration.

Sofia stutters as she continues. ‘Ethan wasn’t only dreary. He was ruthless, he dug deeper into every aspect of my life finding proof to what I never did. That’s why I left, I had to go, I couldn’t endure it anymore."

Nina sits next to her, with a troubled expression. “But who could come after you now? But if Ethan is the one who destroyed you, why would anyone care?

"I don’t know," Sofia says, holding on to a pillow. But whoever they are, they are watching and they know about Liam.”

Sofia’s battles with fear and confusion, Ethan is stalked in a battle of his own. He’s in his penthouse’s gleaming, glass-walled office looking through legal papers on his desk.

His firm is in shambles. The client leak has ballooned into an all out PR nightmare, and investors are pulling out very fast before he can stop them. To add more salt to his wound, Sofia’s admission about Liam has set him completely off balance.

Ethan makes himself a glass of bourbon, his hands shaky. He has always prided himself to have control over his career, his feelings, his prospects. But the past 24 hours have dissolved that fantasy of his.

He picks up the crayon sketch he got from Sofia’s bookshop glancing at it for long. “Liam is bright like me which puts a innocent smile on his face,and for the very first time in years, Ethan can see something breaking through the walls he built around himself.

But his thoughts shifted when he heard a heavy knock on the door.

“You can come in,’ Ethan said.

It was his assistant, Rebecca. She enters with a cold expression. “We have a problem Sir.”

Ethan arches an eyebrow. “Another one?”

She steps forward, placing a file on his desk. “Someone’s digging into your past. Court cases, financial records, including your personal life. It’s all beingexamined carefully, I don’t know what they are looking for.”

Ethan’s eyes narrow. “Who?”

"We don’t know yet," Rebecca admits. ‘But who they are, they’re thorough. If they find something terrible, it could finish your career, Sir.

Ethan’s jaw tightens. First the scandal, then Sofia, and now this? The whole scenario seems the sky is descending on him.

Make sure you find out who is behind it,” and shut them down.”

—

Sofia woke up to find another text message waiting on her phone with a private number.

“Stay away from Ethan Blake, or you will live to regret it.” She showed the message to Nina with her blood boiling inside of her.

“Let’s go to the police station to report this immediately” Nina said.

But Sofia shakes her head saying No, I don’t think this is just about Ethan. It’s about Liam, I need to protect him, he’s all I got.

So what’s the plan? Nina asks.

Sofia takes a deep breath before she continue, I’ll go to the Christmas gala with him.

“You will do what?” “You can’t be serious, after everything he did to you.”

“I don’t have anyother choice,” “If I don’t go, Ethan will take me to court for custody of Liam. And if someone is truly targeting both of us or just me or him, the event will be my best chance to figure out who it is and what they really want.”

Nina shakes her head in dismay, clearly unhappy. “Sofia, you’re walking into a trap.”

“Maybe,” Sofia admits. “But it’s a risk I have to take for Liam not Ethan.”

*

Sofia is standing in front of the big entrance of the charity Christmas gala with her heart racing. The luxury setting is completely different from her private bookshop, with the chandeliers shimming in gold among a group of high elites of the city.

Ethan gets out of his black sleek car wearing a perfect tuxedo suit. His eyes and mind soften upon seeing Sofia.

‘You are gorgeous,’ he said with a loving tone.

Sofia doesn’t answer, her face and expression cold. "Let’s just do this, Okay.”

Ethan gives her his arm, she declined first before later taking it. They went into the hall.

As the night wears on, Sofia begins to feel some suspicious movements. People discussing and chit-chatting halt when she and Ethan came in. Strangers stares at her with a hostile and even cold gazes.

Then a man comes up to them. He’s a tall and imposing figure with a cold smile. Charles Greer, one of Ethan’s archest legal rival.

"Ethan," Charles says, slurring his words, and looking at Sofia. "You really love acting by bringing your ex to a Christmas Gala despite the biggest scandal of your career, wow.”

Ethan’s jaw tightens. “Charles, what do you want?”

Charles’s smile widens. ‘You really did love drama. Sailing with your ex to a gala during the worst scandal of your life? Bold move.”

‘I want what you want, Charles?’ Ethan says coldly.

Charles whisper to his ear. “Just a friendly warning. You better watch your back tonight. Not everyone here loves you or have your best interest at heart.”

Before he could respond, the lights went off and everyone in the room shouts as the glass cracked and shattered to the floor. The room remains dark as chaos erupts.

Ethan’s tightend his hand around Sofia arm, before Sofia could say anything. Another loud crash echoes through the hall, someone screams as the sound of shattering glasses fills the air.

Stay with me, please." Ethan pulls her to the exit door.

But before they do, a voice speaks out through the microphone.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, tonight isn’t just about the charity. It’s about truth. And the secret of Ethan Blake will be revealed here tonight."

Sofia’s heart races as a spotlight flashes in the middle of the stage. Standing there with a folder is figure who looks familiar, someone she never thought she’d see again.