BENEATH THE MASK

Blood and Silence

The night had started quiet.

Ethan and I were in the garage, working side by side on some routine paperwork. It was one of the rare moments where everything seemed calm—no threats hanging over our heads, no business deals to broker, just the quiet hum of the estate around us.

It had been like this for a few weeks now. Ethan and I had grown closer, even if neither of us said it out loud. The tension between us was still there, simmering beneath the surface, but there was something more—something unspoken that kept pulling us together, no matter how much I tried to push him away.

I wasn’t sure how it had happened, or when, but I found myself looking for moments like this, where we could just be. Where I didn’t have to worry about the weight of my father’s empire, the constant threat of betrayal, or the secrets I was keeping. With Ethan, there was a kind of peace that I hadn’t realized I needed.

But, of course, peace never lasted long in this world.

The door to the garage opened suddenly, and Lucia stepped in, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of smug satisfaction and something darker. I stiffened immediately, my guard going up. Lucia never showed up without an agenda.

“Alex,” she said smoothly, her gaze flicking between me and Ethan before settling on me. “Your father wants to see you. Now.”

Ethan shot me a quick look, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. He hadn’t trusted Lucia from the start, and he had good reason not to. She was always scheming, always trying to get closer to my father, always looking for a way to cement her place in his world—and, by extension, mine.

I swallowed hard, my chest tightening with a sense of dread I couldn’t quite shake. My father never summoned me for anything good. He had never been the kind of man to offer praise or affection. All he cared about was power, loyalty, and control.

And in his eyes, I was failing him on all fronts.

“I’ll be back,” I muttered to Ethan, not meeting his gaze as I followed Lucia out of the garage.

The walk to my father’s office felt like a death march, each step heavier than the last. My heart pounded in my chest, my mind racing with all the possible reasons he could want to see me. Had Lucia said something? Had she twisted something I’d done to make it look like I was disloyal?

Or maybe it was something worse.

When we reached the door, Lucia gave me a small, knowing smile before slipping away, leaving me alone to face whatever was waiting for me inside. I took a deep breath, steeling myself, and pushed the door open.

My father was sitting behind his massive desk, his cold, calculating eyes fixed on me the moment I entered the room. His presence was suffocating, filling every inch of the space with an air of menace. He had always been an imposing figure—tall, broad-shouldered, with a face hardened by years of violence and control.

But it wasn’t his size that made him terrifying. It was the way he looked at me like I was nothing. Like I was something he had to tolerate, but never something he could respect.

“Shut the door,” he said, his voice low and commanding.

I did as I was told, stepping forward until I was standing directly in front of him. My pulse quickened, but I kept my face neutral. I had learned a long time ago that showing weakness in front of my father only made things worse.

“Lucia tells me you’ve been… distracted lately,” he said, his voice dripping with disdain. “Spending too much time with that boy. Ethan.”

I clenched my jaw, refusing to rise to the bait. “Ethan is part of the team. He’s useful.”

My father snorted, leaning back in his chair. “Useful, huh? Is that what we’re calling it these days? You think I don’t know what’s going on?”

I didn’t respond, but my chest tightened. He wasn’t talking about business, and we both knew it.

“You think I haven’t noticed the way you’ve been acting?” he continued, his voice growing colder. “The way you’ve been sneaking around, hiding things from me? You think I haven’t noticed that you’re more interested in playing house with that boy than in doing your job?”

I swallowed hard, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “I haven’t—”

“Shut up!” he barked, slamming his fist on the desk. The sound echoed through the room, but I didn’t flinch. I couldn’t.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” he growled, standing up and rounding the desk until he was towering over me. “Do you think I don’t see what’s happening here? You’re weak. A disgrace to this family.”

I stayed silent, my heart pounding in my chest.

“You want to play around with your little boy toy, is that it?” he sneered, his voice laced with disgust. “Is that what this is about? You think you can be some kind of…” He trailed off, shaking his head with fury. “I won’t have it. Do you hear me? You can fool around all you want, but in the end, you’ll settle down with Lucia. A man is supposed to be strong. You’ll do your duty.”

He stepped closer, his face inches from mine, his breath hot and stinking of whiskey. “You’re lucky I haven’t had you dealt with yet.”

And then, before I could react, his fist collided with my face.

Pain exploded behind my eyes, my head snapping to the side from the force of the blow. I tasted blood instantly, but I didn’t make a sound. I had learned early on that showing pain only made it worse. My father thrived on it.

He hit me again, his fist slamming into my ribs this time, knocking the breath from my lungs. My vision blurred, but I held myself upright, refusing to let him see the damage. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Men bleed,” he growled, landing another punch across my jaw. “But they don’t cry.”

I bit down hard, the taste of blood thick on my tongue, as he continued to rain blows down on me. I could feel the blood running from my nose, from my split lip, dripping down onto the floor, but I stayed silent.

I didn’t cry. I never cried.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he stepped back, breathing heavily, his face twisted with disgust.

“You’re pathetic,” he spat. “Get out of my sight.”

I didn’t need to be told twice.

I stumbled out of the office, my vision swimming, blood still dripping from my nose and mouth. The pain was a dull throb now, radiating through my body, but it wasn’t the worst of it. The worst part was the emptiness, the hollow ache in my chest that no amount of bleeding could fix.

I wasn’t sure how long I wandered before I finally collapsed in the hallway, my knees buckling beneath me. My head swam, my body trembling as I fought to stay conscious. I needed to get to my room, to clean myself up, to stop the bleeding.

But I couldn’t move.

“Alex?”

Ethan’s voice cut through the haze, sharp and filled with panic. I blinked, trying to focus, but everything felt too far away, too distant.

He was beside me in an instant, his hands on my shoulders, his eyes wide with shock as he took in the blood staining my face and my clothes. “What the hell happened?”

I tried to speak, to tell him I was fine, but the words wouldn’t come. My head was spinning, my chest tightening as the blood continued to drip, my body refusing to stop the flow.

“Jesus, you’re bleeding,” Ethan muttered, his voice shaking as he reached for something—anything—to stop the blood. “Why won’t it stop? Why isn’t it stopping?”

I could feel him panicking, his hands trembling as he pressed against my nose, trying to stem the flow. But it wasn’t working. The blood kept coming, thicker now, faster, and I could hear the panic in Ethan’s breathing, the way it hitched as he struggled to keep himself together.

“This isn’t normal,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “Alex, this isn’t normal. What do I do? What do I—”

I managed to lift a hand, pressing it weakly to his arm, trying to calm him down. But Ethan wasn’t calming down. He was shaking, tears filling his eyes as he looked at me, helpless and terrified.

“Why won’t it stop?” he asked again, his voice cracking. “Why isn’t it stopping?”

And then, as I felt the world start to fade around me, I heard it—the sound of Ethan’s quiet sobs, his tears falling onto my bloodstained clothes as he held me.

For the first time, I saw the fear in his eyes. And for the first time, I realized just how much he cared.