Dean's Office.
The leather of Dean’s executive chair creaked under his weight as he leaned back, the city lights a hazy blur beyond the panoramic window.
His phone lay discarded on his polished mahogany desk. He sighed, of relief and stress. He had just completed – five million dollars, a hefty sum sent to Fiona’s account.
Ethan might do the same or more. He felt himself slipping away from his mind. He didn't know what he was doing – wanting Liam or Fiona.
He'd felt a pang, a sharp twist of something akin to regret as he’d hit send. The money was a lifeline, a necessary evil to secure Liam’s safety, but it also felt like a betrayal of something deeper.
He’d seen the closeness between Liam and Fiona, the easy intimacy, the unspoken affection that shimmered between them, a bond that fel
