“What are you talking about?”
“There are people here—they say there’s an eviction order! They’re throwing everything out! Lily—”
The call cut through him like a blade.
He drove recklessly, ignoring traffic, his pulse pounding with rage.
When he arrived, the scene was chaos. Furniture lay scattered on the sidewalk, soaked by rain. Neighbors stood watching helplessly.
But Lily wasn’t there.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
Emily, trembling, pointed weakly.
“They took her. Said she had no legal guardian. Child services came… a social worker took her ten minutes ago.”
For a moment, the world stopped.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from Olivia:
“I warned you not to mix business with emotion. This is for the company. Stop pretending to be a hero.”
Ethan read it slowly.
Then put the phone away.
Something inside him shifted—cold, sharp, absolute.
If Olivia wanted control, she would have to fight for it.
And she had no idea what she had just unleashed.
He didn’t argue.
He disappeared.
For two days, no one saw him. Olivia took over operations, convinced she had broken him.
On the third day, the boardroom doors burst open.
Police entered first.
Behind them, a prosecutor.
And then Ethan.
But he wasn’t the same man.