I'm here for you.
Ethan
Driving back home, each mile felt like a punch to the gut. The radio was off, the silence swallowed me whole. All I could think about was how to tell Diana that I'd lost everything.
Not our love. Not that. But I lost the company. The name. The position. That which, for years, defined who I was. And worse—it happened because of her. Not because of her fault, but because of our history.
That apartment that a week before had become our home... now seemed too big for me. Too cold. I could barely carry the boxes up in the elevator, and the weight on my back was much more than the papers and folders. It was the weight of shame. Of frustration. Of doubt.
Would she look at me differently?
Would she think being with me was a mistake?
I closed the door slowly as I entered the house. The scent of the incense she lit at night still lingered in the air. Diana was sitting on the sofa, laptop on her lap, her hair loose, a glass of juice on the coffee table.
"Hi, love," she said, with that smile that always dismantled my world.
I swallowed hard. I took off my coat, dropped it on the back of the chair, and went to her. I knelt in front of the sofa. She looked at me confused.
"Ethan…? What is it?" she said, already realizing something was wrong.
"We need to talk."
She closed her laptop immediately.
"What happened?"
I mustered my courage. I let out a breath. I rested my forehead on her knee and stayed like that for a second. I felt her hand running through my hair, a light and confused caress.
"I was fired," I said directly, before I lost my courage.
She froze.
"What do you mean… fired?"
I raised my head, looked into her eyes.
"Meredith." She pulled some strings. She convinced the shareholders. They voted and… kicked me out of the company. Just like that. I went to lunch and when I came back, they were throwing my things out on the street.
Diana stood up slowly. She seemed to process every word.
"My God… Ethan… why?"
"Because I chose you."
She frowned, surprised.
"Is this retaliation?"
"Yes. She couldn't accept the fact that I love you. She couldn't stand losing. She said that if I didn't come back to her, she would destroy me. And she started where she knew she could hurt me."
"The company."
I nodded.
"She started with me… and she'll try to get to you too, Diana."
She paced the apartment nervously, arms crossed. The silence was thick. It seemed like time had stopped there.
"I can't believe she had the nerve to do this," she murmured, still shocked.
"I tried to reverse it." I called Nolan, we're going to take legal action, but... for now, that's it. I was kicked out. The company isn't mine anymore. My old life... isn't mine anymore.
She came closer. Touched my face.
"Ethan... you still have me."
My eyes burned. That touch. Those words.
"That's all that matters now," I said.
She pulled me into a hug. One of those hugs you get lost in. I stayed there, my face against her neck, inhaling her scent, trying to erase the bitter taste of humiliation.
"We'll figure this out," she whispered in my ear. "We'll get through this."
"I want to start over, Diana. With you. No company, no luxury, no power. Just us. Let's start something of our own. Anything. As long as it's with you, I'm up for any plan."
She held my face and looked into my eyes tightly.
"You haven't lost me. And if you want to start from scratch... then let's." I'm in. With you. To the end.
That's when I knew.
She was my home.
All I had was her—and honestly? It was more than I ever needed.