Chapter 266: Chapter 266
Chapter 266
Ethan stood on the covered porch, pressing his back against the cold wooden siding to shield himself from the relentless downpour. He stared at the small brass button beside the door frame, knowing that walking straight into Ariana’s personal space was a massive risk that could easily end with him in handcuffs.
He had no options left, no safe house, and nowhere else to run. Reaching out with a trembling hand, he pressed the doorbell, hearing the chime echo softly inside the warm house. He leaned his weight heavily against the wall, clutching his torn rain jacket against his side as blood continued to leak through his hospital dressings.
Inside, Ariana checked the peephole before pulling the door open a few inches, leaving the security chain latched tightly in place. The moment she recognized the pale, rain-drenched face standing on her porch, her eyes went wide with pure terror. Every news report from the past twenty-four hours flooded her mind, warning the public about an unstable, dangerous Ethan Castellan who had suffered a violent breakdown. She instinctively grabbed the heavy brass umbrella stand beside the coat rack, her hand flying toward her phone on the entryway table as she prepared to call the police.
Ethan didn't try to force the door open, nor did he make any sudden movements toward her. He simply dropped his hands to his sides, exposing the dark red stain spreading across his wet hospital gown and the raw, bruised skin along his ribs. “Please, Ariana,” he begged, his voice raspy, desperate, and barely audible over the sound of the falling rain. “I escaped from the hospital. Just listen to me, please. Don't call the cops.” He leaned his forehead against the damp door frame, his shoulders rising and falling with heavy, agonizing breaths.
Ariana gripped the umbrella stand tighter, crossing her arms over her chest as she tried to project an aura of total composure despite her racing heart. “What brought you here, Ethan?” she asked, her voice laced with sharp, deliberate arrogance as she stared through the crack in the door.
“Please... just listen to me,” Ethan pleaded, clutching his wounded side tightly as he looked up at her with hollow, bloodshot eyes. “Where is Isabelle? Celine... Isabelle... we need to talk.” The names stumbled out of his mouth in a broken, desperate rush, every syllable costing him a wave of physical pain.
Ariana let out a harsh, bitter laugh, shaking her head as she stared at him through the narrow opening. “Wow. After everything you did to her, Ethan Castellan? You actually have the nerve to stand on my porch and ask for her?” She didn't unlatch the chain, her expression hardening into pure anger. “Why on earth should I tell you a single thing? So you can chase her down and break her all over again? What are you actually bringing into her life besides utter chaos?”
Ethan closed his eyes, accepting every harsh word like a physical blow. The old Ethan would have snapped, yelled, or demanded answers, but that man was completely gone. He dropped his head, laying all his failures bare before the only person who had remained loyal to Isabelle through everything.
“I know what I did,” he choked out, his voice cracked with raw emotion as tears mingled with the rainwater streaming down his face. “I was an arrogant, insecure idiot who let my father's anger and my own broken mind drive me to act like a monster. I hated myself, and I took it out on her. I am willing to burn my entire life to the ground, go to prison, or bleed out right here on your porch if it means getting her away from Sam's grip. I just need to talk to her, Ariana. I need to know she is safe.”
Ariana stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the man before her. The arrogant, untouchable heir of the Castellan family was completely gone. In his place stood a broken, desperate man in absolute torment, his eyes reflecting a deep, undeniable love for Isabelle that no act could ever fake.
She could see the genuine desperation in his posture, the raw yearning in his expression that made her chest ache despite her anger. Slowly, without saying a word, she unhooked the security chain and opened the door wide, stepping back to let him inside out of the storm.
A short while later, Ethan sat on the edge of the fabric sofa in Ariana’s living room, shivering uncontrollably despite the warm blanket she had tossed over his shoulders. He held a hot ceramic mug of tea between his trembling palms, taking slow, small sips as the warmth spread through his freezing hands. Ariana sat across from him in an armchair, watching him carefully as he winced with every breath.
“He had promised to protect her in France,” Ariana broke the silence, her voice dropping into a quiet, troubled tone as she stared down at her own hands. “He told me he was taking her away from all the Monterey drama so she could rest. But ever since they got to France, she has never reached out to me once. Not a single text, not a call, nothing. It’s not like her to completely go silent on me.”
Ethan set the mug down on the wooden coffee table, his gaze fixed on the floor as he processed her words. “I don’t know Sam’s ultimate intentions with her,” Ethan added quietly, his knuckles turning white as he rubbed his aching side. “I wouldn’t label him a bad person maybe he’s just trying to help her out in his own way but I feel really betrayed. He was supposed to be my friend, yet he kept every single detail about her hidden from me while watching me fall apart.”