Chapter 14 THE GHOST THAT SHOULD’Ve NEVER BEEN (Demilia’s POV)
Vanessa stood there like a statue, watching with a smirk on her lips. "Be careful, darling," she said after me. "The more you devote time to chase your bird, the more she will fly away."
Ethan made no attempt to answer. He didn't even spare her a glance. Instead, his grip on me became tighter, more possessive, and could be considered desperate at some point.
By the time he out me to lie down on the bed, my breath was already shaky. The anger in my chest was almost much, too much that I barely could contain it.
"Why exactly are you bent on frustrating me?" I whispered. "Why do you find it difficult to let me go?"
He stared down at me, his eyes glowing hard, and unreadable. "Because I can't give you the freedom you are craving."
"That can never be love, Ethan," I said softly, hoping to make him understand what he was doing to me. "You are only making me a prisoner in your house."
"Maybe," he murmured, leaning way too closer, until his lips was just inches away from mine. "But you get to enjoy one thing: in my prison, you are safe. Nothing like others."
I turned my face away, not wanting him to see me cry as tears steamed down my cheeks. "This kind of situation can never be considered as safe."
He stood there for a long moment, staring hard at me, and saying nothing. Then without sparing me another word, he turned, and he was gone just the way he came, shutting the door gently behind him.
I sat up the very second I noticed he was out of sight, and gently brushing my fingers on the bruises on my arm. My heart still raced, pounding nonstop, maybe because of fear, or that I was angry. But I kept them to myself, refusing to give them a name.
Outside the door, I heard Vanessa's faint voice, like she was expecting me to come out again. "From what I just observed right here, I would let you know that you're fast losing control of her, Ethan. And she's not just going to break free, you would turn around and destroy you the moment she lays her hand on freedom."
There was a deafening silencez the kind that suggests that alot could be said, but the parties involved chise to stay calm. Then, Ethan's voice was heard, low and dark, but I was able to hear him, especially as it concerns me.
"Then, I would waste no time, but destroy her first."
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“Don’t trust Ethan’s mother.”
That was the message I saw gracing my screen very early in the morning. It was sent by an unknown number. But I needed not nlmaking inquiries on who sent the message. I knew that minute that it came from Adrian Knight. It was precise, no sugar coating of words, with warning, and came at the exact time he always send his messages: always too late or too early.
I read it repeatedly, my fingers shaking as I held until the device like my life depended on it.
"Don't trust Ethan's mother."
Why send the message now? And why is she the dangerous one?
The door opened so sudden that I panicked, and I quickly hid the phone under a pillow.
Right at the doorway, stood Ethan, wearing that expression that was the oo sharp to be read. "You woke up rather too early."
"I couldn't catch few hours of sleep," I replied flatly.
He glanced at me, and from his gaze, I could tell his was already getting angry that I said that. "Restlessness doesn't look good on you the way you thought."
"And being a control frick doesn't look good on you," I shot back almost immediately, the word coming out before I gave it a thorough thought.
He raised an eyebrow, and I could tell he wasn't amused. "It seems like you are still upset?"
"Upset?" I laughed out loud, but it was more of a bitter laugh. "I heard everything. Everything you told Vanessa that you would do to me. How you would destroy me if I tried to leave. That can't make me upset, Ethan. It's rather psychotic "
He didn't flinch as I said that. "It seems like you overheard everything, right?"
"You surely meant that I overhear you while you talked." I replied, glaring SI had at him.
For a moment, we both stared at each other like a statue, saying nothing. The silence was beginning rather too heavy, many words left unsaid.
Then, just when I thought silence would be the dead of us, his phone buzzed. He answered at the first ring, very respectful, controlling but yet cold as usual. "Mother."
I froze in hearing that.
Did he just say mother?
I watched the movement of his jaw, the way it tightened as he listened, like he was being forced against his wish. "No. It's not like that. All I'm trying to tell you is that it's not a good time," he said eventually. Then, after what seemed like a ten minutes pause, he continued. "Fine. I will instruct someone to meet you right at the gate."
He hung, indicating he was done with the call. He rubbed his templrs. " It's mostly line we are about to have a company."
"Who?" I asked, pretending I didn't just overhear him talk with his mother.
"My mother."
Just confirming it from him sent a cold chill all over my body.
"She will be arriving any moment from now?"
"Yes." He replied without looking at me.
I stood up, my heart pounding restlessly. I didn't know what to make out of her sudden visit. And to think it wasn't long I got a strange message, warning me to be weary of her. "And, does she know anything about me?"
He glanced at me, his lips curving into something I couldn't placey fingers on. "She knows rather enough that would last her to pretend she doesn't."
The answer made no sense to me, but I didn't ga e to put my mind there. Ever since I stepped my foot into this mansion, nothing about Ethan ever made sense, and it would be surprising if it starts now.