Chapter 26 The Tech Goddess Awakens
Bella’s POV
The morning sun filtered through the heavy curtains of the safehouse, casting long, golden streaks across the rumpled silk sheets.
I opened my eyes slowly, my body feeling very free and light, a feeling that I hadn't experienced in years. The air was cool, but I was encased in a heat that made my skin tingle.
Then, the memories of the night before flooded back, hitting me with the force of a tidal wave.
The way Ethan had looked at me right before he snapped. I remembered the desperate, hungry way he had pulled me across that center console, as if he were trying to pull the very soul out of me.
We hadn't made it back to the safehouse before the clothes started coming off. The backseat had been a blur of frantic hands, muffled moans, and a raw, primal connection that erased every ounce of restlessness and fatigue.
I felt a flush creep up my neck as I recalled the way his hands felt against my skin, rough but warm, claiming me again and again until I was nothing but a mess of sweaty tangled hair and moans.
He was so gentle with me and every one of his touches pushed me higher until I had a mind blowing orgasm.
I was still lost in the haze of those thoughts when I felt a sudden, firm tightness around my waist. A large hand splayed across my stomach, pulling me back against a broad, solid chest.
I looked up, twisting my head slightly, and met Ethan’s eyes…They weren't the cold, grey ones, he showed the world. They were soft, swimming with a gentle protective light that made my breath catch in my throat.
“Did you have a good rest, Mi amor?” he whispered, his voice still thick with sleep. He leaned down and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to my forehead, his stubble grazing my skin.
I just smiled, a genuine curve of my lips that I hadn't felt in a long time. “The best I’ve had in three years,” I murmured, turning in his arms to face him.
The silence stretched between us, comfortable and heavy with the scent of the familiar vanilla air freshener that he has always loved using.
But there was a question that had been clawing at the back of my mind for days..a painful doubt that wouldn't let go.
“Ethan?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “Why aren't you upset with me?”
His hand, which had been resting on my hip, stilled. “What do you mean?”
“After the way I left,” I said, looking down at his chest, tracing the faint scars that marked his skin. “Three years ago… I walked away from the Organization. I walked away from you and chose Lucas. I’ve been wondering for days why you didn't just let me rot when you saw me that day. Why are you still here, helping me after I threw everything away?”
Ethan didn't answer immediately. He slowly reached up, his fingers gently stroking my hair, tucking a stray strand behind my ear. It was a gesture so tender it made my heart ache, as I knew he only showed this side of himself to me. To everyone else, he was a ruthless commander, a man who would kill you without blinking. But with me, he was just Ethan.
“I never believed in love, Bella,” he said, his voice low and steady. “I thought it was a weakness, a chemical glitch that people used as an excuse for their own stupidity. And then I met you, I watched you break through firewalls that should have been impossible and outsmart men twice your age without breaking a sweat.”
He paused, his gaze boring into mine. “When you left, it felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped the air out of my lungs. I was extremely hurt and furious… and I spent weeks wanting to drag you back here in chains.
But then I realized… you can't force a bird to stay in a cage if it thinks the sky is safer. So, I decided to protect you from a distance. I watched your marriage, I saw how Lucas failed you. And I waited for the day he would finally reveal his true colors to you. Because I couldn't bring myself to stop loving you, even when I hated the choices you were making.”
I felt a pang of raw, piercing guilt. I had been so blind, so caught up in the "weak" Bella’s desire for a normal life that I had ignored the person standing right in front of me. I felt a hot tear slide down my face, a silent apology for every second I had wasted on a man like Lucas Moretti.
Ethan immediately moved, his thumb catching the tear before it could reach my jaw. He cupped my face with both hands, his expression fierce. “Don’t,” he whispered. “Your tears are too precious, Bella. They shouldn't be wasted on regrets or on people who didn't deserve a single beat of your heart.”
He leaned in and kissed the path of the tear away, his lips warm and soft against my skin. The gesture was so intimate and so profoundly kind, that it shattered the last of my defenses. I surged forward, hugged him tightly and buried my face in the crook of his neck.
“I’m never leaving again,” I promised, my voice muffled but certain. “I’m here with you, and I’ll protect you just like you protected me.”
Ethan let out a soft, dry laugh, the sound vibrating against my chest. “Protect me? You’re the one moving into a house full of vipers today, Bella.”
He pulled back slightly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You know, your ‘other’ personality wasn't the best. We should have never had that personality-shaping surgery back then. The one that suppressed the Eva side of you so you could 'fit in' with high society.”
I winced at the memory. To the outside world, Eva Valente was a deranged tech genius, a digital phantom who could crash a national grid from a laptop in a basement. No one knew my true character other than Ethan and my three big sisters in the organization.
But three years ago, I was tired of the shadows and wanted to be "normal." I had undergone the psychological conditioning to let the "weak" Bella personality take over, the soft, trusting and loving woman who fell hopelessly in love with a shark like Lucas. And that Bella had nearly gotten me killed. She had wasted three years of my life.
“The weak Bella is dead, Ethan,” I said, my voice turning cold, my eyes hardening into the emerald shards that defined Eva. “She drowned in the Atlantic and she’s never coming back.”
I sat up, the sheet falling away, but I didn't care about my body being exposed. I felt a surge of energy, the old Eva, the tech goddess, and the woman who could see the world in lines of code and binary.
“I know I haven't been much help in the Organization since I got back,” I continued, looking at Ethan. “I’ve been so focused on my own revenge, on the Morettis and recognizing my father… and I’ve been very selfish…But that stops now.”
I reached for my laptop, which was sitting on the nightstand. I flipped it open, the blue glow of the screen reflecting in my eyes. I felt the familiar hum of the processor, the digital pulse that felt more like home than any mansion ever could.
“I’m ready to be the tech goddess again,” I whispered, my fingers dancing across the keys with a speed that was almost supernatural. “The Morettis and Riccis think they’ve seen trouble? They haven't seen anything yet. I’m going to dismantle their bank accounts, expose their offshore holdings, and turn their digital lives into a wasteland.”
Ethan watched me with a look of pride and dark satisfaction on his face. He knew what I was capable of and had seen me bring down syndicates in minutes.
“I’m ready to be the queen of the dark web again,” I said, my voice vibrating with a new, lethal power. “And today, when I walk into that Monroe mansion, I’m not just going as a weak long lost daughter, I'm going to treat those vipers, like viruses and erase them completely.”
I looked back at Ethan, the sexual tension from the night before still simmering just beneath the surface.
“Let’s go to work,” I said.
Ethan’s hand covered mine on the laptop, his eyes locking onto mine. “The world isn't ready for you, Eva.”
“Good,” I replied, a cold smile spreading across my face. “because I want them to be surprised.”