Chapter 77 Always On Your Side

Chapter 77 Always On Your Side
Bella's POV

I drove faster than I probably should have, my hands gripping the wheel tightly as the city blurred past outside my window. My mind kept replaying my father's words over and over, that ominous certainty in his voice when he said I would find out soon enough…Whatever he had done, the calm way he said it made my stomach twist with dread the entire way there.

By the time I reached the organization's base, my nerves were completely frayed, bracing myself for chaos or to see something visibly wrong.

I half expected to find the gates surrounded by emergency vehicles, or the building itself reduced to rubble the same way the Ricci mansion had been reduced overnight.

But nothing seemed out of place.

I stepped inside and slowed my pace, confused by what I saw around me. Everyone was moving through the hallways exactly as they always did, going about their usual tasks without any sense of urgency at all.

There was no panic or frantic energy. Just the ordinary rhythm of the base functioning like any other day, staff members nodding politely as I passed, none of them showing any hint of distress.

I frowned, my confusion deepening with every step I took further into the base. Maybe I had misread his tone and nothing had actually happened yet, and my father's words had simply been an idle threat meant to shake me.

I made my way toward the elevator and rode it up to the top floor, where Ethan's private suite was located. My heart pounded the entire ride up, uncertainty gnawing at me despite the calm atmosphere I had just walked through downstairs.

When I reached his door, I knocked, my knuckles rapping sharply against the wood.

Ethan opened it a moment later, and the second I saw his face, my stomach dropped.

His expression was set into something I had never seen on him before. There was a deep and heavy worry etched into every line of his face, his usually composed demeanor completely stripped away in front of me.

"What happened?" I asked anxiously, my voice already filled with alarm.

He didn't answer. He simply turned and walked back into the room, leaving the door open behind him, his shoulders slumped in a way that told me whatever this was, it was serious enough to break through his usual composure entirely.

I stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind me, following him further into the suite, my heart pounding harder with every step.

"Ethan," I called to him, my voice firmer this time. "What's wrong? You're scaring me right now."

He let out a long, heavy sigh, running a hand down his face, exhaustion visible in every movement he made.

I had never seen him like this. Ethan was always composed, always steady, no matter what crisis landed on his desk. He had weathered attacks, betrayals, and losses before without ever losing his footing. Watching him struggle to even form words now made my anxiety spike even higher.

I watched silently as he crossed the room to the small bar cabinet against the wall. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured himself a glass, his movements slow and deliberate, like he was buying himself time before saying whatever needed to be said. Then he tipped his head back and downed the entire glass in one go, not even flinching at the burn.

He set the empty glass down on the center table with a soft clink, and finally turned to look at me, his expression twisted with a mix of different emotions.

"Your father bombed one of our training centers," he said with a calm but firm tone, his words stopping me in my tracks.

I froze completely and my whole body went rigid. His words kept replaying in my head like a broken record.

My mind raced instantly to the new recruits currently at the facility. We had just taken in a large group of them recently, all of them still going through active training at that exact facility, young and eager, most barely out of their teens, still learning the basics before they were ever sent on real missions.

"Did they get out in time?" I asked, my voice shaking with deep worry. "The recruits, did they make it out?"

Ethan looked at me, his jaw tight, and slowly shook his head, his expression telling me everything before he even spoke a single word.

My chest tightened painfully, dread pooling low in my stomach as I braced myself for whatever number was about to come next.

"How many?" I whispered.

He hesitated for a long moment before answering, like the number itself was too heavy to say out loud.

"Two hundred," he said finally. "Two hundred new recruits died in the explosion. There was nothing left of the training center by the time our people arrived."

The number hit me like a physical blow. I stumbled back slightly, my hand pressing against my mouth as tears immediately welled up in my eyes, my legs threatening to give out beneath me.

Two hundred people…Young men and women who had signed up for a chance at something better, who had trusted this organization to train them, protect them, give them a future they might not have found anywhere else.

All of them were gone in an instant, because of my father's need for control, because Ethan's organization stood in the way of something he wanted.

I couldn't hold back the tears any longer. They spilled down my cheeks freely as the weight of it all crashed over me, my breath coming in short, uneven gasps.

How far would he go? How many lives was he willing to sacrifice just to eliminate a threat to his empire? I already knew he had burned an entire family alive without blinking. But somehow, hearing about two hundred innocent recruits still managed to shock me all over again, in a way I hadn't expected after everything else I had already learned today.

Ethan watched me for a moment, his own eyes glistening with barely restrained anger, his jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscle moving beneath his skin.

"I want to start making plans to retaliate," he said, his voice hardening with resolve. "I won't stay silent just because Benjamin happens to be your father, Eva. Two hundred of my people are dead… I owe them justice, whatever it costs, whatever it takes to make this right."

I nodded slowly, wiping the tears from my face with the back of my hand, steadying myself despite the storm of emotions still churning inside me.

Grief for the recruits I never even got to meet and a deep burning anger toward my father. And something else too, a resolve settling deep into my chest.

"I understand," I said quietly. "You should retaliate against him…He needs to face the consequences of his actions. Two hundred lives can't just be wasted without him answering for it."

Ethan studied me for a long moment, something shifting in his expression. He crossed the room slowly until he was standing directly in front of me, close enough that I had to tilt my head slightly to keep eye contact with him, and he was close enough that I could feel the tension radiating off him in waves.

His gaze locked onto mine, intense and unwavering, searching my face for something, like he was trying to see through my emotions.

"I need to know something, Eva," he said, his voice low and serious. "And I need you to be completely honest with me when you answer. Do not hesitate or soften it to spare my feelings."

"What is it?" I asked, my heart pounding harder now, already sensing what was coming.

"Are you with me," he asked slowly, "or are you on your father's side? Because after everything that's happened tonight, I need to know exactly where you stand before we move forward with anything. I can't afford any uncertainty, not with this many lives already lost."

The question hung heavy in the air between us, the weight of it pressing down hard on my chest.

I didn't even need to think about it, as there was no hesitation or internal debate needed. The answer had already been decided long before tonight, long before any of these revelations about my father came to light.

I closed the remaining distance between us and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, pulling him into an embrace, holding on like he was the only steady thing left in a world that had just turned completely upside down.

"I have always been on your side," I said against his shoulder, my voice thick with emotion. "Always…No matter what he does, no matter what else comes out about my past, that will never change.”