Chapter 119 Chapter 119
Chapter 119
By the time Ethan got back to the penthouse, the city had already settled into the quiet hours of the night.
The drive home had been automatic. He didn’t remember most of it. His mind had stayed behind, somewhere between the hospital room and the moment Celine looked at him after his confession.
That image refused to leave him. The way she didn’t speak immediately. The way her eyes searched his like she was trying to understand something bigger than the words themselves.
He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him with a soft click.
The apartment was gloomy, untouched, exactly how he had left it earlier. The silence felt different tonight. Not peaceful. Just empty.
He loosened his tie as he walked further in, his shoulders carrying a tiredness that had nothing to do with work. His shirt still had faint stains on it, marks he hadn’t even thought about while he was at the hospital.
For a moment, he just stood there.
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
The screen lit up immediately.
A new message.
His eyes dropped to it casually at first, but the moment he saw the sender’s name, something in him stilled.
Amelia.
His jaw tightened slightly before he even opened it.
A part of him already knew whatever she sent wouldn’t be normal.
He tapped the message.
Hope she died.
For a second, his brain didn’t process it.
The words sat there, simple, direct, cruel in a way that didn’t try to hide itself. No explanation. No disguise. Just intent.
Then it hit.
His grip on the phone tightened without him realizing it.
How did she know?
The question came first, sharp and immediate.
He hadn’t told anyone outside the hospital staff and security. Celine’s condition hadn’t been public. There was no announcement, no report, nothing that should have reached Amelia this quickly.
Unless she already knew.
Unless she had been watching.
Unless…
Ethan’s thoughts shifted fast, connecting things he had tried to separate before.
The visitor at the gate.
The repeated attempts to access Celine’s information.
The proxy requests.
The accident.
His chest rose slowly as he took a breath, but it didn’t calm anything.
Was it really an accident?
The idea settled into his mind in a way that didn’t feel like speculation.
It felt like truth.
Amelia had found Celine.
And she hadn’t stopped there.
Ethan looked back at the message, reading it again as if it might change.
It didn’t.
Hope she died.
There was no misunderstanding in that.
No room to soften it.
He felt the anger then.
Not loud. Not explosive.
Controlled.
But deep.
His thumb hovered over the screen as he opened the chat. Words formed immediately in his mind, sharp and direct, the kind he would never take back once sent.
He wanted to ask her how she knew.
He wanted to demand answers.
He wanted to warn her.
For a split second, he almost typed.
Then he stopped.
His hand lowered slowly.
No.
That was exactly what she wanted.
A reaction.
Proof she still had access to him.
Proof she could still shake him.
Ethan locked the phone instead, the screen going dark in his hand.
He didn’t respond.
Not because he didn’t have anything to say.
But because he had already said enough to her in the past.
And she had never listened.
He dropped the phone on the table and walked toward the bedroom, his steps slower now, more deliberate.
Inside, he pulled off his shirt, tossing it aside without a second thought before heading straight into the shower.
The water ran over him, steady and cold at first before turning warm. He stood there longer than usual, letting it hit his face, his shoulders, his back.
But it didn’t clear his mind.
If anything, it made everything sharper.
Images replayed whether he wanted them to or not.
Celine in the car, unconscious.
The faint blood near her temple.
Her voice when she woke up, asking about everyone else before herself.
The way she said his name.
The way she looked at him when he told her he loved her.
And now this.
Amelia’s message sitting in his phone like a confirmation he hadn’t asked for.
He leaned one hand against the wall, lowering his head slightly as the water continued to run.
He had underestimated her.
That was the truth.
He had treated her like a problem he could manage quietly.
Like something that could be handled with distance and control.
But Amelia wasn’t something that stayed in boundaries.
She crossed them.
Again and again.
And now Celine had been caught in it.
Ethan shut off the water and stepped out, grabbing a towel and running it through his hair quickly before getting dressed.
When he walked back into the room, his phone was still where he left it.
The message still there.
Unanswered.
He picked it up again, staring at the screen for a moment.
Still nothing from her after that.
No follow-up.
No explanation.
Just that one line.
He exhaled slowly and set the phone down again, this time more carefully.
Sam was already asleep in the guest room. Ethan could tell from the quiet and the closed door as he passed by earlier. Normally, Sam would have been in the living room, making noise, saying something unnecessary just to fill the space.
Tonight, there was none of that.
And Ethan didn’t wake him.
There was nothing Sam could say right now that would change anything.
Ethan walked toward the window, stopping just short of it as he looked out at the city below.
Everything looked normal from up here.
Cars moving.
Lights on.
People living their lives without interruption.
But somewhere in that same city, someone had just wished for another person to die.
And meant it.
His jaw tightened slightly as the thought settled in.
He replayed Amelia’s voice in his head, the way she used to speak, the way she used to twist things, push boundaries, make everything about control. He had seen it before. Experienced it firsthand.
But this was different.
This wasn’t about him anymore.
This was about Celine.
And that changed everything.
He ran a hand through his hair again, pacing once across the room before stopping.
Sleep wasn’t coming.
He already knew that.
His mind refused to slow down, moving from one thought to another, each one leading to the same conclusion.
This wasn’t over.
Not even close.
He had wanted to handle things quietly before.
Avoid attention.
Keep everything contained.
But that approach had already failed.
Celine got hurt anyway.
Ethan glanced back at his phone one more time, then looked away.
He wasn’t going to respond to Amelia tonight.
Not like this.
Not with anger.
Not with words she could twist or use.
If she wanted a reaction, she wouldn’t get it through a message.
He would handle it differently.
Properly.
His gaze returned to the city, his thoughts finally settling into something steady.
Not calm.
But clear.
He wasn’t going to wait for her next move.
He wasn’t going to sit back and hope things didn’t escalate further.
He wasn’t going to risk Celine again.
The hesitation he had before was gone now.
Replaced by something else.
Something more certain.
He turned away from the window and walked back toward the room, his steps measured.
Whatever Amelia thought she was doing…
It ended here.
And this time, he wasn’t stepping back.