Something is wrong

The next time Ethan opened his eyes, he found out he was in an abandoned cabin and was saved by Olivia Pearson and her friend Mandy Stone.

They had witnessed what had happened to him, and shockingly, after knowing it was Daniel, one of the Sullen heirs, they still decided to help him.

He was unconscious for three days before he woke up. 

Now, it had been many weeks since he was rescued by the two friends, and finally, he was healing.

He had broken many bones and suffered from a huge blood loss, but was nursed back to health secretly by a doctor.

He had a swollen left eye, which slightly disfigured his face, making it a little difficult to frown while noticing Olivia pacing in front of him. 

During the time he had woken up, the two of them had drawn close and even shared a mild attraction towards each other.

He had also learned a thing or two about her family.

The Pearsons were a middle-class family, always wanting to stick with the higher-ups, and the head of the family was Olivia's grandma, Hannah.

Hannah was as ruthless as Jordan in terms of their children and grandchildren, but that was the only thing they had in common.

Jordan was upright, while Hannah was cunning and would do anything to get her company to grow.

The Pearsons were one of the small, leading fashion houses in country X.

She was related to the Pearsons by adoption, through her mother, who never once agreed to take her husband's name and insisted on staying in one of the Pearsons' family houses.

The reason being, her mother was never a pearson, but was adopted into the pearson's family by her grandma, Hannah.

They had always been ridiculed because of this, making them the "black sheep" of the family, thus making her mother and younger sister cling to their grandma and always try to please her and the rest of the family.

"Olivia," he called, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Is something wrong?" 

"I'm afraid so," she said solemnly. "My mother and sister are on to me, and it would only be a matter of time before they find out about you."

Surprise crossed his features, causing him to pale slightly.

He knew something was bound to happen sooner rather than later. As Olivia was never trusted in the family, due to her intelligence, and the fact that she, an outsider, got a position in the pearson's family business.

He was recovering very fast; all his broken bones seemed to have healed, but he couldn't exert much pressure on them.

If he was thrown out, he was going to die for real this time, and no one would help him.

He was now a beggar in the eyes of many people, and no one would be willing to help a beggar. 

He had no clothes and no money with him.

Everything he had was at the Jordans', including his documents, and without those, he could not get a job anywhere; more so, he was so sure that Sasha would have thought that he was already dead.

If he were to go back now, he was going to die by her hands for real this time, and in broad daylight.

"Don't worry, Ethan; I thought of a plan that would get them off my back briefly, and that should be enough time for you to be properly healed." She explained, waving her hands in front of her and trying to assure him, seeing as his face was extremely pale.

"Are your mother and sister that much trouble?" He asked, his heart beating with unease.

"Don't worry, Ethan; as I said, I won't let anything happen to you; I gave you my word, and I don't intend to go back on it," Olivia reassured him, causing him to sigh and slowing his beating heart, only calming him a little.

"Thank you for helping me."

"It's no problem, I would have helped anyone in that position as you."

Suddenly, a knock broke through, causing them both to freeze.

They held their breaths in, none of them making a sound, as sweat formed on their foreheads and dripped down their backs.

Knock, knock!

The knocks came persistently at the door. 

"Are you expecting anyone?" Ethan whispered, his eyes trained on the door and staring at it like it was death knocking on the door itself.

"No, let me check it out; it might just be Mandy," Olivia suggested, still whispering as she made her way to the door.

No one knew of this place aside from her family and Mandy.

Surely her mother and sister wouldn't have found out so quickly, would they?

Seeing her movements, Ethan stood up abruptly from the bed, yanked her wrist, and pulled her back.

"What if it isn't Mandy?" Ethan asked in dread, his grip on her wrist subconsciously growing tighter, causing her to wince in pain.

He quickly released her. "Sorry," he muttered, dropping his hands to the side.

She ignored him and wobbled to the door, her hands shaking as she reached for the door's handle.

"Who is it?" She asked boldly, causing the persistent knocks to die.

"It's a delivery service; one Mandy Stone asked me to send a drink to Olivia Pearson." A female voice came from the other side of the door, causing them both to exhale in relief.

She opened the door with a crack, peeping through the tiny gap she made with the opened door.

A lady wearing a white shirt and a delivery cap stood at the door with annoyance written all over her face, and she looked like she would rather be anywhere but here.

Seeing as there was no one else aside from the delivery girl at the door, Olivia opened the door.

"Am I at the right place?" The delivery girl asked.

"Yes, and I am sorry for wasting your time." She apologized.

"Whatever, just take this; I have to leave." The delivery girl said, shoving the wrapped drink into Olivia's hands and leaving hurriedly.

"Wait!" Olivia ran after her. "You didn't get my signature!" She yelled, but the delivery girl had already zoomed off with her bike.

She found it weird that the delivery girl had left just like that, but she shrugged it off and walked back to the cabin, holding the drink high in the air.

"Mandy sent this." She told Ethan, already setting a glass for him and pouring out the drink. "But why would she send is a drink?" She asked herself.

"Here," Olivia said, passing Ethan the drink.

"Thank you." He thanked her, bringing the glass to his lips.

She waved him off, bringing her glass to her lips. She laughed, seeing as he blushed while pouring himself another glass of the drink.

Her laugh made him blush even deeper, and he cursed his heart for beating so fast without his permission.

After a few glasses, however, something went wrong.

They began noticing something weird was happening as they both began to feel very hot and couldn't stop blushing.

"Something is wrong." Ethan scowled.

"Why do I feel so hot all of a sudden?" Olivia voiced that she was feeling a tingling sensation all over her body. 

Her question made both their eyes fall on the drink, their hearts beat wild, and their faces pale slightly as realisation set in.

"It's the drink!" Ethan scorned.

They had been set up, but by whom? Was it Mandy?

Olivia squirmed in her seat, slowly loosening the straps of her blouse.

Ethan had it worse, as he had been the one to have drank the most.

He tried all he could to restrain himself, and he had been enduring it, but seeing Olivia in front of him, stripping unconsciously, made all restraint fly out the window.

He pounced on her like a predator taking his prey, swallowing her screams and muzzling them with his lips pressed against hers.

A passionate kiss was shared between the two, followed by the tearing of clothes.

"Ah!"

She cried as tears leaked from her eyes, seeing as Ethan took her ruthlessly.

"Stop, it hurts!" 

She screamed trying to push him off her but her efforts were futile.

No one would ever have known that Ethan could be this ruthless until today, and this continued like this, from evening until the next day.

The next day, Ethan opened his eyes, and he was in a panic. 

The memories of what happened last night flooded his brain, her cries and pleas for mercy, her resistance, haunting him even during the day.

He picked his torn clothes off the floor and scrambled to the door, not daring to take a look at her.

He dashed into the streets, his chest heaving but never stopping for a second.

Tears poured out of his eyes as he cursed himself with every foul word he could think of.

In his haste, he failed to notice the group of black cars that had been silently trailing after him until he ran head-on into one of the cars and lost consciousness.

"Master Ethan!"

He heard faintly before giving into the darkness that consumed him.