$5000?
Ethan looked at the paper at his feet and saw what she had given him. Anger coursed through him. Was this how she had always seen him? as nothing more than the pauper she married.He was convinced now that their marriage had been a joke. Ethan gritted, "Don't insult me, Bella."She didn't uncross her arms over her chest, and neither did she take the money back. “You can take the house. I'm willing to part with it for your sake.""I don't need your money! I just need an explanation. Why did you show up on the altar three years ago?"Ethan had given up so much to be the man she wanted him to be. His parents had opposed their marriage because they hated her family. They were rivals, but that was something Bella never knew.He had abandoned home to be with her, and just three years later, she was in the arms of another man, slapping it in his face that he had no money."Because it was the right thing to do. I loved you, Ethan."He felt like an even bigger fool when she used the past tense. This was the end.His heart ached. "You know we were good."Marco held Bella close as he shouted, "Security!"Ethan’s eyes locked with hers for the last time. He didn’t know what he thought he would find there. Remorse? A little bit of regret that she had just thrown everything they had together away?The resort’s security finally caught up with him. Hands grabbed him roughly. Ethan tried to fight to be free, but it was of no use. He looked over his shoulder, and the last thing he saw was Marco and Bella lip-locking again.“Let me go!” He shouted at the security guard’s manhandling of him.They tossed him out of the resort in a lump. The gates shut in his face. When Ethan angrily kicked the bars of the locked gate and turned around, he came face-to-face with Beckham.His eyes scanned the two black cars that were before him now and the gloves his brother-in-law—the former one—currently wore.“What are you doing here?” He snarled, making his way past them, like they hadn’t come for him.It was possible, but Ethan knew that look in Beckham’s eyes well. Things were about to get ugly.Beckham stood in his path. “Not yet, in-law. We have unfinished business.”“You threw me out of my own home. Drenched me in wine and split my marriage—““Bella left you.” An evil smirk played on his face. “My mother and I had no hand in your failure, Ethan.”Ethan pursed his lips in anger. “What do you want from me this time?"Beckham looked over his shoulder, signaling to the men in black behind him. Ethan watched them come forward. He still remained at a spot, not knowing whether choosing not to run was the cowardly move.“Well, Ethan. I must teach you a lesson. Just a small one, though."Beckham stepped forward, placing a cold hand on his shoulder. “You see, all rats need to be cut off the right way."A punch landed on his face before he knew it. Ethan stumbled from the force of it, almost falling to the side. He held his face, taking steps back from them as they cornered him.The men Beckham came with grabbed him, leading him to the second car. They tossed him in the back seat and slipped in after him, caging him in the center.Then, the carcade moved out of the premises.With a busted lip, Ethan eyed the men flanking him on the car seat. “Get it done already.”“Any last words, rat?" The man on the left grabbed him by the nape of his hair, exposing his neck.The pain in his scalp was unbearable, but they hadn’t even started with him yet, and Ethan knew it. He braced himself.He also spat in the man’s face. “Piss off!”A punch in his gut was his response, and more followed. They beat him to a pulp, and he could do nothing about it. Ethan hadn’t even gotten one hit for himself. He was outnumbered.a while later. The car stopped moving. Ethan could only keep one eye halfway open. Blood coated his face. His bones weren’t in place. He thought he would die.Someone opened the door. The men dropped down. Beckham stood at the entrance, bending his head to peer into the space.“I know my sister offered you her mansion, but you will not take it. You also won’t be taking this.” Beckham shook the check before him.“Was this really all for nothing?” Ethan pitifully managed to form his sentences; he had even lost a tooth. “I wasn’t even planning on taking a dime from Bella.”“Liar.” Beckham wore a fascinated smile. “You’d starve without your beloved wife. Cabbage cutting can’t pay the bills, in law, because the bills are always plenty.”“And 5000 dollars is supposed to?” Ethan couldn’t even scowl; his face hurt.Beckham sighed like he was in a conversation with a fool. “Technically, you’d have a house under your name. That changes everything."“I don’t want to have anything to do with you monsters. You and your sister can go to hell!"“No, Ethan. You are the only one heading there,” Beckham said, landing the last punch that had Ethan’s world blacking out.When he awakened, it was past midnight. He raised his head, noticing that this was his workplace. The back alleyEthan couldn’t stand. He had to crawl to leave the alley, get to the street, and find help. It took him a while, but he was determined to survive.He finally made it. However, he was weak. He lay on the edge of the wall, looking at the cars passing on the two-lane road. Time stopped as he watched.Until suddenly, a fleet of black cars stopped before him on the curb—even more than the numbers Beckham had come to kidnap him with.Ethan raised his scared eyes at the man in a suit who approached him. This fleet was his.“Who…Who…are you?” Ethan said in a weak voice, his eyelids drooping tiredly. He had no fight left inside him.But then the man bowed before him. “Young Master, your loyal servant has come to take you home.”Ethan stirred awake. The beep of the monitor at his side constantly annoyed him, like a damned alarm clock. He wanted to smash it in, but he assumed the hospital wouldn't like that.He sucked in a breath. Flashes of the beating he had received came back to him. He shut his good eye for a moment, banishing the painful memory."Young master."Ethan shot his eye open, glancing at the foot of his bed. Men stood there in a row. All their heads lowered, including the man in the suit who was beside his bed now."Who are you, people?" His eyes narrowed at all of them."My name is Damian Carter. I serve your family. I serve you."Ethan looked away. "I don't have a family anymore.""I do not speak of Bella Harrison, Young Master." There was an edge to Damian's voice when he said her name. It was good to know that they shared a mutual hatred for the heiress."I know what you speak of, Damian Carter, but my answer is still the same. I do not have a family," Ethan gritted, holding his stare."Your
Ethan was speechless. Looking back, he was the rightful heir to the Walton dynasty, but his father had disowned him. Of course, Ethan regretted his decision to marry Bella Harrison against his father’s wishes. Yet it still didn’t mean he would be overjoyed about this news.His uncle held out the papers to him. Everything about his inheritance was stated right there. Ethan took it, just because seeing the man’s shaking hands crushed his heart.“What am I supposed to do with all of this, uncle?”“Become Master Walton. Your father’s rightful successor.” Aaron cleared his throat, struggling to stand from his wheelchair. “Listen, Ethan.”His nephew nodded, showing that he was all ears, and Aaron closed his uncast hand in his, continuing, “I have no children. My only son died years ago. If I’m to leave this world without correcting the mistake my brother made, then I would be the most evil man to have ever lived.”Ethan lowered his head, unsure. “It’s been three years. What if I don’t have
A hundred billion dollars?"Ethan came from money. He had grown up with a silver spoon, having everything he wanted delivered to him. But the past three years broke him.It broke him to the extent that seeing such an amount of money drove him into shock.His eyes popped as he stared for minutes at his phone, unbelieving of the number of zeros present there."Do you think your father and I didn't know how badly that bitch and her family treated you?" The skin underneath Aaron's eye twitched.His family had known everything. Yet it was his choice to leave, so they could only watch how pathetic he had become from the sidelines."I'm not surprised, uncle. You both tend to always know everything." Ethan narrowed his eyes at his uncle."Well, it's in the past," he said, patting his arm. "This gesture was just pocket money for you. Nothing compares to this zillion-dollar dynasty, which could be yours.""I gave you my word.""Your word means little against action."Ethan spread his arms, gest
“Nadia? Are you okay?” Ethan reached for her in the passenger seat.Both their airbags popped in front of them. Ethan breathed fine when he noticed there wasn't a scratch on her head. He winced while thinking of the car his uncle had given him.It was his first day home, and he had already walked on thin ice. Ethan got down. He went around the car, noticing the slightly crumpled side, before helping Nadia out. Luckily, there wasn't any smoke coming out of the engines.Everything was fine, save for egos.The Phantom’s driver acknowledged the crowd they attracted. Their collision blocked the entire route. He stepped down, pulling off his sunglasses.“You should be on your knees right now.”Ethan glanced at the 5’11 man with lanky arms. His arrogance stinked like sewage. The man reminded him of Beckham.“It wasn’t a red light yet. You ran into us,” Ethan defended, stepping in front of Nadia as the protector in him came into the limelight.The man smirked, giving him a condescending once-
The guy raised his hands in surrender, and Nadia saw her chance to scramble away from him. She ran into Ethan's arms, holding him tight.Ethan said against her hair in a hushed voice, "I'm certain your uncle assigned you security. Walk to the car and trigger the alarm.""I will kill you for this," the guy screamed with his hands locked behind his head.He shot the other wall beside the guy and said in the voice of a psycho, "You are testing my patience, and it won't end well. I promise."Five minutes later, more cars pulled into the driveway. Uncle Aaron had sent help.Ethan walked out of the building just as Nadia's security entered.He told them. "Make him suffer."They nodded in understanding.Nadia met him at the bottom of the stairs. Tears had ruined her makeup, and she looked horrible. He took out his napkin, wiping her face clean."No one will ever harm you again, Nadia," his voice lowered, "I promise."She sobbed. "He was my boyfriend.""Well, now he's a dead man."Ethan grabb
Barren?The words replayed in his head like the saddest nursery rhyme alive. He had no clue that she couldn’t bear children. Bella had always talked about how she wanted a big family someday.I thought Ethan had been patient with her. He never tried to rush things or force her to do anything she didn’t feel comfortable doing.His mind wasn’t with him. Memories from his past marriage haunted him. He pressed the gas, going above the speed limit as he drove aimlessly on the highways.Anyone who saw him now would think he had a death wish, but how else could he deal with this double betrayal?When his line of thought refused to change, Ethan settled for dissecting the current situation.The Suarez’s seemed like they valued family a whole lot. Arranged marriages were made to strengthen alliances, but those alliances only became solid rocks once a baby came into the picture.If she didn’t tell him about it, then there was no chance in hell she could have told Marco about it. This was Bella’
Quietly, Ethan slipped back outside. He hastened his steps and reached Marco’s bedroom on time. And then he planted the brown envelope with Bella’s hospital reports inside his dresser.He didn’t want to think about the situation he had just witnessed. It gave him a hard headache. What a mess!Just as he came, Ethan returned to the crowd downstairs, acting like he hadn’t just snuck his way into the couple’s bedroom without an invitation.There was a slight problem. Nadia wouldn’t be able to accomplish her part of the task at hand. It made him restless because all of this would be pointless if Marco didn’t end up reading the report.Someone blocked his path, causing him to scowl at the familiar face.“Bored of your new life already, Bella?”She glowered at him. “Are you out of your mind? How dare you bring a whore into my home?”He was mad in a split second. No one had the right to speak about Nadia in that manner, especially a woman whose moral compass was definitely on the wrong side.
“How dare you treat Uncle Ethan like that? After all that he has done for you, Bella, you had the guts to treat him like a piece of trash. Why do you enjoy playing with people's emotions?” Nadia fired back at Bella as Ethan tried pulling her out of the scene.“Baby girl, you are still a kid. I'll urge you to keep your mouth shut and mind your business. This is about me and Ethan and none of your business."All the crowds who were gathered at the event for Marco's birthday gave them their full attention, as they were all trying to get the full story behind Ethan and Bella's separation.Sensing the tension building, Ethan attempted to diffuse the situation. Pulling gently at Nadia's arm, he encouraged her to leave the situation. "Nadia, let's keep this calm.He glanced worriedly at the interested bystanders and murmured, "We can talk about this later.But Nadia was not about to concede. "No, Ethan! It’s high time I taught Bella that she is not the only one who can run her mouth. I canno
Just right at the scene as they were arguing and all, Jacob was so fast in informing the cops about the whole situation He just could not stand by, watching without doing nothing Just as Marco was about to start beating Bella up, the sound of sirens was heard and Aaron immediately separated them knowing fully well that the cops were nearbyBut to their surprise, the cops were not just nearby but they were actually coming for them"Everyone, freeze! And drop your weapons!" The police in charge immediately orderedBut unfortunately for Aaron, even though he was stabbed in the hand, he was the only one holding a weapon which was a bat at the moment.And of course, he did drop it but then he was the first one the cops arrested,Jacob who called the cops immediately informed them that the one who kidnapped a little girl just like he has explained to them earlier on the phone was Bella and Aaron.After arresting Aaron, the cops also arrested Bella and they were taken away.Marco broke dow
162"Bella, I can explain. It's not really what you think" Marco gently pushed Natasha off him and tried to apologize but before he could do that, Bella punched him on the face and suddenly pounced on himPunching him and hitting him like there is no other chance for her to do that.When Aaron noticed that Bella was rather punching him too hard, he immediately walked over to where they were even though his hand was hurting like hell and he managed to separate them before Bella would actually kill Marco.He is a guy but at least everyone should agree that Bella is quite the strong femaleshe was panting heavily, trying to release herself from Aaron's grip like she has lost her mind or something but Aaron did not give up on herHe kept on holding her so tight because he knows that she could actually bite Marco ears off if they are not careful.Marco sighed as he stood up and then everyone thought he would actually go on his knees one more time like he has done before but this time, Marc
161Marco did not care what was going on between Ethan and Bella even though he saw them talking, he immediately walked over to where they were standing and immediately turned Ethan over to himself "Bella!" He called sternly.Bella turned to look at him with a frown on his face and took few steps away from him"What do you want from me?" She asked"Hey" Marco said again and sighed "What in the came over you? Why have you changed so much?" He asked and Bella scoffed"What in the world are you talking about? I have always been like this" she replied him bluntly "That is not possible, you are Bella. You don't kidnap people, especially Kids so tell me what is wrong with you" he asked with so much concern and worry"And why the fuck do you care?" Bella rolled her eyes like she was being burdened "By the way, didn't I tell you not to talk to me again? We literally have no business together anymore " she said and turned to go but Marco grabbed her back by her wrist"Stop it Bella. You can
160Both Ethan and Marco ganged up against Aaron and started to hit him so hard that Aaron pretended to have given up.They gave up on beating him and just as they were about to leave, Aaron suddenly stood up and suddenly dragged Marco back and started to hit him so hard.Ethan felt so bad for Marco for the first time He was actually dragged here in the first place and now he is the one Aaron is hitting He could not just stand there watching without doing anything so he looked around and found a piece of broken bottles on the floor.He took the bottles on the floor and suddenly stabbed Aaron with it on his arm before he would kill Marco Aaron yelled out in pain as he immediately covered the bleeding part with his palm, however he seems to be bleeding so badly but Ethan did not care a bit.He stretched his hand forward to Marco and helped him stand on his feet"Thanks man " Marco thanked him.Back to Bella and Anita, this time they were no more pulling each other's hairWhen Anita n
159On hearing voices coming out from the warehouse, they all hid as they just could not understand why voices will be heard in a warehouse.This is a company's warehouse, it is supposed to be only a building for goods so would be in there and why this time unless they are here to steal something.As they all hid behind the wall,Marco knew that he was hearing a voice which definitely sounded like Bella's "Wait a minute, that is Bella's " he arched his brow and has he tried to move forward to check if he was mistaken or not, Ethan pulled him back"Are you crazy? Where do you think you are going?" He asked but Marco jerked his hands off"Let go of me you crazy psycho. I told you several times not to do that again, don't talk to me like we are friends or like you care " He glared at Ethan"And do you think I actually give a fuck about you? I am just asking because I am so worried about the rest of us. What if you making a rash move eventually let those psychos hurt Nadia?" Ethan clenche
Chapter 158The night was dark and the warehouse loomed ominously in the distance as Jacob and his gang approached cautiously. They had tracked Bella's phone to this location and believed that she might be held captive inside. Under the cover of darkness, they found a hiding spot nearby and waited, hoping to catch a glimpse of the perpetrators or hear any clues that might lead them to Bella.Hours went by, and the silence was deafening. The only sound was the distant hum of the city and the rustling of the wind. Jacob and his friends strained their ears, trying to pick up any faint noise that could give away the location of Bella. But all they heard was the eerie quiet of the night.Suddenly, they saw a group of shadowy figures exit the warehouse and quickly disappear into the darkness. Jacob and his gang knew it was their chance to act. They split into groups and slowly made their way inside the warehouse, keeping their senses sharp and their eyes peeled for any sign of Bella.As the
Chapter 157As the call with Bella ended abruptly, Ethan's skepticism lingered in the quiet aftermath. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss, that the suddenness of Bella's dismissal held untold secrets. Turning to Jacob, a note of disbelief colored his words. "That was too quick. Did you manage to pinpoint her location?" he inquired, his gaze searching for answers in the uncertainty that loomed over them.Jacob, consumed by the task at hand, offered a faint nod. "I'm still working on it. Let's hold on to hope. We'll find her," he reassured, his fingers flying across the keyboard in a race against time. The anticipation in the air was palpable, a sense of urgency driving their collective pursuit of Bella's whereabouts.Meanwhile, Ethan redirected his focus to Marco, the tension between them hanging heavy in the air. "Why did Bella react that way towards you?" he prodded, a thread of curiosity weaving through his words. Marco, his patience wearing thin, shot back with
Chapter 156The tension in the room was palpable as Jacob suggested to Marco that he should call Bella. Marco's eyes were clouded with worry, uncertainty gripping his heart at the thought of reaching out to her. However, Jacob's reassuring words urged him to take a leap of faith. "You should call her, Marco. Don't worry about what she might say. We need to find out where she is," Jacob urged, his voice laced with determination.The room seemed to pulse with an energy of its own as Jacob’s suggestion hung in the air, heavy with possibilities. Marco’s heart thudded in his chest, the weight of uncertainty settling over him like a shroud. Jacob stood by with a steadying presence, his gaze unwavering as he encouraged Marco to take the leap and contact Bella.Anita, who had been listening intently, spoke up. "We should give it a try, Marco. If Bella doesn't pick up, I can call her with my own number. She doesn't have it, so she might answer." Her suggestion brought a glimmer of hope to the
Chapter 155Anita and Ethan's hearts pounded as they confronted Jacob about the phone found in his possession. The phone belonged to Nadia, Ethan's precious daughter who had been kidnapped days ago. Jacob's expression shifted from surprise to fear as they demanded answers from him."Why do you have Nadia's phone, Jacob?" Ethan's voice was laced with anger and desperation.Jacob stammered, trying to explain, "I-I swear, I didn't kidnap her! I don't know how her phone ended up with me, I found it near the park."Anita's eyes narrowed, suspicions rising. "You expect us to believe that? Nadia's been missing for days, and her phone mysteriously shows up with you?"Ethan's hands clenched into fists, his rage bubbling over. "Where is she, Jacob? Tell us!"At that moment, Marco, Jacob's brother, stepped forward hesitantly. "I think I know what might have happened," he said, his voice shaking.All eyes turned to Marco as he spoke. "It wasn't Jacob who took Nadia. It was Bella."Ethan's brow fu