UNDER THE ASHES

The Phone Call

The rain beat down harder, soaking through Ethan’s clothes, but he barely noticed. His hand trembled as he held the phone, water dripping from his fingers. He stared at the glowing screen, hesitation tightening his chest. He had never thought he’d have to make this call. Not like this.

He pressed the number and lifted the phone to his ear, waiting as it rang. Once. Twice. Each second felt like an eternity. The storm raged around him, but inside, he was quiet, tense, as if time had slowed to a crawl.

Finally, a click. A deep voice answered, calm and controlled.

“Young Master.”

Ethan’s breath caught. He hadn’t heard that voice in years.

“Is it… really you?” Ethan asked, his voice shaky, almost a whisper. 

“It’s me,” the voice replied, steady, unshaken by the chaos of the storm or the years that had passed. “I’ve been waiting for your call.”

Ethan swallowed hard, his eyes darting around the empty street as though someone might be listening. “I… I didn’t think I’d ever have to do this.”

The man on the other end didn’t pause. “What has happened, Young Master? Why now?”

Ethan hesitated. His heart pounded in his chest, the events of the night playing over and over in his mind. Lucas’s sneering face. Sophia’s cold words. The pain in his side from being thrown out of his own house.

“They took everything,” Ethan finally said, his voice tight with anger. “Sophia… Lucas… they… I’ve lost it all.”

The voice on the other end stayed silent for a moment, as if weighing Ethan’s words. When he spoke again, his tone was low and controlled. “Not everything, Young Master. Not yet.”

Ethan blinked, confused. “What do you mean? I’m standing here, soaked to the bone, in the middle of a storm. I have nowhere to go. What’s left?”

“You have me,” the man said simply. “And you have the power they never knew about.”

Ethan’s mind raced. “Power? What power? I—"

“You’ve been hiding it, but it’s there,” the man interrupted. “You were never just a husband, never just a part of their world. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”

Ethan’s hand tightened around the phone, the weight of the conversation pressing down on him. He hadn’t thought about it in years, the truth he had buried deep inside. The life he had walked away from.

“I… I don’t want that,” Ethan said, his voice barely audible. “I left all that behind.”

“But now, it’s time to come back,” the man replied, his voice firm. “You can’t ignore who you are anymore. They’ve pushed you to this.”

Ethan closed his eyes, the rain running down his face like tears. His mind flashed back to Sophia’s mocking smile, the way Lucas had laughed as he threw him out. 

They had made him feel small, powerless. But now, this voice—the one he had turned his back on—was telling him he had something they couldn’t touch.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that,” Ethan whispered.

“You don’t have a choice,” the man said, his tone softening just slightly. “This is your path. You’ve been running from it for too long.”

Ethan shook his head, though the man couldn’t see him. “But if I do this… what does it mean? What do I become?”

There was a pause on the other end, the rain filling the silence. Then the voice spoke again, calm but certain.

“You become who you were always meant to be.”

Ethan’s heart pounded, the words echoing in his mind. He felt the weight of the storm, the darkness around him, but something else too—a flicker of something he hadn’t felt in years. Something close to… hope.

He opened his eyes, staring up at the mansion he had been thrown out of. It looked different now, distant. It wasn’t his home anymore.

 It had never been his, not really. But maybe… maybe there was something more waiting for him. Something bigger than he had ever imagined.

Ethan took a deep breath, his grip tightening on the phone. “If I do this… what happens next?”

The voice on the other end didn’t hesitate. “I’ll be there. We’ll do this together.”

Ethan nodded, even though the man couldn’t see him. “And… Sophia? Lucas?”

“They don’t matter,” the man said firmly. “They’re nothing compared to what’s coming.”

Ethan bit his lip, uncertainty still gnawing at him. But the anger—the betrayal—it was too strong to ignore. He couldn’t let them win. Not like this.

He wiped the rain from his face, his heart racing as he made his decision. “Tell me what to do,” he said quietly, his voice barely above the sound of the storm.

There was a pause on the other end, and then the man’s voice returned, calm and sure. “Come to the place we agreed on. You remember it?”

Ethan nodded. “Yes. I remember.”

“Good,” the man replied. “I’ll be waiting.”

The line went dead, and Ethan lowered the phone slowly, staring at the screen as the rain continued to pour down. His mind spun with everything that had just happened. 

The voice—the connection he had tried so hard to forget—was back. And it was calling him to something bigger, something more dangerous than anything he had faced before.

He stood there, drenched and shivering, but something inside him was shifting. He wasn’t just the man Sophia had betrayed, or the husband Lucas had humiliated. 

He was something else, something they didn’t know about. And now, he was going to show them.

Ethan turned slowly, his eyes narrowing as he glanced up at the mansion one last time. Sophia thought she had taken everything from him. But she had no idea what was coming next.

He started walking, the rain washing away the last remnants of doubt. The storm roared around him, but inside, he felt strangely calm. The decision had been made. There was no turning back now.

As he moved down the empty street, his phone buzzed in his pocket again. He pulled it out, expecting another cryptic message from the unknown contact. But this time, the name on the screen made his stomach drop.

Sophia:

What are you planning, Ethan?

His heart skipped a beat, his pulse quickening. How did she know? How could she possibly suspect anything after everything that had just happened? 

Ethan’s fingers hovered over the screen, but he didn’t reply. Instead, he tucked the phone back into his pocket and kept walking, the sound of his footsteps drowned out by the rain.

He couldn’t answer her now. Not yet. Not until he knew what his next move was. 

But one thing was certain: this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

And as the storm raged on, one question lingered in his mind, swirling with the wind and rain.

What was Sophia really afraid of?