Back at the penthouse, the air was thick with unspoken tension.
Ethan was cold, distant.
Olivia, however, was energized by the events at the reunion.
Her jealousy, always simmering beneath the surface, was now boiling over.
She cornered me in the living room after Ethan had gone to his study.
“So,
” she began, her voice deceptively calm. “You and Ethan. Quite the
history, don’t you think?”
I said nothing.
“He told me about you, of course. The little journalism student who thought
she could play in his league.”
Her eyes scanned me, then fixed on my neck.
A faint bruise, a hickey, from the night in the laundry room.
I hadn’t been able to cover it completely.
Olivia’ s eyes narrowed.
“What’s this?” she hissed, stepping closer.
She reached out, her fingers jabbing at the mark.
“Did he touch you? Did my Ethan touch you?”
Her voice rose, becoming shrill.
“You little tramp! You’re trying to steal him from me, aren’t you?”
She shoved me. Hard.
I stumbled back.
Suddenly, her expression changed.
She saw Ethan enter the room from his study, drawn by her raised voice.
An opportunity.
Olivia’ s eyes widened in mock fear.
She took a deliberate step back, towards the open terrace doors.
Then, with a theatrical cry, she stumbled.
She fell.
Into the unheated outdoor infinity pool.
It was late fall. The water was frigid.
Ethan rushed past me.
“Olivia!”
He hauled her out of the pool, her body shivering, her teeth chattering.
He wrapped her in a nearby throw blanket.
Then he turned on me, his face a mask of fury.
“What did you do?!” he roared.
Olivia, nestled in his arms, played her part perfectly.
“S-Sarah… she just… pushed me!” she sobbed, her voice weak and trembling.
“I don’t know why she hates me so much, Ethan! I’ve tried to be kind!”
Her eyes, wide and innocent, pleaded with him.
Lies. All lies.
Ethan’ s gaze, filled with rage, fixed on me.
“You pushed her?”
“No! I didn’t! She fell, she…”
“Liar!” he spat.
He pointed to the pool.
“Get in,
” he ordered, his voice deadly calm.
“What?”
“Get in the pool. You can stand there and reflect on what you did.”
The water looked black, icy.
“If you refuse,
” he continued, his voice like steel,
“you won’t see a dime of
your pay. And I’ll make sure you never work in this city again.”
My blood ran cold.
It was my period. The thought of the icy water, the prolonged exposure…
“Ethan, please,
” I begged. “I can’t. It’s… I’m not well.”
He was unmoved.
“Get. In.”
Tears streamed down my face.
For Lily.
I had to do it for Lily.
I stepped towards the pool.
The cold hit me like a physical blow as I waded in.
It stole my breath.
My teeth began to chatter almost instantly.
Ethan watched, his face implacable. Olivia shivered in his arms, a faint,
triumphant smile on her lips that only I could see.
“Stay there until I tell you to come out,
” Ethan commanded.
He turned and carried Olivia inside, leaving me alone in the freezing, dark
water.
Hours passed.
The cold seeped into my bones, a deep, agonizing ache.
I was numb.
Shivering uncontrollably.
Darkness threatened to overwhelm me.