Chapter 8
Ethan’ s eyes were filled with a strange mix of anger and desire when he
made his vile offer.
“Want me to help? Then be useful. Olivia’s health is delicate. I have
needs.”
He wanted sex in exchange for Lily’s medical care.
I had numbly agreed. There was no other choice for Lily.
Our degrading encounters continued. Always in secret, always filled
with his resentment and my shame.
He constantly taunted me. “Who’s better, me or your dead husband?”
I never answered, just endured for Lily.
It was the anniversary of my parents’ deaths. A day of deep, personal
grief.
Olivia, with a show of false sympathy, gave me permission to visit their
graves.
At Oak Ridge Cemetery, I laid flowers. I whispered apologies to my
parents.
I even found a quiet spot for myself, feeling my own end approaching
with the upcoming experimental trial I’d signed up for.
I missed several calls from Ethan.
When I returned to the penthouse, chaos.
Olivia had faked a medical emergency, hiding her medication.
Ethan was a storm of fury.
“You almost killed Olivia again, just like your father did, and all to visit
his grave?” he raged.
He made a call, his voice chillingly calm.
“Get some guys. Go to Oak Ridge Cemetery. David Miller’s plot. Dig it up.
Scatter the ashes in the city dump.”
Horror unlike anything I’ d ever felt seized me.
“No, Ethan, please!” I shrieked, falling to my knees, clutching at him.
“Don’t do this! I’ll do anything! Anything!”
I groveled. I begged. I offered myself completely.
This was a new low, a complete shattering of any remaining pride.
Olivia, in his arms, looked on with feigned innocence, yet her eyes held
a cruel satisfaction.
“Ethan, she looks so pitiful,” Olivia murmured, a slight tremor in her
voice. “Maybe … but what if she tries to hurt me again? She’s so unstable.”
Ethan remained unmoved by my desperate pleas.
His face was a mask of cold fury.
“You’ll pay for your father’s sins,” he repeated, his voice devoid of any
emotion. “And for your disrespect today.”