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CHAPTER FIFTY ONE ROSE AMARA POV If I don't, perhaps all will end and— After touching my forehead with his kisses, Ethan releases me. I blink, but before I can respond correctly, he pulls me up onto his back so that my head rests against his chest. "Sleep for the time being, princess; you're tired. When you regain your strength, I'll deal with you. Since I was released from the hospital a week ago, Ethan has been coming with me to V Corp per Sergei's instructions. I had the doctor tell Ethan that even though I had forgotten everything that happened in the last ten years, I could still reach the area of my brain that stores my cognitive abilities. Consequently, I am still able to conduct business. Ethan has been adoring me, but he is not a fool. Things will get worse if he gets the impression that I've been lying to him the entire time and I somehow remember. I've been deliberately pretending to be asleep for the past week to hear his phone calls. Though he frequently uses his phone to text or his laptop, he hadn't yet produced one. I attempted to pry into those, but they are, as I had anticipated, password secured. I haven't yet understood his strategy, but I will do so shortly. I'll be forced to move things along if he continues to be evasive. Ethan was made a director by Sergei, but his presence was only seldom necessary. Even still, he continues to stand by my side as if he were my senior bodyguard, which makes it challenging to pay attention in meetings and at work, including this one right now.His shadow looms over my life darker and darker the more I ignore him. I say to one of the directors, "Well, that's it for today." "Email your comments and the proposal to me." He bows. Before the remaining board members also leave, the meeting room is filled with the rustling of papers. I raise myself and take my purse. A powerful arm grabs my stomach and pushes me back against the ridges of his muscular body as I make my way to the door. I ask the other people in the room, "What are you doing?," and happily they have all departed. Ethan doesn't really care, either way. He always seems to have his hand on me in some way, whether it's in the small of my back, my nape, my thigh, or my hand. It seems as though he can't stop caressing me for some reason. 'I'll take you to lunch," he said. "I'm not hungry for lunch, but I need to finish some papers first. 'You can finish it after lunch." "Or I could finish it now," "You can also join me as I dine and travel. You didn't eat a proper breakfast this morning." He is so meticulous, which I dislike. He should not. That is absolutely not how this is meant to be. "It's none of your business whether I eat or not." 'Naturally, it is. I can't let my wife lose consciousness from lack of food." "My response remains no," He winks, and I want to rip his eyes out. "You may go freely, or I can just kidnap you. I don't have to tell you which choice I prefer, do I?" When he decides to be his incredibly protective self, fighting him is pointless. Although that's a side of Ethan I haven't seen much of before, it doesn't have the same impact on me as I had anticipated. Since I now know what he really is and who he really is, I no longer perceive it as protectiveness but rather as another attempt to control me. After all, he approached me in order to obtain information and use me to harm the people I care about. As I move away from him and make my way to the parking lot, I hide those thoughts from him. I have the opportunity to advance this now. We never had time to squander, but I guess I've been acting like I've forgotten things. I intended to get some information from him and avoid doing this. In difficult circumstances, do desperate things. I text Hades after I get inside the car and buckle up. Are you available? Hades: It depends on why. Rai: What if I told you that I could find the person who is aware of the Irish's plans for you? Then I can make time, says Hades. Rai: You might have to torture him to get his cooperation. You speak of that as if it were a job, Hades. I am fully aware that it isn't. One of the things that contributes to Hades's gruesome reputation is the fact that he specialized in torture. He is the type to continue till he has answers. I may have wanted to prevent things from getting to this point because of this. I tuck my phone away as Ethan takes the wheel. My fingers touch the tiny bottle I've been carrying about with me ever since I left the hospital. I anticipated having to do this at some point. Silence is the solitary passenger in the immobile car. I steal a glimpse at him and stop when I see how intensely focused he is. He is looking at me too closely, as if this is his first encounter with my face. 'What?" "Just admiring how lovely you are." The burning in my cheeks is noticeable, despite my best efforts to remain unaffected. I spit out my throat. You mentioned that we were going to lunch, right? " "We'll do it after I've had enough of you," "Whatever you're trying won't work," I said. He furrows his brow. "Want to place a wager? " I'm confident that I have never cared about you, so I don't need to. "For someone who doesn't recall, you seem so certain." "I just feel it, therefore I don't need to recall to be sure of it." "Do you know what you used to tell me in the past?" He stops, tipping his head to the side to get a better look at me. Every recollection I have of him is one of pain and sorrow, "I don't want to know." But, he grabs my hand in his and says, "I want to tell you. He's touching me with the same hands he's been using to murder my family, and it makes my skin crawl. "You used to remark that I'm distant and that I never reveal my genuine self," I restrain my voice from sneering and say, "Oh, really." I talked about him once; he was the one who raised me after my parents passed away, so in a way, he was the only person I considered family. But what I didn't tell you is that in my screwed-up attempt to keep that family close, I've done something that can't be forgotten or forgiven. I'm still surprised he didn't kill me, considering he has no tolerance for tr.. I was lost for a few years before I ended up at Nikolai's. Because Godfather and I used to kill for him before you were born, he was an old friend of ours. I mutter, "Is your godfather's name Ghost?" "You know him," Ethan says, breaking into a rare smile that I've never seen on his face and appearing younger and less guarded. "Everyone in our circle does. Uncle Raven used to mention his name among the inner circle. Ghost is the hitman my grandfather worked with the most, and he used to say that he is the best at what he does. He is, and we are. "So you work for the same group as him?" "I do." I want to question him further, but I might start talking about what I already know about his company. I thus don't say anything in the hopes that he will. The way he described his godfather, Ghost, was very different from how he had previously described anything. He feels a connection with the man and refers to him as family. However, he made reference to doing something repulsive; perhaps this is the reason he hadn't talked much about Ghost in the past. One of the few occasions Ethan has talked about his history without my prodding is now. He consistently sidestepped any of my questions with his endearing humor and is utterly closed off. What an irony that he is speaking so openly now that he believes I have forgotten my recollections.