Ethan abandoned his plan to attend Oxford, choosing instead to stay in New York, in Colombia University, close enough to raise Axiel alongside his parents.
As the past faded, Ethan blinked, finding himself in the same leather chair, the study quieter than he remembered. A tear clung stubbornly to the corner of his eye.
He had lost Clara back then, and in many ways, he had never gotten her back. The woman the world saw now was the youngest Lead Counsel in the DA's office, brilliant, fierce, and untouchable. But to Ethan, she was also the same girl who had left those voicemails, breaking a little more with each one.
Nights like this, he found it hardest to forgive himself.
Back then he persuaded his father to fund her education anonymously, an easy thing to do, given her talent. But her life in college had been nothing like the girl he once knew.
At seventeen, Clara had been shy, reserved, almost old-fashioned. In Boston, she was often photographed by his men stumbling out of parties, spotted leaving bars with strangers, though never the same one twice. Ethan had followed her from a distance, never letting her know he was there, sending help in subtle ways. But every time, it broke him a little more.
Now she was looking for Cade..Axiel..and Ethan would do everything in his power to make that happen. Although the complications were many, he was determined to resolve them soon.
What he didn't know was how she would look at him afterwards. Whether she will understand that every lie, every omission, every decision had been, in his mind, for her protection and for their son's.
That night, Ethan spent the night at the study. He couldn't face her. At least not until he had a solution.