We all got ready for the gala, Ethan helping me with zipper while also telling what's expected of me. My thoughts are running as usual. Just a little too much.
"Alexandria Anne Miller, that's my full name," I say aloud.
"Alexandria," he repeats my name. "It's a good name. It's a name worth fighting for."
I was always left alone with a note saying they're on a business trip and to fend for myself. All of which I don't tell Ethan as we get ready.
"Julian wants to bury Alexandria Miller. He wants to turn you into an asset, a shadow, someone who doesn't exist outside of his control. But the second you said that name out loud, you took a piece of yourself back."
**
1 ʏᴇᴀʀ ᴀɢᴏ, ᴅᴇᴄᴇᴍʙᴇʀ - ᴀᴀʀᴏɴ'ꜱ ᴏꜰꜰɪᴄᴇ
"Aaron..." I let out breathlessly as he pulls the shirt off of me, revealing me in my boring bra. He trails kisses down my neck and stops near my peaks. The feeling is electrifying. His other hand slips into my pants, making me moan.
He presses his lips to mine. "Won't they hear us?" I asked him.
"Let them..." he whispers against my lips, before closing the distance. His hands roam all over my body, teasing me all over.
**
I'm pulled back to the present by Ethan who tells me to focus. The ghost of hands are still caressing me. "After the gala I need you to drop me somewhere," I say, turning around to face Ethan.
"Somewhere?" he asks, voice low and flat. "The mission plan has a secure extraction to a safe house. Anything outside of that is a variable I can't account for, Alexandria."
"You have to trust me, Ethan..." I was pleading, both with my eyes and my voice.
I am sure he would agree but the moment we get in the van after gearing up, the air shifts.
**
The elevator bell dings—a sharp noise, cutting through the soft hum of the lobby.
When doors slide open to reveal a sea of black ties, silk gowns, and the smell of expensive lilies and floor wax–makes me pause. The string quartet is playing something by Vivaldi–the song that happened to play as me and Aaron spun around the floor.
Ethan offers me his hand, and I take it despite my initial hesitation. His tuxedo was custom made. I'm sure his associate, Luther or Benji was observing us as well.
"Spin me around, It'll look natural," I command him. Julian Cross was in this very ballroom, watching me.
A cold sweat ran through me.
Ethan says something to his earpiece which I don't register. My focus was on him, J. C.