Chapter 3 - The Gathering StormMrs. Brooks stepped back instinctively, terrified not of Ethan, but of the absolute fury radiating from him. It was the look of a predator whose mate had been attacked while he was away.
"Mr. Ethan... you're early," Mrs. Brooks stammered.
"My flights changed," Ethan said, his voice deadly quiet as he walked slowly toward the bed. He knelt beside Lily, his large, warm hands hovering over her face as if he were afraid she would shatter if he touched her too hard. "Lily. Can you hear me?"
Lily fluttered her eyes open, a tear escaping down her cheek. "Ethan... you're home..."
"I'm here," he whispered, his jaw clenched so tight a muscle ticked in his cheek. He looked up at Mrs. Brooks. "I asked what happened."
Before Mrs. Brooks could answer, the door swung open again. Elizabeth strolled in, wearing a serene smile, expecting to greet her son after his successful trip abroad.
"Ethan, darling! You're back! Why didn't you—" Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks as she saw her son kneeling beside the maid, his eyes fixed on her with pure venom.
Ethan slowly stood up. He didn't smile. He didn't greet his mother. He simply walked toward her, backing the formidable matriarch step by step out of the bedroom and into the grand hallway.
"Elizabeth," Ethan said, his voice cutting like glass. "Care to explain why my home looks like a combat zone and the woman I love is lying in that bed bleeding?"
Elizabeth blinked, recovering her composure with practiced arrogance. "Oh, please. Don't be dramatic, Ethan. The little gold-digger fainted for attention because she lacks the constitution to do a simple day's work. I merely gave her a proper schedule—"
Crash.
Downstairs, the sound of Richard dropping a teacup echoed through the hollow stairwell.
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Ethan didn't yell. His anger was far too deep for shouting. "A schedule? Mrs. Brooks told me you worked her eighteen hours a day, denied her rest, and forced her to clean until she collapsed from exhaustion."
"She is a servant, Ethan!" Elizabeth hissed, her aristocratic mask slipping to reveal naked contempt. "You brought a stray off the streets and elevated her above her station. I was simply teaching her her place!"
