26. Ethan

26

Ethan

“You are free to go,” Doc grins as he walks into my hospital room.

“Thank goodness,” I chuckle. “Nothing against you, but I am ready to be out of here.”

“I promise to make sure he behaves,” Elena teases.

“I trust you. We have scheduled a follow up with your primary physician. Make sure that you keep the appointment so we can make sure nothing comes back up from this.”

“Will do, Doc.”

Elena’s face lights up when the doctor leaves. I can't help but smile back at her. She's taken the day off from the store just to bring me home, and I'm more grateful than I can express.

"Ready to get out of here?"

"More than ready," I grin.

Elena pushes my wheelchair to the car, helping me in with a tenderness that makes my heart ache. I’m used to being self-sufficient, but right now, I can’t help but lean on her a little. Once I’m settled, she drives us home, the quiet hum of the car soothing in its normalcy.

As we pull into the driveway, Elena turns to me, a small smile on her lips. "I’ve got everything set up for you inside. I want you to rest as much as you can."

"I appreciate it, Elena. Really, you didn’t have to do all this."

“Truth be told, I just gave the orders. Your staff did all the hard work. They’re pretty fantastic.”“They really are.”

Inside, the house is clean and welcoming. She’s even fluffed up the pillows on the couch where I plan to camp out for the foreseeable future. I sink into the cushions, feeling the exhaustion catch up with me.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I was able to show the league enough proof about the validity of the accusations for the drug testing that they looked into the anonymous source a little more. It did come from Luke. The entire team submitted the specimens in a good faith gesture and all came back clean.”

“Elena, you’re amazing,” I say, looking up at her. “What was the proof?”

“Kiara’s social media as well as Luke’s. It’s clear they’re a couple. With the texts you had screenshotted where she was threatening you, it gave the league enough pause to look into it more. Do you know who did not pass the drug tests though?”

“Luke?”

“Yup and about five other players from Silverton. They have to forfeit the next two games because they don’t have enough players to accommodate their various strategic needs and the demands of the long season. The league isn’t allowing them to pull from the minors because of the accusations and the medical and coaching staff claiming they didn’t know.”

“Oof, that’s rough. Hopefully that will shut them up for a bit.”

“Hopefully. The league released a statement about it. Nothing that comes from Luke will be seen as truthful from here on out. He really made a mess of his career for Kiara.”

“Something tells me that’s what she wants. She’s addicted to drama and chaos,” I reply with a shake of my head.

A comfortable silence settles between us as she fusses around, making sure I have everything I need. Finally, she sits down next to me, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“You’ll never guess what I found in the attic yesterday.”

“More journals?”

“Yes and…”

“Go on.”

"Grams wrote more about Armand. She mentioned that he wasn’t entirely truthful with her and even described a terrifying incident where he got into a fight. It sounds like he was a bad man who was also abusive to her. She says in one of the entries that she was pregnant, but my dad is an only child and it was too early to be him."

I nod, absorbing her words. "Really? Do you think the body we found could be Armand’s?"

Elena gasps, her eyes widening. "I hadn’t thought that far ahead, but it makes sense. If he had secrets, maybe someone wanted to silence him."

"I don’t think Grams is capable of murder, Elena."

She laughs, though there's an edge to it. "I don’t think my grandfather was either, but who else could have done it?"

“Do you think Grams has another child out there somewhere?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s possible. I couldn’t find any other journal entries about all of it. Maybe they’re hidden somewhere else.”

“Did you get anything back on the other bag you found with the sketchbooks?”

“Not yet. I reached out to a contact that Sasha gave me so I could see if they’re real, first off.”

Her phone starts vibrating and she looks down, then glances back up at me with wide eyes.

"It's Detective Deitrich. I'll put it on speaker."

“Why is he calling?”

"Hello, Detective," she says, her voice steady.

"Elena, there’s been a break-in at your store," he answers immediately.

Her eyes widen, and I can see the worry etched on her face. "We’ll be right there."

We rush to the car, and despite my injuries, I insist on coming along. The drive to the store feels agonizingly slow, each minute stretching out as we imagine what might have happened.

When we arrive, the sight is worse than I imagined. The front windows of the boutique are shattered, glass littering the sidewalk. Inside, shelves are overturned, merchandise strewn across the floor. It looks like a tornado tore through.

Detective Deitrich meets us at the entrance, his expression grim. "I’m sorry, Elena. It looks bad."

“Did the cameras capture anything?”

“No, they had their faces covered. I assume it was two men and a woman by their builds. You’ll have to tell me if they stole anything, but the register wasn’t broken into and there weren’t any attempts to get into your safe.”

“It looks like they didn’t even try hard to toss the store.”

“Except for this,” Dietrich says as he points at the wall. He leads us inside, carefully stepping around the debris.

“What are those?” Ellie asks as she squints to look at pictures taped on the walls and throughout the store.

"Whoever did this left a message. Taped pictures of Ethan and Kiara around the store."

“But why?”

I take a closer look at the various pictures. They’re all old pictures from the beginning of our relationship.

He nods, pointing to the cash register. There, in stark black ink, is a note:

"Stay away from Ethan or the next time will be worse."

Elena's face pales, and she looks at me with wide eyes. "What does this mean?"

“I don’t know. It’s ridiculous though. It’s probably Kiara.”

“But your mom…”

Her eyes flit between me and the detective before she shakes her head.

“Think about it. The league didn’t take the lies about the drugs seriously so she couldn’t get back at me that way. Now she’s swinging to scare you off. How stupid of her to make it so obvious that it’s her who did this.”

“But think about it, Kiara wouldn’t be so obvious, would she? What if it’s someone trying to throw us off?” Elena asks.

Detective Deitrich speaks up. "We’ll investigate this thoroughly. In the meantime, I suggest you both stay somewhere safe."

“Did they use tape on the pictures?”

“Yup,” Dietrich smiles. “Not very bright but we have some fingerprints which means they’re not very good criminals. If they’re in the system we’ll find them.”

“I’ll call Daniel and see if he can come in to help get these windows boarded up for the night. We can get someone to replace the windows tomorrow morning, I’m sure,” I tell Elena.

She nods as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.

“I’m… I’m going to look around and see if I can tell if someone took anything.”

“We’ll figure this out.”

“I don’t know how much more I can take, Ethan. It’s like one fire after another. If it’s not the store, it’s the team, if it’s not me, it’s you. It’s too much.”

“Elena,” I say as I take a step toward her.

“No, I need a minute.”

She gestures for me to go away just before she walks off. I get that she’s overwhelmed and lashing out at the situation, not at me.

I walk outside and call Daniel.“Hey bro, what’s up?”

“Someone broke into the boutique. Can you come up and help me get these windows secured for the night?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right there. I’m still at the shop working on a car for someone, I’ll bring Pete up with me.”

I hang up the phone and look back at the boutique.

Did my mom do this?

Did Kiara do this?

Grams never had any of these issues so why is Elena suddenly having them?

Is this all because of me?

I’m still standing outside the store, trying to process the threat we found, when Daniel and Pete arrive, their truck loaded with boards.

“How in the world did you find those boards at this hour?” I ask.

Daniel hops out of the truck first, nodding to me as he approaches. "Had them made for hurricanes, but they’ll work perfectly right now."

"Daniel, you're a genius. Thank you."

"No problem. Let’s get this place secured before I ask questions."

Pete and Daniel start unloading the boards while I grab a hammer and nails from the truck. The three of us work quickly and efficiently, driven by the urgency of the situation. As we hammer the boards into place, the sound echoes in the otherwise quiet street.

The police are finishing up their investigation, packing up their gear and preparing to leave. Detective Deitrich approaches us, giving a nod of approval at the boarded-up windows.

"Looks good. We’ve collected all the evidence we need for now. We’ll be in touch if we find anything."

"Thanks, Detective," I say, shaking his hand. "We appreciate it."

As the police leave, Daniel finally turns to Elena, his face set with concern. "What happened here, Elena?"

She sighs, running a hand through her hair. "Nothing was stolen. It seems like they were just trying to scare me away from Ethan."

Daniel’s expression shifts from concern to fury. "So all of this bullshit is because of you," he says, turning his angry gaze on me. "You better handle this before my sister gets hurt."

"I will. I promise. I’m going to find out who’s behind this and make sure it stops."

"You better."

With the immediate crisis handled, I know the next step is figuring out who’s targeting us and why. The note, the pictures—it's all personal. Someone is watching us, and I need to uncover their identity before they strike again.

How the Hell did I end up in this situation?

Why would someone be threatening Elena because of me? What do they gain from it?

"Do you have any idea who could be doing this?" Daniel asks me. “Do you think it’s Kiara?”

“I think so. Elena was able to get the league to look into Luke and realize he made false accusations because of Kiara. They’re both probably livid about it and want revenge. Making me look bad didn’t work in their favor so she probably thinks bullying Elena is the next option.”

“What about your mom?” Daniel asks. “She offered El money.”

“It’s a possibility, but I don’t think she’d expend the energy on this. Plus, I’ve thought about it, and I think those pictures are all ones that only Kiara would have.”

“Do you think Kiara would go this far?"

“She’s an entitled brat. She’s not getting her way, so yeah I do think she’d result to this.”

“What if it’s not Kiara? What if they want us to think that but it’s tied to the dead body instead?” Ellie asks timidly.

“I mean, I guess it’s possible but that’s a lot of work to throw us off and for what?” Daniel asks.

“There’s more than just the body here Daniel. I found money. I found sketchbooks and a dress that could be worth millions.”

“Say that again.”

“You heard me. Grams has been sitting on a gold mine this entire time. I don’t know if she knew it, forgot about it, or there’s just a lot that we don’t know and now we’re caught in a dangerous game.”

“Did you tell anyone else about the money?”

“Just Ethan. I’m still trying to do more research on all of it. Grams won’t answer her phone.”

“We’ll figure it out. Maybe we should look to see what else we can find,” Daniel shrugs.

“Not tonight. Tonight, I just want to go home and go to sleep. I’m exhausted,” Elena says.

“Of course. The boutique is secure and we can look into getting a more advanced security system or something. Apparently, we’re going to need it.”

Whiskers and one of her kittens comes barrelling into the front of the store as if they’ve been spooked. I look into the back of the building but don’t see anything. Elena doesn’t seem to notice as she picks them both up and starts petting them.

If only they could talk. I guarantee they know who is behind this.

How the fuck am I going to figure out if Kiara is responsible?