“First, you need to win his trust. Make sure he doesn’t suspect anything,” Wayne instructed, and I nodded as if he could see me.
“He already made the mistake of killing Gloria. Now, all I have to do is convince her father to go after him,” Wayne said, pausing for a moment.
“Although that will be a bit difficult, I need to convince him it will be successful,” Wayne explained.
“Listen, Emily, the most important task right now is to get his guard down. Make him feel safe around you, make him trust you,” Wayne instructed, and I took a deep breath. How could I make Ethan, who didn’t tell me anything about who he really was, trust me?
“Okay,” I said, not sure how to do that, but I was determined. “When you get off the sea, I will give you a drive that will help us hack Alpha,” Wayne said.
“Alpha?” I asked, forgetting for a second what Alpha was.
“Yes, his AI. It’s his most powerful weapon at the moment and the reason he’s untouchable,” Wayne explained. Despite making plans with Wayne, I couldn’t shake off the discomfort. Yes, Ethan was a terrible person, and I felt disgusted by what he was doing, but did I really want to bring him down?
“Is that clear, Emily?” Wayne said, breaking my train of thought. “Yes,” I replied.
“Just keep pretending until you are off the ship. Don’t call me again until you are off the ship,” Wayne instructed.
“Okay,” I nodded as he hung up the call. After he hung up, I tucked the SIM card back into my hair, careful not to misplace it. I put Ethan’s SIM card back into the phone, making sure to call my father in case Ethan checked.
“Hey, Dad, it’s Emily,” I said as soon as he picked up.
“Hey, how are you? I’ve been worried sick. Why didn’t you come back home?” My father bombarded me with questions.
“Everything is fine, Dad. Something came up, and I had to go to New York quickly. I’ll be back soon, though,” I lied to him.
My father paused for a while. “Are you sure everything is okay, Emily?” he asked, not quite believing me.
“Everything is fine, Dad, I promise,” I said, and I could hear him sigh over the phone.
“I’ll call you again later, okay? I lost my phone on the way here,” I lied again.
“That’s okay. Just take care of yourself, okay?” my father advised, and I nodded before hanging up the call.
As the call ended, I moved to the bed, sitting down and taking a deep breath. “Just pretend,” Wayne’s words echoed in my head. I was terrible at pretending, and I prayed Ethan wouldn’t notice.
‘You can do this,’ I thought to myself, getting up from the bed and heading to the door of the apartment.
“Please tell Mr. Marcel that I am ready to see the doctor now,” I said to the bodyguard in front of my apartment.
Like a robot, the guy stepped forward, another man replacing his position before he moved to do as I instructed. I closed my door and went to the apartment’s living room, sitting on the sofa.
Minutes later, the bell rang, and I yelled, “Come in.” The doctor from earlier walked in with Ethan by his side.
“Are you ready?” Ethan asked in the softest tone, and I nodded. “Yes,” I said, watching Ethan and the doctor walk toward me. The doctor knelt beside me, with a toolbox by his side.
Opening the toolbox, he revealed surgical blades and all sorts of things.
“I will inject you with this to numb the pain,” the doctor said, and I nodded, watching him prepare a syringe.
“Wait!” I said to the man about to pierce my skin with his syringe. “I am scared, Ethan. Will you hold my hand?” I asked, starting to implement my plan to gain Ethan’s trust.
“Sure,” Ethan nodded, moving towards me and kneeling on the other side of the sofa. “It’s not going to hurt, I promise,” Ethan said, and I smiled faintly at him, watching him cup my hands in his.
“Ready, ma’am?” the doctor asked, and I nodded, closing my eyes as he injected me with the syringe. A painful substance made my hand hurt before it felt numb.
As soon as it was numbed, the man began to peel off my skin, the part of my flesh that had turned blue from the sore cut.
“Will it grow back?” I wondered as he poured some liquid substance on it before wiping it clean.
“Yes, ma’am, you will heal in no time,” the doctor explained, finishing up as he wrapped my arm with a bandage tightly.
“Make sure you don’t let too much water touch it,” the doctor instructed, getting up from his kneeling position.
“I will give you some antibiotics and pain relief in case the pain returns,” the doctor explained again, pulling out some drugs from his toolbox and dropping them on the table before packing up his toolbox and getting ready to leave.
“Thank you, doctor,” Ethan said as the doctor made his way out.
“What would you like to eat, Emily?” Ethan turned to me, making me realize I hadn’t eaten anything substantial in almost two days.
“I’m not hungry,” I said. “I just really need to rest,” I replied. At that moment, what I needed was sleep-a long, comfortable nap without any nightmares.
“Okay,” Ethan said, getting up from his position and helping me up. I held his hands as he guided me to the room.
He arranged the bed and helped me lie down. “Stay with me, please,” I said, holding his hands.
“Sure,” Ethan nodded, lying down beside me as I rested my head on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry I put you through all this, Emily,” Ethan said as soon as we were both comfortable. “I really thought you would be safer without me,” he continued. “And it was unbearable. Every minute I spent without you felt like torture. I missed you, Emily, and…” he tried to speak, but I cut him off. His words irritated me.
‘Liar,’ I thought to myself.
“I forgive you, Ethan,” I lied, holding him tightly as those words left a bitter taste in my mouth.