Novels by Ethereal Ink

The days blurred together after his encounter with Freya.Roman moved through them the way a man wades through deep water. Work didn’t pause for grief, or exhaustion, or the quiet unraveling of everything he had built.The lawsuit was bleeding him dry. And if he wasn't as wealthy as he was, he would have been bankrupt. Investors were calling in daily to withdraw their stocks. His board members held emergency meetings he wasn’t always invited to.The press did not help much either, with their news. Roman responded the only way he knew how, which was to bury himself deeper into the grind.But even that did not feel like armor anymore. It felt like weight. Overworking. And the worst part wasn’t the pressure, or the losses stacking up in inevitable columns.It was the silence, the empty apartment he came home to, the unanswered messages, and the way Annabel’s name sat in his phone like a ghost he didn’t know how to speak to anymore.And as if it was some wrong timed thing, Freya started

In no time, two weeks ran by and it was time for the second court hearing. The second hearing moved faster than the first.Roman sat at the defendant’s table again. His hands were loosely clasped together. Martin sat beside him, flipping calmly through the day’s submissions, but even he couldn’t hide the sharpness in his movements.The Valeys sat across the aisle, looking confident. Pope, Dexter, and Prance; they were all dressed in shades of gray and black. Ezra Winfield sat nearest to the bench, perfectly composed, with a faint smirk at the corner of his mouth.The courtroom beamed with a restrained energy. Today mattered.The bailiff called them to order, and Judge Hauser took her seat with the same clipped efficiency as before."This is the matter of Valey Group Incorporated versus Roman Averne, continued for preliminary evidentiary review," the clerk announced.Judge Hauser peered over the rim of her glasses. "I understand both sides have submitted documentation since our last he

The morning light was very bright. Annabel blinked against it, realizing only as she sat up that she hadn’t made it to her bed the previous night. She was still curled on the living room couch, with a thin throw blanket tangled around her legs. Her sweatshirt was rumpled from hours of restless half-sleep.Her mouth was dry. Her head ached from the tension that had knotted her entire body and refused to let go.Her phone buzzed once on the table, and it made her stomach tighten immediately. She picked it up without thinking. It was Roman.The message was clipped. “I’m sorry. Call me when you’re ready.”She stared at it for a long time. She could almost hear his voice, the way it had sounded when he tried to explain, right before everything had broken.Annabel kept the phone back down without replying. She pushed herself up and made her way toward the kitchen. She found a little solace in the normal rhythm of her morning routine, which was coffee, breakfast, emails and other mundane st

Annabel was busy scrolling through the internet when she saw it.She was sitting at the kitchen counter at home, with her laptop open while a half a bagel was growing cold on her plate. Her coffee was already lukewarm. It was a quiet morning and she had called in sick at work, just to be able to spend the whole day at home. So, that morning, it was just her, and the comfort of an unhurried breakfast.She was scrolling mindlessly and clicking through headlines on a news app out of boredom more than interest. There were politics, a celebrity divorce, and even a new city ordinance on traffic lights. Then—“Roman Averne Faces Lawsuit Over Breach of Contract”She blinked.Her finger hovered for a second before tapping the article. And when she did, the headline expanded and a photo loaded. Roman was walking out of a courthouse with Martin beside him. There was no expression on his face.The article was short. "Valey Group Incorporated filed a civil lawsuit against Mr Roman Averne citing

The conference room on the forty-second floor of the Valey tower was cold. There were no windows and no distractions. Pope sat perfectly still at the head of the table with his hands folded beneath his chin as he read through the printed schedule for tomorrow’s court hearing. Even though it was night already, his suit remained neatly pressed and unwrinkled, as if it had been made exactly for this moment. Dexter leaned back in his chair across him, while chewing on a toothpick and spinning a silver pen between his fingers. Prance sat beside him, scrolling on a tablet, and occasionally tapping out notes.At the far end of the table, Ezra Winfield was flipping through a tabbed binder, page by page. He was skimming but not rushing. Every tab was color-coded. Every section was marked. And his glasses rested low on his nose.“So,” Ezra said without looking up, “we’re first on the docket. Judge Hauser. 9:00 a.m sharp.”“Hauser’s a stickler,” Pope said. “I assume you’ve played this clean?”

The house smelled like cinnamon tea and lavender polish. Freya had lit one of the scented candles again. Janice noticed it the moment she stepped into the kitchen. It was late afternoon. Marren was upstairs in Janice's guest room napping or reading something. Donald hadn’t shown up all day, and that was good as well. Janice preferred calm when she was collecting results.Freya sat at the counter, scrolling on her phone. She looked up when Janice walked in.Janice poured herself a cup of tea without asking. “So?”Freya blinked. “So what?”Janice glanced at her over the rim of the cup and blew softly on the steam. “Don’t be coy, Freya. You said you’d be near the cafe around noon. I assume you found him.”Freya shifted slightly on the stool, trying to look nonchalant. “I saw him briefly.”Janice sat across her in a perfect pose. “Briefly?”Freya nodded. “He was just sitting there alone. I said hi and we talked for a few minutes. That’s all.”Janice didn’t say anything for a few seconds.