He looked back at the wind shield and noticed that the bullets had been hitting about the same places each time the men fired at him.They were good with their training. If he took out his head, or even his hands, they would most likely put a bullet in it easily.Besides shooting back at this speed, in this type of people-surrounded area was not exactly wise.Even if he didn’t get shot, it would guarantee the deaths of innocent people. That was not a risk he was willing, or able to take. The decision cost him leverage though, and he felt that cost immediately as another round slammed into the rear of the car, close enough to make the steering wheel judder in his grip.The danger spread outward now, causing more issues on the road.A car swerved violently onto the shoulder to avoid being clipped by the raining bullets. Another spun partially sideways, its tires smoking as it narrowly avoided a chain collision. The chaos rippled through the road, dragging everyone nearby into a sit

Ethan just drove through the streets of Brighton aimlessly for a while till he couldn’t recognize where he was anymore.The roads were quite bad here, with a few potholes scattered here and there across the road and dirt littering the streets.He didn’t remember deciding to come to this part of town, he didn’t even know this part of town to have made that decision. He only knew that the road was moving beneath him and the city was stretching out in front of the headlights, with lights from the still standing street lights blurring into long, smeared streaks like wet paint dragged across the glass of his windshield.His hands were still locked very tightly around the steering wheel and his jaw ached from how hard he was clenching it.His breathing was shallow and uneven, with his chest rising and falling too fast as if his body hadn’t yet received the message that the chase was over. His body was behaving worse than it was even before the gunfire had stopped, but it was almost like h

As they drove back to the Villa, neither of them spoke.The low hum of the engine was the only sound that filled the space, low and steady. Streetlights flashed past the windows in rhythmic intervals.Ethan just leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, but the silence gave his mind too much room.He could hear gunfire echoing between buildings.The staccato rhythm of automatic weapons firing away in his head. He didn’t want to believe it, but he was starting to consider the possibility that he had just been traumatized by that experience.Technically speaking, it was not the first time he had heard gunshots, been shot at, or even come close to death.In the time after he lost his memory, one of the first places he found himself was at a location where a drug deal was happening, and the dealers were already on edge, so the moment they saw him, all hell broke loose.Everyone began shooting at themselves and at him till the cops came around and arrested everyone, him inclusive and

The rings sat where he had left them.Ethan could see them through the side of his eyes without looking directly at them.The rings were resting in the shallow compartment between the seats, just sitting there, dark and unassuming, like they were some random objects that had never mattered at all. If someone had heard his outburst a moment ago, and found him blaming it on the rings, they would think of him as a foolish, childish man that couldn’t own up to his actions.Who blames a nonliving thing for their actions?It was laughable.There was nothing special about the rings to hint at them possibly being what he was claiming they were.They didn’t hum, they didn’t glow, they didn’t look like anything special at all, they were just metal, very expensive pieces of metal that he had paid five hundred million dollars to acquire.The cost of getting one of the pairs was the only thing special about it.But with all its ‘not special nature’, the absence of them was unmistakable in his bod

The answers Ava was giving were immediate and unapologetic.It was probably the first time he could remember that she had talked to him for so long without calling him Master Ethan or any of the titles he usually would have had to repeatedly remind her not to use.For a brief moment, it made him worried that she might be seeing him in a different light, but he eventually pushed the thought aside.Ava was too loyal to let an incident like that redefine how she saw him.After a while, the conversation drifted back to Axel without friction this time.Ethan was a lot more relaxed talking about it now, and even though he knew that Ava had her personal bias towards Axel, the tension that had earlier sharpened every word was now absent.Ava explained again, but now with detail instead of rushing through it like it was some insignificant event.“Alexander Cole isn’t targeting her,” she said. “I mean, he does want her back, but not as much as he wants to lay his hands on you.”“His target is y