: THEY MOCKED THE GODFATHERS SON OR “FROM MOCKED TO GOD”.

CHAPTER SIX

"Excuse me." A sales attendant appeared at his elbow. Young. Carefully polished. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"This piece," Ethan said. "And a full suit. I have an event tonight."

"Of course." The attendant reached for his notepad.

"Ethan."

He heard the voice and before he turned, he already knew.

Vivian's mother, Mara stood six meters away with her younger daughter beside her. They looked like people who had been in the store for some time with multiple hopping bags sitting near their feet. The staff nearest to looked totally accustomed to them like she was just another regular customer who they have probably attended to a couple of times.

Her face moved from surprise to contempt so fast that the surprise barely registered. He turned back to the display case. 'Of course it is her.'

"Is that not the Cole family's pool boy?" her daughter said and there was nothing quiet about it. 

Two other customers turned their heads and that was Mara’s clue.

Her voice came out loud and sharp. "It is." She said, walking closer. 

She walked past him and took a sharp bend toward the display case. She looked at the piece he had been examining and her eyes made a fast, calculating move. "We will take that one," she said to the attendant.

"I was here first," Ethan said calmly.

"Were you?" She smiled at him with the full warmth of a woman who had just decided to enjoy herself. "I did not see you. I only saw someone standing in front of a case he cannot clearly afford to open." She turned to the attendant. "We have been coming to this store for six years. My eldest daughter would like that piece for tonight's event."

The attendant looked between them.

"He was here first," another staff member said from behind the counter, younger and newer, with the expression of someone who had not yet learned to read the room.

The older attendant shot her a look and she shut her mouth.

"Madam," he said to Vivian's mother, with the careful warmth of someone protecting a long relationship, "we will of course accommodate you. Sir," he turned to Ethan with strict voice like Ethan was in the wrong establishment, "perhaps I can direct you to something in a different price range."

"I was here first," Ethan said again calmly. "I would like to purchase that piece."

"And how exactly are you planning to pay for it?" Vivian's mother stepped fully between him and the case. "Last I heard you were removed from the Cole household with one bag and the clothes on your back or did you find someone new to bleed dry so quickly?" She looked at the attendant. "Check his card before you let him waste any more of our time. He has a habit of helping himself to things that do not belong to him."

The attendant straightened and the security guard near the door shifted his weight.

He said nothing and reached into his jacket then placed the black card on the display case glass with a quiet click.

The older attendant looked at it but didn’t pick it up immediately.

He looked at the design and the seal, and something behind his professional expression shifted slightly. 

Vivian's mother leaned over and looked at the card with a dismissive glance. "That is stolen," she said flatly. "He stole that from whoever he has attached himself to this week. Call security right now and have him removed before he embarrasses this establishment any further."

She looked around the floor for support and found enough faces watching to feel encouraged.

"Is there a problem here?" The store manager appeared from the back, older and silver-haired. 

"Yes," Mara said immediately. "This man walked in off the street and attempted to purchase an item I was here to buy. And when he was politely redirected, he became difficult. Now, he’s presenting a card that is clearly not his so I would like him removed."

The manager looked at Ethan who looked back at him and said nothing. He picked up the black card and turned it over once to look at the seal.

His expression did not change but his posture changed very slightly. 

"If you would give me one moment," he said to Ethan, with a tone that was noticeably different from the one his staff had been using. He stepped away and pulled out his phone.

Mara watched him go and then turned back to Ethan with the satisfied look of someone watching her plan being executed properly.

"You should leave now," she said with a smirk. "Before this becomes more embarrassing for you than it already is. Whatever game you are running ends here. My family knows every powerful person in this city and when I tell them what you have been doing and how you have been using people, stealing from people and pretending to be something you have never been…"

"The president's daughter is outside," Ethan said calmly making Mara speechless.

She blinked.

"She drove me here," he continued, in the same level tone. "She is standing outside that front door right now. You are welcome to go and explain your concerns to her directly."

Vivian's mother opened her mouth, then the front door opened and Aria walked in.

She had not been called, she simply decided that enough time had passed so she stepped through the door and the store went quiet the same way the hospital corridor had gone quiet last night. Everyone went still completely and immediately as she crossed the floor without looking at anyone except Ethan.

"Is there a problem?" she asked him.

"Nothing that will not be resolved shortly," he said.

She turned and looked at Vivian's mother for the first time and the look on her face was enough to instill fear in Mara.

Vivian's mother looked back at her and the confidence she had been speaking with for the last ten minutes left her face the way color left Gerald's face last night.

The manager returned from the back of the store and placed the black card on the display case in front of Ethan with both hands shaking slightly.

He looked at Vivian's mother with a furious look. 

"Madam," he said impatiently. "I am going to have to ask you to leave.”