“I was in the hospital.”
“I know that now,” he answers simply.
My blood grows cold. “You know. What else do you know?”
“I know Lucas attacked you. And I know your mother made you homeless. And I know it was all because we slept together.”
I stare at him for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what he’s saying. “For how long?” My fingers dig into my pants. “How long have you known?”
“I just found out recently.”
“You had me investigated.” I stare at him numbly. “You violated my privacy?”
“I didn’t look into you. I wanted to because I wanted to find out what happened in all these five years that made it so I couldn’t find you. But it wasn’t me.”
I get to my feet, my blood thundering between my ears, an inexplicable anger seizing me in its grip. “You—You had no right!”
“You told me I could.” He gazes at me, his expression calm.
All the fight leaves me as I recall what I said. “I didn’t think you would actually do it.”
“It wasn’t me, Natalie.” Ethan takes my hand, pulling me back down on the bench. “Given how fragile our relationship already is, do you think I would have done it? I would have liked to. I did want to. But it was Jake. I didn’t even know he had done it till he told me.”
“Jake?” I think of his twin brother. “Why?”
I can’t stop my voice from shaking.
“Because you are a Thorne. He doesn’t trust you because of your brother.”
Angry laughter bubbles out of me. “My brother? I know he attacked me and he shouldn’t have, but what did Lucas ever do to you? He was your best friend, and you tried to use me to get his company’s client list?—”
“That’s where you have it wrong,” Ethan says coldly. “It’s the other way around. That company that you’re speaking of, it was my idea. The client list I was trying to get back was mine. Your brother stabbed me in the back, Natalie. He stole my idea and the client list, and he erased all the data I had. He made sure to remove every trace on my systems so I couldn’t sue him. Before I could do anything, he went behind my back and offered all those clients incredibly cut-throat rates. He had all my business plans. This company that you’re speaking of, we were supposed to start it together. I put in all the work and the money.”
I stare at him, my hands shaking. “You’re lying. You have to be lying. Lucas wouldn’t?—”
“You are seriously defending the man who nearly killed you for sleeping with me?” Ethan’s eyes narrow. “Do you hear yourself, Natalie? I know what he did to you. No matter what, he should never have put his hands on you. You were his little sister. Little sisters are meant to be protected, not beaten within an inch of their lives.”
The fury in his voice has me sighing. “I’m not defending him.”
“You are.”
“Because of me, he lost everything, Ethan,” I burst out. “His fiancée left him because he went to jail. He lost out on important investors for his company. His life collapsed because of what I did?—”
“Not because of what you did.” Ethan’s voice is harsh. “Because of what he did. Why are you shielding him? You simply told him what happened. Everything he did after that and whatever happened as a result were on him. You did nothing wrong. He made the wrong decision. And you should have pressed charges. You?—”
My hands go limp on my lap as he says the words I’ve known all my life, but I couldn’t admit.
“I wanted to.” I feel so empty. “But my mother?—”
A wave of nausea washes over me, and I try to breathe through it.
“Your mother threatened you, didn’t she?” I’ve never seen Ethan look so angry. “And despite you dropping the charges, she still went ahead and put you out on the streets. This is the same mother that is bleeding you dry.”
My stomach twists as humiliation settles in. “Well, Jake was certainly thorough.”
“I could lie to you, Natalie,” he says quietly. “I could lie to you and pretend not to know any of this, but I don’t believe inbuilding a relationship based on lies. I don’t know every sordid detail, but I have the major gist of everything. I would have liked it if it came from you, and I know that you would have preferred it.”
I want to be mad. I want to be angry that he knows all this and that his brother ripped my life bare for him to see everything, and yet I feel relieved.
