Chapter Seventeen
Ethan sat in his car outside Piper’s house, waiting for her to return home.
He’d been parked on her street for the past two hours without so much as a glimpse of her.
Where the hell could she possibly be? It was nearing ten o’clock.
Concern for her safety had him dialing her number once more. And one more, he reached her voicemail. “At least text me and let me know that you’re all right.” He ended the call and tossed his phone onto the passenger seat.
Another thought struck him. What if she’d met up with someone else? Had she sought comfort in another man’s arms?
Ethan couldn’t stop the growl that rumbled from his throat. The thought of another man touching his Piper infuriated him. And she was his, he admitted, dropping his head back against the seat. She just didn’t know it yet.
His phone vibrated from the passenger seat. Ethan quickly snatched it up, relieved to find a text from Piper awaiting him.
He opened the message. I’m fine, was all it said.
Relieved that she was all right, yet disappointed she had nothing more to say, Ethan cleared the screen and sent a text to Billy. Need two men to watch Piper’s house until morning. She’s not home, but I don’t trust Foster.
Billy immediately responded. On it.
With a sigh of resignation, Ethan started the car and turned toward home.
* * * *
“Good morning, Mr. Seaborn,” Marla purred the moment he stepped off the elevator at his office.
“Morning, Marla. I have a busy day ahead of me. Hold all my calls.”
He stopped with his hand on his office doorknob, and looked back at his secretary. “Unless a Piper Hollister calls. Send that one straight through.”
Marla’s entire countenance changed. She sniffed, picked up a stack of papers from her desk, and began arranging them. “I realize it’s none of my business, but you know how people talk, Mr. Seaborn. Do you really think you should be seen in public with the likes of her?”
Ethan’s stomach tightened in fury. He slowly pivoted on his heel to face his secretary. His voice barely moved past his stiff lips. “What did you say?”
Marla looked everywhere but at him. “I’m only trying to point out that you have an image to uphold. And she doesn’t fit that image.”
“You’re fired,” Ethan bit out, stalking toward her.
“W-what?”
He stopped before her desk, leaned in, and growled. “Get out.”
Marla jumped to her feet, her eyes flashing with shock and anger. “You’re firing me over that amazon you’re sleeping with?”
If Marla had been a man, Ethan would have knocked her teeth out. “Piper Hollister has more grace, beauty, and confidence in her pinky finger than you will ever possess. Now, get your shit and get the hell out before I toss you from the window.”
Fear replaced Marla’s bravado. She stumbled back a step, her eyes round and shifty.
She began jerking open drawers to gather her things.
“I’ll have your things delivered to you. Get your purse and go,” Ethan bit out, unable to stomach her presence another second.
Marla snatched up her purse and fled to the elevator without another word.
Ethan waited for her to disappear behind the elevator doors and then strode into his office.
He picked up the phone and called security. “Marla Kemp has been let go. She is on her way down now. See that she leaves quietly and do not allow her back inside this building for any reason.”
“Yes, Mr. Seaborn,” the guard returned.
Ethan hung up the phone and dropped heavily into his desk chair, wondering why it had taken him so long to rid himself of Marla.
How dare that little troll speak of Piper in such a way?
A knock sounded on his door, pulling him out of his murderous contemplation. “Come.”
Billy stepped into the room, his eyebrows raised. “I just passed Marla in the hall, and she was fit to be tied. What’s going on?”
“I fired her.”
Billy’s mouth dropped open. “You fired her?”
“I’ve been wanting to do that for quite some time. She simply pushed me too far.”
“I’m not even going to ask,” Billy muttered, holding both hands in the air. “What do we have going on today?”
Ethan took a calming breath and leaned back in his chair. “I need to have a temporary secretary sent up here for starters, and then I need you to secure a meeting with the bank for Friday.”
“Already done, boss.”
“I had a visitor in the lobby of my penthouse the other night,” Ethan informed him.
Billy skirted the chair perched in front of Ethan’s desk and took a seat. “One of Foster’s?”
At Ethan’s nod, Billy bounded back to his feet. “What the hell?”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Billy began to pace. “Was he alone?”
“He was. He also knew that I wouldn’t retaliate with the overhead cameras running. Which is why he dared to show up at my home in the first place.”
“Does Wallace know about this?” Billy questioned, continuing his pacing.
Ethan shook his head. “Not yet. And I’m not sure if I’ll tell him. He’s getting on up in age, and I fear he may go after Old Man Foster.”
“He has a right to know, Ethan. He was alpha for many years. Not to mention, he’s your grandfather.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Watch yourself, Franklin.”
“I’m sorry, Ethan. I’m just worried about you is all.”
Taking a calming breath, Ethan ran a hand down his face. “I know. And I appreciate all your help in this. What time did Piper arrive home last night?”
“She didn’t.”
Ethan stilled. “She didn’t return home?”
“Not until this morning,” Billy affirmed.
Jealousy sliced through Ethan’s gut. Piper had stayed out all night.
“Was she alone?” Ethan rose to his feet.
Billy nodded. “She was.”
“I’m going to speak with my grandfather,” Ethan announced, getting to his feet. “Send two men out to relieve the ones watching Piper’s house.”
“Do you think Foster would risk sending someone to her neighborhood? You’ve only known the girl a week. He can’t know she’s someone important to you.”
Ethan strode to the door, anger fueling his every step. “I don’t know what he thinks. But I’m not willing to risk Piper’s safety where he’s concerned.”
“What are you going to do?”
Ethan stopped at the door and glanced back over his shoulder. “Kill him.”
* * * *
Wallace Seaborn sat at his small wooden breakfast table, sipping on a steaming cup of coffee, his faded whiskey-colored eyes narrowed in Ethan’s direction. “It’s time to put a stop to Foster, once and for all.”
Ethan filled his own cup with coffee and took a seat across from his grandfather. “I agree.”
“Tell me about the girl,” Wallace demanded, watching Ethan like a hawk.
Knowing it would do no good to change the subject, Ethan rested his elbows on the table and took a sip of his coffee. “Her name is Piper Hollister. She’s one of the most beautiful and confident women I’ve ever met.”
The old man’s eyes twinkled. “You are serious about this one.”
“She’s my mate, Grandfather.” It felt good to Ethan to say the words aloud.
Wallace leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re certain?”
“More certain than I’ve ever been about anything in my life. I suspected it when I first scented her, but I wasn’t sure until I began fighting my wolf when in her presence. It takes everything in me not to shift when she’s around. Damn, but she’s strong.”
A huge grin split Wallace’s face. “It does my heart good to know that you have found your mate. Have you told her?”
Ethan shook his head. “I can’t tell her, Grandfather. She has no idea what I am. What if she can’t handle it? I can’t risk it.”
“You’re going to have to tell her eventually, boy. Better that it come from you than your enemy.”
Holding his grandfather’s gaze, Ethan ground out, “The only enemy I have is Isaac Foster and his spineless son, Eric. And I plan on eliminating them both.”
Wallace’s gaze softened. “You would kill your own flesh and blood? I do not think Ruth would approve if she were still alive.”
“You had my father killed before I was born,” Ethan shot back. “Somehow, I doubt she approved of that either.”
“She hated me for it.”
The forlorn sound of his grandfather’s voice cooled some of Ethan’s ire. “She didn’t hate you.”
Wallace pushed to his feet and moved slowly toward the coffeepot to pour himself another cup. “Why do you think she never returned to Florida?”
Ethan thought about that for a moment. “She never told me why. But I often wondered why she never mentioned you to me until she was on her deathbed.”
Ambling back to the table, Wallace sat and blew on his fresh cup of coffee. “Darren Foster took advantage of Ruth. I tried to warn her about him, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“Go on,” Ethan prompted when his grandfather’s gaze turned inward and he grew quiet.
Wallace spoke in a far-off voice as if reciting a dream he’d once had. “Your mother was only eighteen when she began sneaking off to see Darren Foster. He was much older than her, and had been seen in town with a different woman on his arm every night.”
Taking a deep breath, Wallace glanced at Ethan before continuing. “I confronted him, tried to pay him off to leave your mother alone, but he laughed in my face. Next thing I knew, your mother had run off with him, simply disappeared in the middle of the night without a word to her mother or me.”
“What happened next?” Ethan persisted, lifting his coffee cup to his lips.
Wallace gripped his coffee mug with both hands. “I searched for Ruth for months without any luck. Finally, word reached me that she’d settled in Texas and was pregnant with Darren’s child. I showed up one night unannounced to find her wasting away in a small apartment with a swollen lip and two black eyes.”
Ethan’s eyes heated up in their sockets. “He beat her?”
“According to the neighbors, he beat her quite often,” Wallace growled, continuing to stare into his coffee cup. “She begged me not to seek him out, but there was no way in hell I was going to let him get away with putting his hands on her.”
Reeling from what he’d been told, Ethan could only stare at his grandfather as the older man continued to talk.
“I found him at a local hole in the wall, sitting at the bar with his arm around a painted-up redhead. I waited for him to emerge to confront him. He pulled a pistol from his boot and took a shot at me. I retaliated with a bullet between his eyes.”
Ethan reached across the table and touched his grandfather on the hand. “I would have done the same thing in your position.”
“When I went back to the apartment to explain to Ruth what had happened, she fell apart and demanded that I leave or she would call the authorities. We never spoke again.”
“I’m sorry, Grandfather,” Ethan softly murmured, giving the old man’s hand a gentle squeeze. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Your mother didn’t think so. She died thinking I killed your father in cold blood. She hated me.”
Ethan shook his head. “She didn’t hate you. If she had, she wouldn’t have sent me to you on her deathbed. Her last words before she died were, ‘Listen to your grandfather, Ethan. He is wise and will lead you on the right path.’”
Tears filled Wallace’s eyes. His voice broke when he spoke. “Ruth told you that?”
“She did. No matter what happened between you two. She loved you, Grandfather.”
A lone tear spilled from the old man’s eye. “You’re all I have left of her, Ethan. She and your grandmother passed without ever knowing you as a man. They would both be proud. And now you have found your mate.”
Ethan cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. “If she’ll have me.”
“Oh, I have a feeling she will have you. But first, we must rid ourselves of the threat of Isaac Foster, or she’ll never be safe.”
Ethan’s eyes heated in their sockets. “Agreed.”