Loving A STRANGER

Hearing this, tears came to Ethan"s eyes, and Dora reached forward with a kerchief to wipe them. "My true intention was to gift her with the most beautiful dress imaginable," she said. "I had no way of knowing that Sally would wear its twin. Nevertheless, if you see fit to punish me, I will not fight you."

Ethan drank up the rest of the wine in his gla.s.s and placed it on the table. He stared at Dora with a cold look. "What then?" he wondered.

Dora said, "What do you mean?"

"What would be the point in punishing you?" he laughed. "Imagine if I went around punishing every person with whom there was a mistake or misunderstanding!"

Kylie laughed. "I suppose so," she laughed.

"What about this evening?" Ethan wondered. "Tell me more."

"You know how Khloe Finch doesn"t get along with Kylie," Dora began. "Well, she really set Kylie up this time. None of this could have happened without her. If anyone needs punishment, it is her!"

"So be it," Ethan roared as he pounded his fist on the table beside him. He looked at his a.s.sistant and said, "Get on the phone. I want Khloe Black Balled from the industry effective today. Let it be known that she isn"t even good enough to wash the toilets of the stars!"

Ethan finally turned back to Dora and said, "You can leave now. Take the wine, though. It is expensive, and it was poured for you. It would be bad luck for you to walk away from it."

Dora"s face filled with amazement. "I can take this?" she gasped. "Thank you so much, Lord Ethan."

Dora took the gla.s.s of wine in hand and fondled it with care.

"In the future," Ethan said, "please protect Dora from herself. I do not like her drinking. Do we understand each other?"

Dora nodded and agreed that they did. It was ironic, though, that after everything, she had been tasked with protecting Kylie.

Once Dora was gone, Elliot walked into Ethan"s office. "Lord Ethan," he said, "here are all the videos from the security cameras."

There was a CD in Elliot"s hands. He had had someone collect useful information and organized it. Ethan nodded to the DVD player and said, "Play it."

Elliot put the CD into the player and pressed the play b.u.t.ton. Ethan frowned as he watched it. There was no audio on the video, so there was no way of truly knowing if what Dora had said was true. After watching the video three times, Elliot turned to Ethan and said, "Lord Ethan, do we need to teach Miss Hilton a lesson?"

Ethan thought about it for a second and said, "At the time, discretion is our friend. We will let her think that she is safe while we watch to see what she does next."

***

By the time Ethan climbed into bed, Kylie was asleep. He picked up her phone and saw that her batteries had died. He chuckled. She must have been very tired. He plugged it in for her, and like magic, more than a dozen notifications popped up. One of them, he noticed, was from Aiden. He was trying to determine what that meant when the phone buzzed. He looked at the Caller ID and saw that it was Aiden.

He pressed the green b.u.t.ton to accept the call, but he remained silent.

Aiden said, "Kylie, Kylie, I"ve lost everything… The company has suspended me, and an investigation is on its way…"

"f.u.c.k!" he screamed. "They say that I"ve accepted bribes. f.u.c.k them! I know it"s Ethan who set me up. Even though there is nothing between us, he is so jealous that he can"t rest until he"s destroyed my life. Please help me. I don"t deserve this."

Ethan sneered but remained silent.

Aiden felt the coldness through the phone. He went silent for a moment, and then he said, "Is everything okay? Kylie? Is that you?"

"She"s asleep now," Ethan hissed. He stepped out of the room and said, "Aiden Parker; listen to me. I don"t want to get revenge on you or set you up. You are nothing to me, so quit acting paranoid. It is pathetic."

"What do you mean?" Aiden gasped.

"The one who wants to set you up and ruin you," Ethan replied, "is your father. He has even been with your girlfriends, cheating on your mother!"

"Impossible!" Aiden shouted.

"Believe it or not," Ethan laughed. "It doesn"t matter to me. Goodnight. Next time, don"t call in the middle of the night. I hate being woken up for no reason!"

Ethan canceled the call and shut down Kylie"s phone.

Aiden stumbled through his home, ran to Matthew"s room, and kicked the door open. Taylor, who was lying in bed beside Matthew, sat up and shouted, "Aiden, what is going on? Why are you so drunk?"

Matthew sat up after Taylor, the bed shifted, and Taylor fell to the floor as soon as she hit the floor, her wrist slit open. Blood splashed the floor, and she screamed. Aiden ignored Taylor, who was shouting loudly. He pulled Matthew out of bed and punched him in the face.

Matthew brought his hand to his face and touched his split lip. It was bleeding, and he was in complete shock. "What"s going on?" he hissed. "Are you nuts?! Don"t you know that it is unacceptable for a dad to be punched in the face by his son?"

"If you were a better father," Aiden shouted, "then perhaps I would give you the respect that a father deserves. You are no father, though. You are an animal!"

Taylor struggled to her feet. She scowled at Aiden and said, "Watch your tone and watch your language! He is your dad! There is nothing you can say to change that!"

Aiden looked Taylor in the eyes and said, "He ceased being my father on the day that he slept with my girl, and he has had this coming ever since that day!"

Hearing this, Taylor"s jaw nearly hit the floor. She turned to Matthew and said, "Is this true?" 

Matthew met his eyes and said, "It is what it is. Even if I wanted to go back in time and undo what I did, I cannot. Furthermore, since I know that you won"t forgive me, there is no point in pretending to be sorry. You"ve punched me, and I supposed that I had it coming. If you do it again, though, I will hit you back."  

Aiden couldn"t believe what he was hearing. He had come in the way that he had as a kind of test, one that he hadn"t expected his father to fail. Taylor turned to Matthew and said, "Aiden is your only son. How could you treat him this way? How could you treat me this way?"

"What do you expect?" Matthew laughed. "All my life, I"ve taken what I want, and the two of you have always had the best because of it. Don"t act so hypocritically. My health is not good. One day I will be gone, and this will all be yours – so turn those frowns upside down and calm your t.i.ts!"

Matthew got out of bed and walked out the door. He had expended all of his patients.

Not knowing what else to say, Aiden watched him go.

Taylor felt terrible as well, but she knew her husband was right. He would be dead soon, and then everything that was his would be theirs. She turned to Aiden and said, "Put this out of your mind. Go to sleep. I will figure out a way for you to reduce the pain in your heart."

Aiden looked at his mother. He misunderstood her words, and his anger rose up in his chest. He couldn"t believe that she was sticking up for her husband. "Our family is f.u.c.ked!" he screamed, and then he ran back into his room.

Once Aiden was gone, Taylor finally looked at her hand. She hadn"t realized it until now, but she would need to go to the hospital – and now there was no one to drive her…

Please go to to read the latest chapters for free