Chapter 4

 
Awakening in bed, Lynne looked at the empty pillow beside her and frowned. It wasn't like him to not call or come home. Picking up the cordless phone beside the bed, she dialed the office in Auburn Hills where James, her husband’s brother, worked. Ethan stayed on the sites most of the time to stay away from his family, but used James' secretary, Kristen Marks, to keep up with his appointments.
Kristen answered the phone as polite as ever, although her tone went a little wayward when she realized exactly who was on the other line. "Good morning, Mrs. Black. James hasn't come in yet."
"I was wondering if you've heard from my husband?"
"Oh, now you’re asking about your husband?” Kristen asked, sounding surprised. “Mr. Black left a message to reschedule all of his appointments for the next seven days to after the holidays, if possible." Her tone of voice was directly sarcastic, as if Lynne should already know this.
Lynne didn't exactly care for this little chit working for James, but she was a daughter of a friend of the family and James had said she did excellent work. "Would you know the reason behind this?"
Sighing impatiently, Kristen answered, "He's working on dual projects." Again, her tone was as if Lynne should have known this. "It may be taking up a lot of his time, especially since he needed special zoning with one of them."
Of course this didn't interest Lynne. Nothing of what her husband ever did interested the selfish woman, but she was always interested in James’ schedule.
"Did he say where he can be contacted?" Lynne knew Ethan never slept on site.
"Only his cell phone after today."
Lynne huffed, annoyed, knowing the little minx was holding back information. Ever since Lynne had begun to show interest in James, Kristen seemed to be aloof and agitating to Lynne.
"Why after today, Kristen?"
Kristen's voice was matter-of-factly. "Because he sold the house in Detroit for one dollar. I drew up the papers myself for the lawyer."
Lynne gasped. "When? Why? To whom?''
"He said he didn't like its location anymore and that he wanted something bigger."
This wasn't like Ethan at all and alarm bells started going off in Lynne's gut. What the hell could he be up to?
"He sold it to Thaddeus Newman."
Lynne wanted to scream. She figured somehow that Thaddeus and his meddling wife, Skye, had been able to "educate" Ethan a little on the black woman. She'd noticed little techniques Ethan had begun using in questioning her on her whereabouts in the past year. If he knew about her male lovers, then he hadn't said a word. Yet, if he was so knowledgeable, why hadn't he said anything? He was a man who liked to get things out in the open, not sneak around. Yet, he sold the Detroit property and didn't tell her. He had always hated the city, so this wasn't out of the ordinary for him, just so unexpected of him. Ethan was anything but spontaneous. How dare he sell property without telling her so! "What about the furnishings I picked out, and my things?"
"The furnishings were included with the house and I was instructed to pack your things and put them in the storage location you usually use for your winter items. You should be receiving the information and specifics through UPS no later than noon today at your home address."
"So you went down to Detroit?"
"Yesterday morning, Mrs. Black," Kristen confirmed.
"Did you see him?"
"He let me in the house, but said he was late and needed to get across town before noon."
"And the other assignment he's involved in, where would that be?"
Kristen paused to look it up. "That would be on the west side of the city. As far as I know, he is using private resources to fund the project. But if I guess, I would say it had to be a residential property from the contractors he requested me to contact so he could use."
"He's paying for everything out of his pocket?" she asked incredulously.
"Yes, Mrs. Black, and if I may note, he seemed..." her voice faltered, as if unsure how to describe Ethan. "I'm not sure how to say this, but he seemed different."
"How is different?"
"Excited."
Lynne almost dropped the phone. Ethan Black didn't get excited about anything. "Are you sure about this?"
"Well, I'm not an expert on emotions, especially when it comes to Mr. Black, who usually never says two words to me. But he was so talkative, hurried, and flushed. It was so different. He almost reminded me of James."
That was different. The brothers were like night and day. James took nothing serious and Ethan took everything serious. He was agitated and huffed a lot, but looking excited about anything was just not in his nature.
"Thank you, Kristen," she said and hung up the phone, not even giving the girl any time to say anything else.
The door downstairs opened, then closed, and Lynne jumped out of the bed so fast she almost twisted her ankle getting down the stairs.
She located her husband in the kitchen making his own sandwich.
Even though he was clean shaven, Ethan looked haggard. His hair needed cutting and he wore work clothes and not the usual suits. This wasn't what caught her attention though. He hadn't noticed her yet and she was able to see the unguarded look of...happiness in his eyes.
She started to sweat, feeling nervous and caught. Did he know about the lovers? The many gifts she had bought for them with his money? The homes she had them living in with her husband’s money? "Good morning, Ethan," she said lovingly.
He masked his expression immediately, giving her a wary look before biting into his sandwich.
Lynne stared at him, noticing the cocky way he stood as if he had conquered the world. "You didn't come home last night and you didn't call." She pretended to want to be in the kitchen and put the tea kettle on the stove, as if to make tea.
"I slept on site," he explained.
"You never sleep on site," she noted.
He only shrugged, not going into any more explanation than what he already had. "I was tired. I didn't feel like driving from Detroit. More or less, I passed out over some plans I've been working on."
Lynne busied herself by making coffee, knowing her husband was being evasive for other reasons.
He didn't speak, but took another bite.
"Kristen also tells me you've got a private project in the works."
He stiffened. "What else did she tell you?"
This was the Ethan she was used to with the familiar growl. Now she would be able to work her wiles on him. Moving slowly and seductively, each move made to draw the eye of any man, except her husband who only turned his back on her. With two more bites, he purposely hurried and finished the sandwich and used the opportunity to get him something to drink, pushing past her to get to the refrigerator.
Lynne didn't like being ignored and the man she had devoted her life to was doing just that. Matter of fact, this man had purposely gone out of his way to avoid her for the last three weeks. "What's going on, Ethan?"
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently.
"I mean you aren't doing things normally Ethan. This isn't like you and I don't like it."
He closed the refrigerator quietly and sat on the stools by the sink in the middle of the kitchen facing his wife. The water from the tea kettle chose this time to sound off on the stove, startling her frazzled nerves.
Slamming the pot on another eye, she faced him, waiting impatiently for an answer. She folded her arms across her chest and even tapped her foot.
He looked remotely amused as he surveyed his wife's upset condition. She was nothing like Nicole or should he say, Nicole was nothing like her mother. So was his plan for revenge against this trifling woman going to be worth it in the end, when he would have to break Nicole's heart? Just thinking about those beautiful brown eyes welling with tears over his betrayal turned an invisible screwdriver in his heart.
Ethan hardened his emotions to this. Keeping his eye on the goal he'd set for himself would make all this worthwhile. Then he could go on with his life, staying very far away from women in general. He realized that it didn't matter what color they were. All of them were nothing but a bunch of trouble, and now he knew why his father had died lonely and bitchy.
"I would like you to pack your things and get out. Before you leave, you'll place all the keys I've ever given you on this table. After all of that, you'll go to your lawyer, which I know you have and have him draw up divorce papers. You'll initialize the process because you will not get one red cent of anything I have."
She gripped the counter top so tight that her nails dug into the wood grain. Seething, she said through gritted teeth, "You can't do this to me. I'll ruin you financially you cold heartless asshole."
He reached in his back and pulled out a thick envelope. "You can try. You can try real hard, but you'll get only what you're worth--shit. If you go my way, I'll let you walk out of here with your dignity and personal belongings. If you want to do it the hard way, I'll leave you in the middle of the city with nothing to your name and not a stitch on your body."
"I have places to stay," she said, slanting her eyes at him. "There are plenty of people I have."
"Like Carlos? Enrique? How about Stanley? Is that all of them or should I try the list of lover's in New York I've recently spoken to? Or maybe James, my own brother? Did you think I wouldn’t know that one? And if you use that “trying to console him because of my father’s death story” that he tried to use on me, I’ll go fucking ballistic. You were fucking him way before my father passed away."
She wanted to scratch his eyes out. She wanted to take away that triumphant smirk on his face. What else did he know?
Standing up, Ethan said as cold as he could, "The houses, the credit cards, the cars, everything is gone. You're on your own. Even your lovers’ homes you've so generously bought for them are gone. I've confiscated all the gifts you've bought them. Yes, I have been keeping track of all the cars and jewelry gifts you've gone out of your way to keep from me."
She turned her back to him so angry. "How long have you known?"
"The past two years, but I thought I could handle it. I mean, I was just in lust with you. I thought you would make me love you. I could have given time, but you used me, just like you have used everyone else in your life. Even that bastard you had and tried to hide from the world by fostering her off on your own mother."
She gasped and turned to look at him. "You knew about her?"
"Does she know you tried to use her, too? That her supposed daddy wouldn't give a whore the time of day, so you tried to abort her and when she wouldn't just disappear, you gave her up to your mother? Does she know even after she was born that you still tried to get money out of a man who wasn't even her daddy?"
Lynne came around the counter. "Why should I tell a brat who gave me nothing but pain about a worthless man, who didn't mean shit to me but a good fuck? I could have had a real man who loved me and I loved him."
"He only wanted a good fuck and that you are, Lynne. You only wanted him for the money."
Trying her best vindictive tone, she said, "You wouldn't know about love, you unfeeling bastard."
"And you did at thirteen with a fifty-year-old man? You were a whore then and you're a whore now."
Instead of hitting him, she grabbed the hot pot and hurled it at him. But he ducked to avoid it, letting it slam against the kitchen wall behind him. "Is that all you have to say?"
"No, I got a lot more. You will never have anyone who will fuck you as good as me. You will never know love, because your idea of it is a five-hour marathon of you sweating and pumping like a damn rocking horse. Men like you will always grow old, lonely and bitchy because you have no idea how to please a woman, just like your father. Take your shit, because I can find a real man to satisfy my needs."
"Before you go finding a real man, why don't you go be a real mother to that little bastard you left." He stormed out the kitchen, fighting his willpower not to throttle that bitch for her hurting words. He'd started the mess and should feel damn good. He had ended the whole thing, but he knew he had just started some more mess with Nicole that would kill her mother emotionally. Now all he had to do was get the bastard to fall in love with him.
Nicole was putting up a good fight, but he knew she wanted him. Holding back only spurred him to make her want him more. Was it race? Or was it age? How could he break her down to do what he wanted her to do.
He was only thirty-three to her nineteen. Yes that was a bit of a challenge, but he was positive any young woman her age would be enamored by the attention of a rich older man, no matter what color he may be. Lighting up a cigarette to calm his nerves, he thought long and hard about his decision to deceive her. Hell, she was a whore just like her mother, except she was a little smarter and honest and asked for the money up front.
“No emotional ties,” were her exact words. This clearly told him she wasn't interested in any relationship, but she wanted something. Every woman wanted something. He just had to find out what this particularly intelligent, young beautiful woman wanted, and then give it to her.
At any and all cost, he planned to hurt Nicole Gray just to make sure his wife, Lynne Gray, knew she had fucked over the wrong man.