The Real Ethan Rhodes
The morning dragged on in endless meetings, reports, and numbers. Ethan Rhodes sat at the head of the long conference table, unshakable, every executive in the room hanging on his orders. To anyone watching, he was the perfect portrait of control and power.
But inside, he carried a void as deep as an abyss.
When the final meeting ended, he dismissed everyone with a flick of his hand.
“That’s all. The report must be on my desk by five. I won’t tolerate delays.”
The room emptied in silence. Ethan picked up his briefcase and headed to his private office—a sanctuary of glass and steel where the outside world could not reach him.
He wasn’t expecting to find her there.
Pamela.
She was leaning against the edge of his desk, as if time had never passed. A burgundy suit clung to her mature curves, her blonde hair pulled back with precision, her lips painted a fiery red. When she saw him, she smiled with that insolence that dragged him back years in an instant.
“Well, well… Ethan Rhodes. Always irresistible in your black suit,” she purred, her tone laced with sensual mockery.
He frowned. “What are you doing here, Pamela?”
“You didn’t think I’d stay away for long, did you?” she whispered, stepping closer. “I heard you’re no longer seeing that dull blonde. I couldn’t resist… I had to remind you of our game.”
Her eyes glittered with lust. Ethan clenched his jaw, fighting to keep his reaction buried.
“There’s nothing to remember,” he said coldly. “What we had is in the past.”
Pamela laughed, a low, throaty sound, circling him slowly like a predator stalking prey.
“Don’t lie to me, Ethan. I know exactly what you need, what drives you insane. None of those little dolls your mother drags in front of you can give you what I gave you. You’ll never be the marrying type. I knew that even when you were just a boy.”
Ethan shut his eyes briefly, searching for control. “My mother is trying to force me into marriage through some agency,” he admitted, his voice dripping with disdain.
Pamela’s smile widened, satisfied, savoring the revelation like a prize. She leaned closer, her perfume wrapping around him, her blouse falling open just enough to reveal what she wanted him to see.
“Marriage? Elena must be out of her mind,” she murmured against his ear. “You and I both know it’s impossible. Because what you crave, Ethan… is to break a woman. To bend her until she belongs to you. That’s your true nature—not raising children, not playing the good husband.”
He shoved her back roughly. “Enough, Pamela! I won’t play your games.”
His voice thundered through the office, but she only smirked, her expression smug, as if his anger confirmed every word.
“You can’t deny it,” she whispered, sliding her hand across his chest, trailing down slowly. “It doesn’t matter who you marry, or how many women you pretend to love… you’ll always come back to this. To the only place where you’re truly yourself.”
Ethan seized her wrist in a brutal grip, forcing her hand away. His eyes, dark and bottomless, locked on hers.
“Don’t touch me again.”
Pamela arched a brow, defiant.
“You can pretend all you want. You can play the dutiful son, the perfect CEO, the husband your mother dreams of. But I know you, Ethan. The only ties you’ll ever keep are the ones you use to bind a woman.”
His breath quickened, his chest rising and falling as her words cut too close. Pamela had dragged him back to a world he had struggled to leave behind. For a fleeting moment, the icy walls around him cracked, and she saw it. The memories of dark nights, muffled cries, gasps and moans that had once consumed him. Her little rabbit. That’s what she used to call him.
“Get out,” he ordered, his voice low and hoarse.
But Pamela didn’t move. She leaned in once more, her lips hovering dangerously close to his.
“Go ahead and marry, Ethan. Obey your mother. But you’ll never stop being who you are. You’ll always need what only I can give you. And you know it.”
The silence was suffocating. Ethan turned away, striding to the window and slamming his fist against the glass, fury radiating through him.
“I don’t want to talk about this again,” he said firmly, though the tension in his voice betrayed him.
Pamela’s lips curved into a malicious smile. She picked up her purse and walked to the door. But before leaving, she threw one last dagger over her shoulder.
“Do whatever you want, Ethan. Marry, play the obedient son… But when the darkness calls, you’ll come crawling back. You always do. You always come back to tie me up and remind me how much I enjoy it. Don’t forget, I never do.”
The door slammed behind her.
Ethan remained alone, his breathing ragged. His reflection in the glass stared back at him: the flawless man the world admired, yet broken and corroded inside. He shut his eyes and clenched his fists.
He could not afford love. He could never risk exposing who he truly was. That was why women always left. That was why love did not, and could not, exist in his life.
The problem wasn’t them.
The problem was him—Ethan Rhodes, who only ever found desire in submission.
And Amber, though indifferent to him now, would be no different. She would be his next rejection.
