Chapter 56: Operation win Mara back
Steph and Ethan sat hunched over the monitors, their eyes scanning the grainy footage for any trace of Mara. The tension in the room was thick, suffocating. The cameras showed her last movement—heading toward the washroom—and then nothing. No sign of her exiting, no hint of where she might have gone. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.
Ethan slammed his fist on the desk, frustration boiling over. "The earth couldn’t have just swallowed her!" he yelled, his voice cracking under the weight of his desperation. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands as if the physical pain might distract him from the gnawing fear in his chest.
Steph leaned back in his chair, his tone calm but edged with exhaustion. "Maybe she just left," he suggested, though the words felt hollow even as he said them.
Ethan shot him a glare, sharp and accusing. "What would you have done if it was Mara in there?" Steph asked, his voice steady but probing. The question hung in the air, heavy. Ethan’s jaw tightened, his mind racing with the implications. The thought alone made his blood boil, his fists clenching involuntarily.
"I’d probably be in jail by now for murder," Ethan admitted, his voice low and dark. The honesty in his words was unsettling, even to himself.
Steph didn’t let up. "You can’t forgive her, but you expect her to forgive you?" he pressed, his gaze unwavering.
Ethan’s defenses flared. "It’s not the same. I didn’t sleep with Maria-Isbel," he snapped, his voice rising as if the volume could somehow justify his actions.
Steph’s expression didn’t change. "You would have if Mara hadn’t shown up when she did," he said quietly, his words cutting through Ethan’s anger like a knife. "And to me, kissing her is the same thing as sleeping with her. Because at the end of it, you still betrayed your wife."
Ethan’s chest heaved as he struggled to respond. He wanted to argue, to explain why his mistake wasn’t as bad as what Mara might have done. But the words caught in his throat, tangled in a web of guilt and shame. He couldn’t bring himself to say it, couldn’t admit that he was holding her to a standard he himself had failed to meet.