CHAPTER 13:Secret's Revealed

Sophia's gaze was riveted on Ethan, his eyes probing hers as if trying to read every thought she had. The energy in the room was electric with tension. He moved even closer, his body language coiled tight, jaw clenched. "What else did he say?" he asked, his voice tinged with barely suppressed fury.

Sophia sensed the gravity of the question. Her mind raced, as it did when she replayed Nathan's words, the threats that were hidden between the lines, the insinuations. She also knew that it made them both walk the wire — what she would feel was speaking the truth.

For a moment she hesitated, wondering how much to divulge, but then she decided that there was no other way, but to be honest. "He said that you have done things to get ahead and that I don't know the real you," she confessed, barely above a whisper, but unswerving.

A flash of anger crossed Ethan's face, then a surge of pain. His lips compressed, and for one fleeting moment, Sophia caught a glimpse of the burden of secrets he had borne for so many years.

"Nathan's just trying to game me," said Ethan, the words sharp between the teeth of his frustration. "He has been trying to destroy my reputation for years. You want the world to see me as, and I'm not those things."

Sophia listened closely, her heart racing. There was so much pain in Ethan's voice, so much vulnerability hidden behind his tough-quirky exterior. Yet doubt crept into her mind. Nathan's words resonated. Could there be more to the story? What if Ethan's past wasn't so straightforward as he had led me to believe?

Sophia looked at him, trying to understand. "But should we believe what he's saying?" Her question lingered, soft but insistent.

Ethan's gaze fell, a thunderhead of rage and frustration threatening to explode. For an instant, Sophia swore she caught a glimpse of the kind of man Nathan had described in his words —an image of the man whom success had taken to heights which the latter had climbed through deception and manipulation. But then his expression softened just as quickly. His shoulders slumped a little and he blew out a slow breath, and for the first time, Sophia caught a flicker of vulnerability under the streetwise facade.

"I've made mistakes, Sophia," Ethan muttered, his voice so low it was almost swallowed by the storm surrounding them, as though the truth was a burden far too great to share. "I've done things I'm ashamed of. I've injured people in the process. But I've always tried to do what's best for my business, for my family, O'Brien said. I had no other option." Not back then."

It broke Sophia's heart to hear him speaking this way. His words were by no means poignant to me, but she sensed the remorse in them, and they touched her deeply. She had intimately understood what it was like to make choices out of desperation, to want the opportunity to make different choices. And in that instant, she understood that Ethan was just like everyone else flawed, imperfect, human.

"What kind of mistakes?" she said, gently, her curiosity soft but genuine.

Ethan inhaled, as if preparing to disclose some great hidden secret. His eyes slid sideways, away from hers for a moment, and then he looked into her eyes again. "I've done some questionable business," he said, his words weighted with guilt. "I've wronged people to get what I needed, settled for things that I thought would lead me to the success I had to have. I was doing the right thing — growing my business, setting my family up for the future. But looking back on it now, I realize I hurt people in the process.'

Sophias stomach dropped. She had known Ethan wasn't perfect, but hearing him honestly admit what he had done wrong was still a kick in the teeth. The notion that he had succeeded at others' expense — at the expense of his morals — was hard to reconcile with the man she had come to know.

She stepped slowly forward, her hand seeking his. It was a reassuring hold, comforting him, but also as a tether to her chaos. "Oh, it sounds like you're holding a lot of guilt," she said in a calm and comforting voice.

Ethan nodded, shaking his hand back a little as he pushed it through his hair. "I am. And Nathan he knows all of it. He is well versed in the worst of my past — the things I did in the name of survival, the choices I made when I thought there wasn't another alternative." He hesitated, and his face hardened. "And now he's exploiting that to destroy me. He's been trying to take me down for years, bringing my mistakes up to me, waving my past in my face like a weapon."

Sophia's chest squeezed as she listened to him. She had known from before that Ethan bore his share of burdens, but to hear him talking so candidly about it revealed the depth of what he had hidden beneath the surface. The man who stood before her wasn't just the charming, confident entrepreneur she had come to admire. He was an S.O.B. who'd been through the fire — someone who had clawed and scratched for every fricking thing he had, but who also had done deals.

It was a lot to process, but one thing was certain: Ethan had not intended for her to figure into his past. He had kept it from her for a reason — because he didn't want her to witness the part of him that had been sullied by the sins he had committed.

But when she stared up at him, she saw the truth in his words. He wasn't just looking out for himself — he was looking out for her. And all along he'd kept his secrets from her, to protect her from the grittiness of his life before.

Sophia's heart ached for him and she realized that this moment would color everything that followed. "I'm glad you're saying this to me," she said softly, her release into sincerity. "But that doesn't change how I feel about you, Ethan. We all have a past. We all have things we regret.'" She smiled gently at him and paused. All that matters is that you're here now, and you're currently trying to make things right."

Ethan's gaze softened on her, and a hint of relief washed across his face. He exhaled a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, his shoulders visibly dropping. "You're the first person who's ever made me feel like I could be honest about this," he said, his voice softer now.

Sophia moved closer, her hand still in his. "Because I believe in you, Ethan," she replied evenly, not breaking eye contact. "I believe that you can change, that you can do better. And what I think is true, is you are more than the mistakes you made"

Ethan's eyes sparkled as he spoke, the feeling in them raw, unveiled. He had thought she would walk away, be repulsed by the man he had been, but instead she had given him that which he had never, ever had, acceptance. The warmth of her gaze calmed the bruises on his soul, and he felt that he could join her and breathe.

Sophia gazed at him, soft yet firm. "I'm not going anywhere, Ethan. I'm not ever going to walk away from you, not now. We will meet this head on, whatever it takes."

There was a certain understanding and a deep bond between them that came when you poised your truths together and held them up for the other to take care of. And, in that instant, as though the weight of their pasts — their mistakes, their regrets — had been lifted, and all you were left with was this moment and a blank page ahead.

But, while they had tried to make their peace with the past, Nathan still cast a long shadow. There was much more to Ethan's battle with his rival, and Nathan's words still rang in Sophia's ears. She had no clue what other types of threats Nathan had, but one thing was certain, they would need to face what came next as a united front.

Ethan looked over, Sophia squeezed his hand gently, her voice low but firm. "We are going to get this figured out," she said, looking straight at me. "We'll fight back, and we'll make it right."

Ethan nodded, a hint of a genuine smile dancing on the edges of his mouth. "Together," he agreed softly.

As they embraced the uncertainty, their connection strengthened. They had found the truths buried in the past, but the real battle was just beginning.

This time they weren't just fighting for Ethan's business or reputation. They were playing for each other." And to do that they would do anything

ok to defend the love they'd discovered at any cost.