Chapter 174: Let’s Go Home

{I’ve done a scan on everyone that had approached Madam Xu and Jian Long in the last few days,} Athena explained, {and none of them seem to be the benefactor.}Whoever this man was, it was obvious enough that he knew what he was doing. Just as Ethan, he also chose to remain a ghost.

Worse yet, he now knew that the man was targeting him, but why? For his quick rise, just like Nathaniel had?

No, not quite.

It didn’t feel like that.

Rather, it felt like the man was targeting him for the fun of it and that was even more dangerous.

If there was a goal, Ethan would know how to bait him in but when there seemed to be none, the most he could get out of this was maybe curiosity?

"It’s fine," Ethan muttered as he got off the bed, Lillian still calmly sleeping, "just pay attention to any anomalies that might rise, I have a feeling that this game of ours is a long way from being concluded."

{Got it,} Athena said before going silent and Ethan put on a shirt before walking outside.

He stopped at the open door, coming face to face with Irina who seemed like she was about sto knock.

She locked eyes with him before sighing and saying, "my jet is available, we can leave tonight if you want."

Her tone made it obvious that she was a bit grumpy. Something that had to do with the fact that Ethan and Lillian were now dating.

Though she was aware enough that even before she got interested in him, there was already Lillian, it didn’t help the fact that she was still a bit jealous.

"Thank you," Ethan answered, pretending as if he couldn’t see her expression or even notice her tone.

He wasn’t ready to address Irina’s feelings yet, not now... maybe when they were back in the US but for now, he’d pretend as if she wasn’t being grumpy.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" He asked as he walked past her and towards the kitchen.

"No," she shook her head, slowly following behind.

"Then I’ll make something," he answered as he reached the kitchen.

She walked a bit faster before walking into the kitchen with him, sitting on the metal stool close to the counter in the center.

She knew he could cook, so she wasn’t here because he risked burning the kitchen down.

Ethan didn’t mind her presence as he grabbed eggs, bread, and a few vegetables. He planned something quick and simple. His mind wasn’t fully on the food anyway.

He began cracking eggs into a bowl. "Did you get anything from your side?"

"Nothing." Irina shook her head, "People act like Jian and Madam Xu were never touched." she placed her arms on the counter. "Whoever this benefactor is... he has pull, too much pull."

"I see," he nodded as he moved to the tap to wash the vegetables.

Ethan then moved to chopping and beating the egg before turning the stove on.

Irina stayed quiet for a moment, her gaze following his movements, "you’re not worried?"

"I’m not unworried," he said, pouring the eggs into the pan, "but I wouldn’t say I didn’t expect an enemy like this either."

"An enemy like this?" She asked.

"Yes," he answered, turning the heat down before turning to her, "OmniTech Corp’s growth is too fast for a company that young, so it’s meant to attract certain interests."

"I see," she said, nodding in agreement.

Even in the underworld, OmniTech’s Sentinel was the hottest product right now, with one of the largest bounties for whoever could successfully hack into it and copy its code.

And that bounty increased by the second, with each failed attempt.

The company’s worth was well into the hundreds of millions and that was just a single product.

"So," she started again, "how do you plan to find out who he is?"

Ethan seemed to think about it for a moment before turning around, flipping the egg and turning back.

"I don’t."

"Hmm?" She let out in confusion.

"I’ll let him come to me instead," Ethan explained, "after all, he seemed pretty interested in me."

"And how would you know that he’ll come after you?" She asked again, "after all, this might just be because he wanted Xu and Jian, and you just happened to be in the way."

"Trust me," Ethan said with a smile, "he’ll come."

With that, he turned back to the stove and slid the omelet onto a plate, she watched him silently as he plated two more portions.

He then put one of the plates before her and walked back to the fridge, taking out both chocolate drink and orange juice before putting them on the counter.

He then took three glass cups and put one close to Irina’s plate, "which do you prefer?"

He said, referring to the chocolate drink and orange juice.

"Orange juice," she answered and he poured some in her glass, before filling the other two with the chocolate drink.

Before she could ask why he already had that prepared when she wasn’t even awake yet, a voice came from the kitchen’s door.

"Good morning."

Lillian said as she walked into the kitchen, the sleep evident in her eyes. She was wearing one of Ethan’s oversized shirts and she lazily walked towards Irina.

Before Irina could react, Lillian wrapped her arms around her neck before muttering, "morning Ethan."

Irina froze for a few seconds before chuckling and replying "morning to you too Lillian, but you might want to look at who you’re hugging."

Lillian froze at the sound of the voice, before she slowly and very stiffly peeled her face off Irina’s shoulder and looked down.

The sleep immediately receded from her eyes and she was faced with Irina’s amused expression.

A blush immediately covered her entire face as she said, "i-i’m sorry, I thought you were Ethan, a-and I...."

"It’s fine," Irina said but her next words did nothing to help with Lillian’s embarrassment, "I can be Ethan if you want."

Lillian just wanted the ground to open and swallow her. Yes, she has heard two voice but her eyes were not open enough for her brain to register that Ethan was the one standing. Dıscover more novels at NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Ethan finally stepped in before she exploded from embarrassment. "Here," he said, handing her the plate of food and the chocolate drink he’d poured earlier, "eat before you collapse from embarrassment."

She accepted it without looking up, mumbling, "Thank you..."

Irina watched the whole scene with a strange expression. A mix of genuine affection and that lingering jealousy she refused to acknowledge.

Lillian quietly sat beside her, and despite the earlier awkwardness, Irina automatically moved her chair an inch closer.

An action which Ethan noticed.

He placed his own plate on the counter and leaned against it. "We’re leaving tonight."

Lillian looked up, still red. "Back home?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "the media back home is getting too rowdy and I don’t think your PR team can handle them for much longer, so it’s about time we returned."

"Besides, Aria was on the verge of losing her mind when you got kidnapped." He finished.

"I see," Lillian nodded, her guilt appearing on her face.

Ethan caught it immediately.

"She’s fine," he said gently. "She just cares about your safety. You disappearing overnight didn’t help her nerves, besides, I’ve reassured her that you’re safe."

Lillian lowered her gaze, "I’ll apologize when we get back."

"You won’t need to," Ethan replied. "She’s not angry at you, she was just angry at herself, but she’s fine now."

"Hmm," Lillian nodded in response, before they resumed eating.

It was high time they left, after all, they had a product to test and this incident just put them a bit behind schedule.

***

A few hours later, the trio and the Vigilants found themselves high in the skies above China in Irina’s private jet, headed to the US.

Ethan had made sure Athena erased every single bit of camera footage of Lillian together with Irina and the Vigilants.

He didn’t have to worry about himself since, thanks to ONI, he was basically invisible to every tech.

It always either actively replaced him with someone else, when it was obvious that someone was there or completely erased him.

It was exactly why he wasn’t worried about being found out when he was moving from China to the US.

He leaned back on his seat, Lillian fast asleep on his shoulders. She didn’t seem to want to move away from him and as much as Ethan could see that she wasn’t trying to make Irina feel uncomfortable, she wasn’t going to give up the comfort of being this close either.

Ethan pulled the blanket a little higher over Lillian’s legs. She shifted in her sleep, instinctively leaning closer against him, her cheek pressing into the fabric of his shirt.

"..." Irina looked at the two before sighing, she really was envious of Lillian right now but she had to let them have their moment for now.

She reminded herself to up her courting game before leaning back into her seat, relaxing as the trip continued.