Page 102 of Ethan & Grace

I left the ballroom alongside two other women who, thankfully, paid me no attention. Instead of following them to the ladies’, I headed for the staircase leading up to the first floor. I’d never been here before, but I had a rough idea where Mr. Asterdam’s study was located. Ethan and I had found an old article online about the billionaire’s family life, which featured a photograph of his study. The view from the window had given us a clue as to where it must be.

I cast a glance over my shoulder to make sure no one was watching, then hurried up the stairs to the first floor. Once at the top, I kept in the shadows close to the wall as I took in my surroundings. The house was enormous, and I wondered why a family of four needed so much space, especially considering Olivia had already moved out and James spent most of his time in Cambridge. There was another floor above this one, and from the staircase, the corridor split off in two directions, branching again at its far end. Off this corridor alone, eight doors led into eight separate rooms.

I entered the west corridor, where the study had to be, and followed it until it split. I took the left turn, planning to start at the furthest end and work my way back through. Behind the first door I opened was a utility room, which seemed ironic, as if the villa were trying to remind me of my place. I closed the door again and moved on to the next: a bedroom with posters on the walls. It must have once belonged to one of the Asterdam children. The next room was a second teenager’s room, frozen in time. It was sweet that Mr. and Mrs. Asterdam had seemingly left their kids’ rooms untouched, unlike what my parents were planning to do with Amy’s. Then again, the Asterdams weren’t exactly short of space. Opposite the two bedrooms were a bathroom and a games room, which had a pool table and a few arcade machines. Olivia and James must have loved growing up here. But where the hell was the study?

I crept on towards the next door when I suddenly heard voices. The constant underlying murmur of the party had been present the whole time, like the distant whirring of insects, but these voices were getting closer, along with the footsteps accompanying them. My body, already on edge, snapped to high alert. I held my breath and pressed my back against the wall as hard as I could, as though I could somehow merge into the shadows and the wall.

Please don’t come this way.

Please don’t come this way.

Please don’t come this way.

The sentence ran through my mind like a mantra as the footsteps drew steadily nearer. I was already scrambling for an excuse in my head, even though there was no logical reason to be lurking here in the dark.

“James will be doing an internship at the company over the summer,” I heard Mr. Asterdam say. “I’ve been trying to persuade him for years, but threatening to freeze his accounts finally did the trick.”

“The work ethic of these young people is appalling,” replied Mr. Asterdam’s companion. Was that Mr. Eddington? I wasn’t entirely sure. Their footsteps, which now sounded very close, slowed and finally stopped. Then I heard a metallic click, followed by the faint creak of a door opening.

I exhaled in relief. Cautiously, centimetre by centimetre, I edged closer to the corner that led into the corridor where the two men had just been standing. They had gone, but I wasn’t sure behind which door. Still, I would have bet my entire ring collection that they’d entered Mr. Asterdam’s study, which was very inconvenient for me.

I wondered whether I could sneak back to the ballroom and try again later when a door suddenly swung open again. Startled, I recoiled, pressing a hand to my chest, certain that everyone could hear the rapid pounding of my heart. I peered around the corner once more and spotted Mr. Asterdam and Mr. Eddington. Each held a cigar, and the host was pontificating about their origins.

“They were a gift to myself for a fantastic year-end,” Mr. Asterdam declared grandly, reaching into the right pocket of his tuxedo to pull out a key, which he used to lock the study door behind him. He pocketed it again, and the two men disappeared, leaving me alone, frozen to the spot. This had not gone to plan.

38

A Family in Pieces: Richard Darlington and His Wife Move Out of The Darlington. But What Does Henry Have to Do With It?

INsider headline

Ethan

Letting Grace go and watching her slink out of the hall was harder than I had anticipated. We’d arrived here tonight with a clear mission, a goal I’d known the entire time, and yet I felt uneasy seeing her leave alone. Still, I knew that taking turns to search was the best tactic to avoid drawing attention.

Trying to keep my composure, I drew a deep breath. I was heading for the bar to get a drink when someone stepped into my path. It was, unfortunately, the one person I’d hoped not to run into this evening. My mum usually never attended events alone, because she considered it inappropriate, and my dad couldn’t be here because of his house arrest—but it looked like she had decided to make an exception.

“Ethan Phillip Darlington, what on earth are you doing?” she demanded.

I knew I was in serious trouble when she used my full name.

Instead of bowing my head, I gave her my most disarming smile, but it didn’t change her thunderous expression. “Hey, Mum. You look really lovely tonight.”

She didn’t let my compliment soften her. “Why?”

That was all she said. She didn’t need to clarify; I knew exactly what she meant. This was about Grace. I probably should have told her beforehand that Grace would be my date for tonight, but I hadn’t been in the mood for an argument.

“I like Grace and want to spend the evening with her,” I replied. It wasn’t a lie, even if our plan to expose Claude was the real reason we were here.

“Couldn’t you have spent any other evening together? Why tonight, of all nights?” my mum asked, and for the first time in a long while, her condescending tone grated on me.

Up until now, I’d always ignored the way she spoke about Henry and Kate, because I knew she was just trying to protect the family from more gossip. But now that she was talking about Grace in the same way, it bothered me. It signalled that, in my mum’s eyes, Grace was far beneath me.

“We’re spending most nights together.”

“Oh my God,” my mum breathed. “How long has this been going on?”

“A while,” I replied. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment I’d fallen for Grace. Perhaps it had been that night at the club, or during our pool adventure. But it was possible that the whole thing had started long before.