Sorry Daddy, I'm Not Spare Parts for Her! - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

The days that followed settled into an uneasy normal. Ethan never came looking for me again, though I'd catch glimpses of him in news reports, jet-setting across the globe. Nathan and I maintained our fragile truce, both of us carefully avoiding anything that might upset our delicate balance.
Then everything shattered on New Year's Eve when I was kidnapped. The last thing I expected was to see Ethan standing there when the hood came off. In that final second before my phone was snatched away, I managed to send my live location to Nathan.
Ethan looked terrible - worse than I'd ever seen him. His eyes burned with dangerous intensity as he injected me with some paralyzing agent that left me conscious but completely immobilized. That charming smile I once loved now twisted into something unsettling as his deep voice filled the space between us.
"Ava," he murmured, fingers tracing my jawline. "I thought if I just stayed busy enough, traveled far enough... but you're always there, haunting me." His breath hitched. "Just one kiss? Can't we pretend none of this ever happened?"
When I didn't respond, his grip tightened. "I should have hidden you away when I had the chance. Nathan Cole? He's nothing! Unworthy of even breathing the same air as you!"
Ethan was spiraling, his obsession warping into something dark and destructive. Rational thought had long since abandoned him - all that remained was his desperate need to reclaim what he'd lost.
His thumb brushed my lower lip before he crushed his mouth against mine. I tasted copper as my teeth cut into flesh, but the more I resisted, the more violently he kissed me. Eventually I went limp, surrendering to his assault. When he finally pulled away, he tenderly wiped the blood from my lip with his thumb.
"Please, Ava," he whispered, eyes pleading. "Just smile for me. Like you used to."
A sudden gust of wind rattled the curtains, ruffling his unkempt hair. In the distance, police sirens wailed. Then - CRASH! - the door exploded inward.
Ethan yanked me against his chest, dragging us toward the window like some tragic romantic hero from a noir film.
"Let her go, Ethan!" Nathan's voice cracked like a whip. "You've completely lost it!"
Dozens of armed officers trained their weapons on Ethan's chest. He just nuzzled my ear and sighed. "Why'd you have to ruin our perfect little world, Ava?"
I managed a bitter laugh. "Wake up, Ethan. None of this was ever real."
His answering chuckle sent chills down my spine. "Too late for that now, darling."
With terrifying calm, he released me - and stepped backward into empty air.
The three-story fall didn't kill him. The impact just turned Ethan Foster into a hollow shell, his body kept alive by machines while his mind remained trapped in some endless loop.
In his coma dreams, he kept reliving my eighteenth birthday - forced to watch helplessly as his comic counterpart hurt me again and again. Losing me in an infinite cycle of pain and regret.
The cruelest part? Somewhere in that shattered mind, I think he was finally getting exactly what he wanted - an eternity with the Ava of his fantasies, where nothing and no one could ever come between us again.