Chapter 4
But Ethan pulled me behind him, standing protectively in front of me like a beast guarding its territory.
"My personal affairs are none of your business, Professor Bennett," he said coldly.
With that, he pulled me along, leaving Claire frozen in place.
Even after we'd walked away, I could still feel that scorching stare burning into my back.
I couldn't help but glance back.
Claire was still watching us, her expression hard to read.
'Well, that's it. We've really crossed her now,' I thought.
'I was still feeling frustrated when Ethan leaned in close and whispered in my ear.'
"From now on, keep your distance from her," Ethan said.
"Why?" I asked, genuinely puzzled.
"I don't like the way she looks at you," he replied.
His voice was soft, but carried an unmistakable command that brooked no argument.
"It's like she sees you as an object... something that could be replaced," Ethan said.
He stopped abruptly, turned to face me, and took my face in his hands, making me look directly at him.
"Nora, remember this," he said, his voice low and intense.
"You're the only one. No one could ever take your place."
His eyes burned with a possessive, almost crazed intensity.
At the summit dinner, I felt restless and uneasy.
Ethan kept me right by his side, never letting me stray for even a moment.
He was like an attentive caretaker, constantly placing peeled shrimp and deboned fish onto my plate.
Meanwhile, I felt like a prisoner on display for everyone to see.
The academic elites around us watched me with curiosity, intrigue, and a touch of disdain.
It was like they were thinking, 'Is this the woman who used some tricks to win over our genius scientist?'
Claire sat across from us, just a little off to the side.
She was surrounded by a bunch of young, talented guys, like she was the center of their universe.
But her eyes kept wandering over to us, whether she realized it or not.
'Girl, stop staring, if you keep it up, your perfect little world's gonna fall apart,' I thought to myself.
I kept my head down, pretending to be absorbed in my meal.
About halfway through the dinner, the host invited a few distinguished guests up to the stage to say a few words.
Ethan was one of them.
He lightly tapped my hand and whispered, "Wait for me."
I nodded, watching as he walked up to the stage.
Under the spotlight, Ethan looked tall, coldly elegant, and distinguished in his perfectly tailored black suit, so different from the mad scientist I usually saw in a lab coat.
As soon as he started speaking, the whole room went dead silent.
He launched into some mind-bending theories about future tech, but honestly, I couldn't make sense of a single thing he said.
'He's insanely attractive, but the moment he opens his mouth, it's like he's seducing himself,' I thought.
I was zoning out when I suddenly heard him say,
"Finally, I want to take this opportunity to make a personal announcement."
My heart skipped a beat. I had a bad feeling about this.
Everyone in the room was staring at him.
From the stage, he shot me a barely-there smile.
"All my personal patents, and any future profits from them, will be transferred to my fiancée, Ms. Moore," he announced.
His words set the whole place in uproar.
My fork dropped onto my plate with a loud, jarring clang.
What?
My mind went completely blank, I was dumbfounded.
Wasn't he supposed to be up there giving a research presentation?
How did we just fast-forward to him announcing his fortune?
The flashes from the cameras were going off like a storm, all aimed at me.
The professors next to me went from looking down their noses at me, to total shock, and then straight into envy, jealousy, and pure resentment.
I glanced across the table at Claire, her face drained of color in a heartbeat.
Up on stage, Ethan locked eyes with me, his gaze cutting through the crowd, intense and unwavering.
His look practically screamed, 'See? Now nobody's going to try anything with you.'
He stepped off the stage, pushed through the restless crowd, and headed straight for me.
The reporters swarmed around me like sharks smelling blood, closing in from every direction.
"Ms. Moore, when did you and Professor Reed first meet?"
"Ms. Moore, did you know about Professor Reed's decision beforehand?"
"Ms. Moore, do you have anything to say?"
Help, someone save me!
I was being shoved around, barely able to keep my footing, my mind totally blank.
Just as I felt like I couldn't breathe, a strong hand reached through the crowd, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out of the swarm.
It was Ethan.
He wrapped me in his arms, his body cold, but I felt completely safe, shielded from all the noise and chaos around us.
Ethan swept the reporters with a cold, chilling gaze.
"My fiancée is tired," he said, his voice low and commanding.
"If anyone asks one more question, your names won't show up anywhere in the news tomorrow," he warned.