Here you go, Ethan's back story. This one's another cliffhanger hope you like it. *C.E.L

Chapter Fourteen

"I was very young when it happened. Only ten years old." I guessed that would be about thirty or more years ago. "My parents were driving me home from a teachers meeting. I don't remember anymore why we had been called there. It was raining very hard, so hard that you couldn't see out the windows of the car. The other driver was in a rush to get home, and ran through a stop sign. He didn't see us and even though my father tried very hard to stop the car, it was too late.

"My father was killed on contact. My mother died in the hospital only a few hours later. I was in the hospital being treated for the cuts on my face. When the car hit us, the window next to me shattered, raining shards of glass on me. The doctors treated them, stitching those that needed it and bandaging the ones that didn't. Then they called social services to deal with me.

"It was my social worker who gave me my mask. She thought people would be more willing to adopt if they couldn't see the scars. She was wrong. I was shuffled from foster home to foster home, unloved by all, hated by many. The other children were afraid of me, so they abused me to build their confidence. I learned to fight just so that I could defend myself.

"My social worker grew increasingly annoyed with me. She had tried everything and nothing worked for me. After six years, she sent me to a boarding school for troubled children. It was there that I was taught to play piano. Music became my solace in every way. I stayed at that school until I was eighteen and came into my inheritance. Then I moved to the city.

"I went searching for that social worker. She had done nothing for me but ship me from place to place, and leaving me at each one without a word. She never bothered to call the school to see if I was doing well. She didn't care. No more children will have to suffer such a lack of feeling from her. I ensured that she would not be continuing in her job, I punished her for abandoning me at each new place. Her ex-husband was convicted for it. It was many years before I heard you singing in your room. That was the moment I knew you were exactly the girl I was looking for. Then you got the part of Christine and I began to plan out how I would make you mine.

"You made my task more difficult by spending time with that damned boy. I sent you the photos to show you that. You didn't listen, you refused to pay attention. This morning I finally snapped and attacked him, I underestimated him, and he might have won, but you stopped the fight." I didn't correct him about why I brought the police officer, it seemed unnecessary and dangerous considering what happened to his social worker. "It was convenient for me that you had your cast-member to blame, otherwise you might have looked a little closer and recognized that it was me." This, I could tell, was the end of his narrative. I was frozen in place; his story was tragic, but terrifying. He had admitted to killing a woman and to stalking me and attacking Rom. I could not speak I was so afraid, afraid that I would say the wrong thing, and afraid of him being there. "I will leave you now," he said, "but remember, you cannot escape, so do not bother trying." With that he left the room. I could hear him start to play the piano; the song was sad and haunting.

I don't know how long I sat in that room before I started to cry. The extent of my situation was finally dawning on me. He wouldn't let me leave, but I could not bear to stay. Slowly my thoughts turned to my family, who would never know what happened to me. I thought of my mom, who would always regret how harsh she had been about me moving. My dad would find a way to make it his fault. I could not even think of what it would do to my sister, all I knew was that she would never be the same.

I tried to keep myself from thinking about Rom. I didn't want to imagine how worried he was, and I could only hope he wouldn't do something crazy and risk getting hurt. Knowing that I was so close to the theater made me wonder if there was a chance of being rescued, but I doubted it. The bomb wired to the door pretty much ensured that.

Growing bored of pacing the floor of the small room I walked back out into the main living room. I was careful to stay as far away from Ethan as I could, but I was more comfortable when I could see him. At least this way he couldn't surprise me.

He stood suddenly, making me jump. "What's that noise?" He demanded harshly, as if I would know. In the next moment I experienced a surprise that has never been equaled. Across the hall a door that I hadn't even noticed opened, and Rom walked in.

For a second I was too dumbstruck to move. Rom had come to save me, it was romantic, clichéd, and completely stupid. But he had come. I rushed towards him, only to have Ethan's voice stop me in my tracks. "Do not take one step closer to him, Elise." He said, his tone darker than midnight.

"Don't you dare threaten her!" Rom shouted he took a step towards me, while I remained frozen. I wanted more than anything to rush over to him, but I worried that Ethan would harm him if I did. Ethan made up my mind for me by firmly gripping my shoulder in one hand. I hadn't even noticed that he had come up behind me. "Let her go," Rom demanded, glaring. "You have no right to touch her." The only conclusion I could reach was that Rom had completely lost his mind. Ethan was obviously not someone he should be messing with and his hand was uncomfortably close to my neck.

"I have no right to touch her, you say?" Ethan said, his voice low and deadly. "Because she is yours, I assume. Open your eyes, boy! She is mine." Still paralyzed by fear, I said nothing, although his possessiveness irked me.

"Elise is a human being; she doesn't belong to anyone, least of all me. I love Elise; I only want to help her. Don't take out on her your problem with me." Rom's pleading tone made me nervous; he clearly had a plan and I was worried I knew what it was.

"Take out on her my problems with you… I would never hurt Elise, she is perfection, and no one will harm her so long as I am alive. And no one will take her away from me either." With that, he shoved me to the side and lunged at Rom. My choked sob was drowned out in the noise of his murderous snarl.