LOVE? NEVER | ✓

Chapter Twenty - Eight

"Money changes people, Ethen, and he was human too." - Raghad

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I strolled inside my office after the long trip between Australia and Washington and after a tiring night only to find Aurden seated in front of my desk, fiddling with a file on her lap, reading something.

Her head snapped to my direction and a frown crowned her straight lips. She settled the file on the edge of my desk and stood up, her eyes never leaving mine.

"Ethen," she said as a greeting, not moving from her place.

"Aurden," I said back, moving behind my desk after awkwardly shaking her hand."What happened-"

Her inhale cut me off; she lifted her head and looked at me. "We got hold of more information."

I nodded.

"One of our men betrayed us."

"How's that?"

"He sold our data to Jonathan's group," she said, her voice weak. "That's how he knew."

"I thought you only hired trusted people."

"Money changes people, Ethen, and he was human too."

"I understand."

"And now I want to show you something," she said, opening her laptop that I had no idea was on her lap too. She turned it so I'd face the screen then she played a video.

"Tell us everything you know," a voice say before the black screen fades and I see...Rose?

What the heck!

"What is she doing here?" I asked Aurden but she silences me with a head-shake.

I looked back at the screen. They were seated in a small room, with a large table separating Rose from whoever that man was. She looked at him then dropped her head, avoiding his gaze. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably and he straightened his posture, before repeating his words.

She shook her head.

"Rosabella," the man said and she visibly shivered. "What happened that day?"

"It wasn't only that day," she muttered and he nodded. "It was every time he felt weak."

"What did he tell you?"

She breathed a long sigh then ran her fingers through her messy hair. "That being with the strongest builds strength within oneself."

"And you believed him?"

"Yes," she said with a single nod. "I thought he was always right."

"Tell me what happened that day, Rose."

"No," she shook her head furiously. "No, no."

Tears streamed down her cheeks before she covered her eyes with her palms and sobbed. My chest ached. I closed my eyes, only listening to her soft cries.

"Rose-"

"I want him," her words made my eyes snap open and focused on her face on the screen.

"Jonathan?" the man asked my exact question.

She shook her head as if silently telling him how stupid he is for not getting what she meant.

"I...want...him," she said between the sobs. "I want...Ethen."