Before he’d even finished speaking, he was already heading up the stairs.
The office restraining Tiffany’s father called after him: “Mr. Thompson, you’re the homeowner and this happened in your house. We need you here to sort this out.”
As both Martha and Pete’s employer and supposedly Tiffany’s father’s son–in–law, Ethan should have stayed to handle the situation.
Bin he barely paused, saying Batly: “T’ve got business to handle at the office. Can’t deal with this right now–just do whatever you need to do.”
Without another word, he continued upstairs and slammed the bedroom door with a loud bang, making it crystal clear that Tiffany wasn’t welcome to follow.
What kind of son–in–law treated his in–laws like that?
The officers exchanged confused glances. They had no idea what was going on with this family, but Pete was sitting there with blood all over his face, clearly seriously injured.
Obviously their priority was getting to the bottom of what had happened.
The officer holding down Tiffany’s father exchanged a look with his partner and reached for his handcuffs, clearly planning to haul him down to the station.
With assault charges plus resisting arrest, he’d be looking at several months behind bars minimum.
Tiffany’s mother was all bark and no bite–seeing that the cops were serious, she started wailing dramatically: “This is so unfair! Honey, we worked so hard raising our daughter, and we can’t even visit her without this happening! If we’d known it would come to this, we never should have come here…”
She was carrying on like they were innocent victims instead of the bullies who’d been threatening to get Martha fired just minutes earlier.
Pete’s nose was gushing blood from where Tiffany’s father had punched him. Dizzy from the pain and furious at her lies, he pointed an accusing finger: “Officer, they’re the ones who attacked me! Don’t let them get away with this–I’m pressing charges!”
“Yeah, I can back that up,” Martha said, grateful for Pete’s support and disgusted by Ethan’s callous behavior. “I don’t care if I get fired. When Mrs. Thompson comes back, I’m telling her I’m done working here anyway!”
When Claire was around, would the Thompson house ever have descended into chaos like this?
Seeing Pete and Martha united against her family, with Ethan clearly disgusted by her parents‘ behavior, Tiffany panicked. She dropped any pretense of being the future Mrs. Thompson and approached Pete humbly: “My dad was wrong, okay? We’ll pay whatever compensation you want. Can’t we just let this go?”
“Look who’s singing a different tune now!” Pete despised her and wasn’t buying her act for a second. “Don’t think I don’t know—the minute these cops leave, you’ll go right back to being a bitch!”
He was clearly not backing down, and Martha, who’d just been humiliated by Tiffany’s parents, sure as hell wasn’t going to forgive them either.
22:04
Two Chances, One Bullet: How His “Next Life” Promise Failed
89.3%
Tiffany was frantis, running around like a chicken with its head cut off. When she couldn’t convince Pete and Martha, she tried working on the police, but the officers weren’t having it: “Ma’am, do not interfere with our investigation
Just as they were about to haul away her cursing father, Ethan came back downstairs, fully dressed.
Everyone in the living room looked to him expectantly, hoping he’d step up and take charge, or at least say something. But he completely ignored his own employees Pete and Martha and walked straight out the door.
“Ethan! Wait! Wait for me!”
Tiffany clutched her robe closed and ran after him barefoot, catching his sleeve just before he got in his car: “Please don’t be had at me! My parents grew up poor–they don’t know how to act around nice things.” had
She was blushing with shame, knowing her parents‘ behavior was way too crude for a place like the Thompson mansion. But they were here now, and somehow her family needed to make this work long–term.
Just thinking about her father bossing him around made Ethan’s blood boil, and his irritation spilled over onto Tiffany: “Let
go.”
