Ricky roared as he jumped on Ethan's back. Grabbing his head, he tried to reach around in order to get his fingers into his victim's eye sockets. Ethan was too quick for him, though. He grabbed his wrists and tossed him in the direction of the wall. Ricky's head hit the wall first, and then his back and shoulders.

Just as Nate fell to the floor, Lucas – who was curious about all of the ruckus that he'd been hearing – walked into the room. "Oh my God," he gasped as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. "What is going on here?"

​​

Seeing all of the men on the floor, Lucas was frightened, so he took two steps back. Then, from the safety of the hallway, he shouted out to Ethan: "I don't know what this is all about, but are you almost done? William has been calling, and he wants you to call him back as soon as possible!"

Thomson grunted as he kicked the last of Ricky's men in the ribs. He turned to Lucas briefly and said, "I have nothing to say to him. He knows that, so why the fuck would he call me?"

"I have no idea," Lucas replied quickly. "Perhaps it has something to do with the anniversary of your father's death…"

Ethan looked around the room. Other than him, there was no one left standing, so he assured Lucas that it was safe for him to come in.

Just as Lucas entered the room, his phone rang. He checked the caller ID and showed it to Ethan. "It's William," he said. "Why don't you take the call?"

William was surprised when Thomson answered Lucas's phone, but he didn't allow it to slow him down. "Ethan," he exclaimed, "I've got news of Kylie!"

Nate, who was standing not far from Ethan, could hear every single one of William's words. He turned to look at Ethan as the words reached his ears – and any animosity that he'd felt towards Ethan melted away. Not only that, but he actually felt guilty about his actions. He had only wanted to help, but things had escalated too fast. Before he knew it, he'd no longer been in control of his facilities; he'd gone berserk.

"Tell me everything," Ethan ordered.

William said, "I was playing Ants vs. Pants when I received a message from Kylie. Her user ID was Advancing Soldier. Anyways, in her message, she said that she couldn't say where she was, but she assured me that she was safe. I tried to reply, but she'd already removed me from her friends' list. She has a new user name now. It's A Drowning Fish.

"Alright," Ethan replied. "Thank you. Her new user name is a secret message to me. I now know where she is, or at least I know where to go to start looking for her."

"Are you going to save her?" William wondered.

"Of course I am," Ethan replied as he hung up the phone and handed it back to Lucas. He rolled his eyes and said, "That William; he really is a stupid cunt, isn't he?"

Ethan ordered everyone out of the room and, once he was alone, he sat down on the couch and dialed Stephen's number into his handy. When Stephen answered the phone, he said, "Hello, Stephen. I just wanted you to know that I'd like to leave for Seattle tonight."

When Stephen replied, he sounded very confused. "What happened?" he wondered. "Have you given up on ever finding Kylie?"

Ethan ignored the question and asked a question of his own. "You have a ship," he said. "Do you think you could give me a ride?"

Nate was listening from outside of the room with his ear pressed to the door. Now that they had a lead about Kylie's whereabouts, he couldn't figure out why Ethan was skipping town. It made no sense to him. It was only later that it occurred to him that maybe Kylie was in Seattle.

In the background, Ethan heard a woman's voice. "Stars," she called, "can you come and help me with the zipper on the back of this dress?"

Hearing this, Ethan's face grimaced and froze. He had always wondered who Kylie's friend Stars actually was. He had figured he was some handsome man that she'd met in Europe or South America. it came as a complete shock to him to discover that Stars had been Stephen all along!"

"Can I put you on hold for a moment?" Stephen wondered.

Ethan was about to say no, but Stephen had already set the phone aside.

Ethan could hear Stephen talking in the background. "You are very beautiful," he sighed. "You look just like a princess."

"Are you praising me or the dress?" he heard Kylie reply as she laughed.

"The dress is beautiful," Stephen replied, "but your beauty outshines it and makes it more beautiful than it otherwise could ever be!"

Ethan couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd thought that she'd been kidnapped. He'd been awake for days with worry. He'd beaten a dozen men to within an inch of their lives in order to be allowed to keep looking for her. All the while, though, she had been vacationing on a boat with Stephen and playing dress-up. His teeth were grit together tightly, and he was practically foaming at the mouth.

Ethan tried to calm himself down. "Perhaps this is not what it appears to be," he muttered to himself. "Maybe she is being forced to act in a certain way or risk Stephen's wrath. If she didn't want to be with me, wouldn't she have just said so? Why the ruse?"

But what do I do now? Ethan wondered. By all accounts, I could act as though I hadn't heard a thing while I was on hold. I could go to Seattle in search of Nico as I'd planned, and confront Stephen when it is more convenient.

Now that he knew for sure that she was safe, rescuing her lost its immediacy on his to-do list.

As Ethan thought this, he paced the room. Every once in a while, he stopped to look at the splattered blood on the floor and walls. It was oddly comforting. It reminded him of what he was capable of when he got his ire up.