Kylie stepped out of the bathroom naked as the day she was born and offered Stephen a hand up off of the ground. He had to wait anxiously for her outside the door with many angry questions on his mind but, when he saw her walk out without any clothes on, all thoughts fled from his mind; and he took no notice of how Kylie casually closed the bathroom door behind her, and he failed to notice the man that had been in the bathroom with her.

Kylie led him to the bedroom and allowed him to dress her, and she said nothing if he "accidentally" touched her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. This was her gift to the man in the bathroom. She was keeping Stephen distracted so that he could make his escape.

​​

Once she was dressed, Stephen brought out some horderves for them to share while they played on their cell phones. After only a short while though, Stephen noticed that she was distracted. "What's up?" he wondered. "Is the food not good? Are you not enjoying the games? You were the one who wanted to play this game. If you changed your mind, we could play something else, or even just go to bed..."

"No," Kylie sighed. She felt guilty about what she'd just done and sorry for Stephen too. She smiled. "I am just thinking about things on the set today," she told him. "Maybe I am not good enough to be an actor..."

"Don't say that," Stephen replied seriously. "You were just watching yourself on TV. If you weren't good, you wouldn't be on TV, nor would you have received an award for your work!"

"You may be right," Kylie admitted, "but maybe my time has come and gone. That is also a possibility..."

Hearing this, Stephen took her hand and stared into her eyes, sincerely. "I know you like acting very much," he said. "If you want to continue acting, I will support you. If you decided that you wanted to try your hand at hotel management, I would support you in that too. You and I, we are a team."

Looking into his eyes, Kylie felt like crying. There was so much sincerity in his eyes, and yet she knew that he was a liar. We are both liars though, she reminded herself, and perhaps I might actually thrive as a hotel manager... Who knows? Smiling, she said, "Since your parents want you to get back into the family business, I will go with you. I must finish this last project before I move on, though."

Stephen was somewhat flattered by her words, and he stood up excitedly to call for his housekeeper. Once the man arrived, Stephen shared the good news with him, and he jumped up with joy. Once things settled down, they had cake and milk to celebrate, and the housekeeper offered to call Stephen's father for him.

After the celebrations, the housekeeper went off to make his phone call, Stephen went into the living room to watch TV, and Kylie went up to their room to play on her phone. It wasn't long before she felt incredibly tired, though, and it seemed that something was wrong. "Stephen," she called out, "Help me..."

Even before Stephen had reached the stairs, Kylie had passed out cold. She had drunk the milk innocently, like a lamb drawn to slaughter. She had had no way of knowing that the housekeeper had slipped in his very special "medicine."

Stephen stood over Kylie. He was not happy with what he saw. He called his housekeeper, and when he arrived, he demanded to know why he felt that he had the authority to do what he'd done.

The housekeeper looked at him with a blank expression and said, "Young master, her situation is still unstable. She has to take her medicine. If she does not, you will lose her. I guarantee it."

Stephen was so mad that he clenched his hands to his side. "She is none of your business," he hissed. "I will decide when she needs to be drugged, and when the time comes, I will be the one to drug her!"

***

Just as Lucy finished her the last of her housework, she heard the sound of a car's engine in the yard. She rushed out and saw Ethan coming in. His clothes were wet, and he looked disheveled. Seeing this, she smiled awkwardly and went to fetch him a towel when she returned. He took from her gratefully. When he saw the curious look on her face, he shrugged and smiled. "Freak rainstorm," he laughed. "What can you do?"

"I know what I can do," Lucy replied cheerfully. "I can cook ginger soup for you, it will help you to warm up, and it will prevent you from getting a cold."

Having said that, Lucy walked into the kitchen and began to cut vegetables, and Ethan went to his room to have a bath. "Life is good," he whispered to himself as he thought about him and Kylie together. He hadn't had sex with her for a very long time, and it had been very satisfying. That being said, it was also bittersweet. Had they been home, they could have kept it up all night. It was also bittersweet because he'd had to leave her with Stephen. He didn't know what was going on with Kylie or how Stephen had managed to get her under his thumb, but he was determined to find out and break the spell that he had over her.

As Ethan climbed out of the tub, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, saw that it was Nate, and accepted the call. Then, without exchanging a single pleasantry, Nate shouted, "Brother, since when did you acquire the powers of a Spider-Man? I bought you 100 million dollars worth of insurance. Since I am the beneficiary, I believe you should have no further opinion on the matter we discussed."

"Don't give me your shit," Ethan hissed. "I have no idea what you are talking about when you call me a Spider-Man, so just get to the point."

Nate: "I found Michael!"