The Paper Wife’s Empire novel Chapter 372

One of them leaned down. “Mr. Jordon, don’t be nervous. We just happened to see you and wanted to say hello. You are the son of an old acquaintance, after all. It would be rude not to…”

“Back off!” Ethan’s bodyguards, all former elite mercenaries, were professionally trained and highly alert. The slightest misstep would have them springing into action. If not for Ethan’s silence, the two men would already be in restraints.

“Heh.” Seeing the guards’ defensive posture, the men took a small step back. “No need to be so tense, Mr. Jordon. Just do us a favor and tell Mr. Zadkiel that… some of his old friends were thinking of him.”

At those words, Ethan’s head whipped to the side. The two men chuckled, turned, and walked away.

A bodyguard asked for instructions. “Should we follow them, sir? Investigate?”

“Get their license plate,” Ethan authorized.

As the window rolled up, Ramona’s eyes were filled with worry. “Who were they? Why would people your father knows be looking for you?” They were clearly bad news. Even if they claimed to be just saying hello, it sounded more like a threat. She couldn’t imagine how someone like Zadkiel could have gotten involved with such people. Ethan’s expression had darkened as well. What was going on?

“I don’t know,” Ethan said quietly. “I heard he made some powerful enemies internationally when he was young, but I don’t know the details. You know my father; he would never tell me about his affairs.” Zadkiel never spoke of his own life, and Ethan never asked. They had lived separate lives since he was a child.

Still, these men stirred up some bad memories. The men who had stalked him before his childhood kidnapping had looked just like them. At the time, since he was so young, the Jordon family had blamed the relatives who were looking after him, assuming they had deliberately leaked his whereabouts to hurt Zadkiel. But Ethan remembered overhearing a rumor that his kidnappers were people Zadkiel couldn’t afford to cross, and that Zadkiel had chosen to let the matter drop because he knew he couldn’t seek retribution.

“Okay.”

Whatever she suggested, Ethan agreed. The fact that these two men had been able to follow them so easily was alarming. It seemed they had deliberately revealed themselves. It meant that if they had wanted to do something more sinister, like stake out Ethan’s movements, they probably could have.

But Ramona also knew that a man of Ethan’s stature was always surrounded by people. It wasn’t easy to get to him. After all, Zadkiel had traveled all over the world for years and had remained unharmed.

Just as they were speaking, the car lurched violently and came to a halt.