Hehe. Spitfire indeed.

I'm not saying he doesn't deserve that, he most certainly does, but that doesn't change the fact that morality isn't going to be enough to hold him in place, especially not after they find the boy. As nasty as it is, Bree's insults would probably be enough to push him over the edge and he really would just walk away. Or stand there, and let her walk away. It would make him feel awful for quite a while, but he'd just find a way to drown out his sorrows until he could (somewhat) comfortably ignore them.

For now, and I have set this up to be a massive part of his character development over the course of this arc, the only way to get Ethan is to appeal to Ethan. Make it about him, one way or another.

... If there's no way for that to happen, just tell it to me again, and I'll try and come up with some other alternative.