Chapter 13 - The Trap Around Ethan
Ethan read the access logs three times.
“I never gave Charles my password.”
Renee shook her head.
“He may not have needed it.”
“What does that mean?”
“Executive credentials can be duplicated through administrative access.”
I understood immediately.
“Who had that authority?”
“IT security.”
“And?”
Renee hesitated.
“Charles had emergency executive authorization.”
Ethan stared at the screen.
The pattern was becoming clear.
Charles had not merely accepted payments.
He had created protection for himself.
If the scheme collapsed, evidence would point toward Ethan.
George finally understood that too.
He began laughing.
Everyone turned.
“What’s funny?”
I asked.
George shook his head.
“You think I trusted Charles?”
Charles, who was still being watched by security near the adjoining room, shouted from the hallway.
“Shut up, George.”
George smiled.
That smile worried me.
“You should ask him why he needed Ethan’s credentials.”
Charles went silent.
Ethan stepped into the hallway.
“Why?”
Charles looked toward George.
Then me.
His shoulders dropped.
“It was insurance.”
“For whom?”
“Myself.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“You framed me.”
“No.”
Charles shook his head.
“I created options.”
“Options?”
“If George turned on me, I needed leverage.”
George laughed.
“And now you see the genius I was dealing with.”
Charles lunged toward him.
Security stopped him.
Ethan stepped between them.
“Enough.”
He looked at Charles.
“What information did you give George?”
Charles refused to answer.
George did it for him.
“Development plans.”
“Acquisition models.”
“Private property targets.”
Ethan looked sick.
“You traded Carter information?”
Charles shouted.
“You would have made money too.”
“That’s your defense?”
“No one lost anything.”
I stepped forward.
“That is not the standard.”
Charles looked at me.
“You built this company by getting information before everyone else.”
“Yes.”
“Legally.”
“With research.”
“Relationships.”
“Analysis.”
I paused.
“Not by stealing confidential files.”
Charles looked away.
Vanessa stood near the doorway.
She had been listening silently.
Then she spoke.
“There’s a safe.”
George turned toward her.
His face changed instantly.
“What?”
She looked at Ethan.
“At my parents’ house.”
Patricia whispered.
“Vanessa.”
She continued.
“My father keeps business papers there.”
George stepped toward her.
“You know nothing about my business.”
Vanessa backed away.
“I know Marcus asked about the blue ledger.”
George stopped.
The phrase meant something.
I saw it.
“What blue ledger?”
Ethan asked.
Vanessa looked at her father.
“He told me never to touch it.”
George’s face went pale with rage.
“You ungrateful little fool.”
Ethan stepped in front of Vanessa.
“Do not speak to her like that.”
Despite everything, he still protected her instinctively.
Vanessa noticed.
Her expression broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Ethan did not respond.
She looked at me.
“For all of it.”
I studied her face.
This apology sounded different.
Maybe because she had nothing left to gain.
Maybe because she finally understood what she had become.
But forgiveness and accountability were not the same thing.
I nodded toward the phone in my hand.
“Then start by telling the truth.”
May you like
Vanessa took a long breath.
And began explaining what the blue ledger contained.
