“Proceed.”
Her reply came instantly.
“Already done.”
At 8:00 a.m., the city woke up.
At 8:12, federal complaints were filed.
At 9:30, the company was in panic.
At 10:40, the stock dropped 12%.
Ethan woke up in that penthouse to 184 missed calls.
And a life already over.
By the time he reached the boardroom, it was too late.
Because the affair wasn’t the real story.
It never was.
Six months earlier, I found discrepancies in the company accounts.
Small at first.
Then impossible to ignore.
Shell corporations.
Fake contracts.
Offshore transfers.
Ninety-four million dollars.
Gone.
Vanessa’s approvals everywhere.
Ethan’s signature on everything that mattered.
They weren’t just sleeping together.
They were stealing together.
And planning to disappear.
Without me.
By afternoon, investigators stepped in.
By evening, the media had the story.
By night, the recordings were released.
His voice.
Clear.
Calm.
Damning.
“Once the merger closes, Elena becomes useless.”
