Chapter 6 - THE TRAITOR IN THE TOWER
The meeting ended with a flurry of activity,
but Ethan stayed seated until the room was empty of everyone except Sarah and me.
He didn't look at the door,
he looked at the notepad in front of me,
where I had mimicked the rhythmic tapping of Evelyn’s pen.
"You saw it too,"
Ethan said,
his voice a low vibration.
"She was sending data,"
I whispered.
"Using a haptic transmitter in the pen."
Sarah leaned in,
her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Evelyn?
She’s been with us since the beginning."
"She helped you secure the first round of funding."
"Which makes her the perfect person to sell us out,"
Ethan noted,
his eyes fixed on the empty chair where she had sat.
"She knows where all the bodies are buried."
"And she knows about the debt,"
I added,
feeling the weight of the secret once again.
Ethan stood up,
walking to the floor-to-ceiling window that looked out over the East River.
"If she’s working for V-Tech,"
"she’s already told them everything."
"The merger isn't a partnership,"
"it's a trap to drain the company of its liquid assets."
"And me?"
"What am I in this plan?"
Ethan turned,
his face shadowed.
"You are the insurance policy."
"They’ll use the legality of our marriage to claim the assets are being mismanaged,"
"move for an emergency conservatorship,"
"and take control of my voting shares."
"Then they’ll discard you."
I felt a coldness settle in my stomach,
not of fear for myself,
but for the man who had spent three years protecting me from this very moment.
"How do we stop them?"
Ethan walked back to me,
reaching down to lift me from the chair.
"We don't stop them,"
he said,
a dark,
lethal smile touching his lips.
"We let them think they’ve won."
"We give them the data they want,"
"but we make sure it’s a poisoned pill."
"And Sarah?"
"Yes,
Ethan?"
"I want a full audit of Evelyn’s accounts."
"Don't go through the internal systems."
"Call the forensic team in London."
"I want her ruined by sunset."
He looked at me then,
and for the first time,
I saw the man who had fought his way out of the shadows to become a billionaire.
He wasn't a hero.
He was a survivor.
And he was finally ready to fight for what was his.
"We’re going to a gala tonight,
Elara,"
he said.
"The V-Tech CEO will be there."
"I want you to wear the blue diamonds."
"I want them to see exactly what they're trying to steal."
I nodded,
May you like
feeling a surge of adrenaline.
The decoration was finally going to show the world she had teeth.
