Chapter 12 - Ethan's Choice
We found Ethan's car abandoned two miles from the restaurant.
His phone was inside.
So was his wallet.
But there was no sign of him.
Beatrice blamed herself.
I refused to let her collapse.
“Ethan left something behind.”
“What?”
“His knife roll.”
Inside it was a folded piece of paper.
Three words.
“Old delivery dock.”
We drove there immediately.
The dock had been abandoned for years.
When we arrived, Ethan was sitting inside an empty office.
He was shaken but unharmed.
Julian had taken him there to force him to reveal where Daniel's records were.
Ethan had lied.
He told Julian the records had been destroyed.
Julian believed him.
Barely.
Then Ethan gave us something.
A second phone.
He had secretly recorded Julian.
The recording was enough to establish that Julian knew about the false invoices, the shell companies, and the old fire.
But there was one problem.
Julian wasn't the final decision-maker.
At the end of the recording, he received a call.
His voice changed.
“Yes, sir.”
Then:
“I'll handle Moretti.”
The call ended.
I looked at Marco.
“Who was on the other end?”
“We don't know.”
Then Beatrice remembered something.
“The property owner.”
“What about him?”
“Julian always met him privately.”
“Where?”
She gave us the address.
A private dining room in another restaurant.
We went there that night.
Julian was already waiting.
He didn't look surprised.
“You should have walked away, Clara.”
I stood across from him.
“You should have treated your employees like human beings.”
His expression hardened.
“You have no idea what you're interfering with.”
“I know enough.”
He smiled.
“You think exposing me will save everyone?”
“No.”
I took a breath.
“It will give them a chance to save themselves.”
Julian looked toward the door.
Then a man entered.
Older.
Calm.
Impossibly composed.
He looked at me.
Then at Beatrice.
And finally at the evidence in my hand.
He said one sentence.
“Put everything down, Clara.”
I recognized his voice.
May you like
He had been the man in the cellar.
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