CHAPTER 2 — THE ENEMY SITTING BESIDE HIM
The lockdown lasted seventeen minutes.
Seventeen minutes where nobody could leave.
Seventeen minutes where Ethan watched every person in that room.
Because one of them was responsible.
The federal investigators immediately took control.
Documents were collected.
Computers were frozen.
Security footage was copied.
But Ethan knew something was wrong.
Someone was too calm.
Vanessa.
While everyone else panicked, she stood silently.
Watching.
Waiting.
Like she already knew what would happen next.
Later that afternoon, Ethan entered his father’s private office for the first time since the funeral.
Everything was exactly the same.
The leather chair.
The old wooden desk.
The family photos.
But something felt different.
Someone had been there.
The drawers were organized too perfectly.
The books were moved slightly.
Ethan opened the hidden compartment beneath the desk.
Empty.
Someone had already searched the room.
Then he found something carved into the wood.
A small message.
Three words.
"Trust Olivia Gray."
Ethan frowned.
Olivia Gray.
The company’s former financial director.
She disappeared two weeks before his father died.
Everyone said she resigned.
But Ethan knew his father.
Richard never fired talented people.
Not without a reason.
That night, Ethan found Olivia living in a small apartment across town.
When she opened the door and saw him, her face turned pale.
"You’re alive."
Ethan stared.
"What does that mean?"
Olivia looked terrified.
"Your father told me if anything happened to him, I should disappear."
"Why?"
She swallowed.
"Because Vanessa Cross wasn't working alone."
Ethan stepped closer.
"Who was she working with?"
Olivia looked behind him.
Then whispered:
"The person who controls the entire board."
A cold silence filled the room.
"Who?"
Olivia’s eyes filled with fear.
"Your uncle."
May you like
Ethan froze.
Because his uncle had been the one person his father trusted.
