Ethan’s Explanation
Chapter 04 - Ethan’s Explanation
Ethan arrived without Vanessa.
He wore no tuxedo now, only a navy suit and the expression he used during charity interviews.
“I was frightened,” he said.
Olivia sat across from him in the clinic conference room.
Eleanor and Detective Ortiz listened from the adjoining office.
“You packed my suitcases.”
“You threatened to destroy the company in front of investors.”
“I asked about a forged transfer.”
“I was trying to keep twelve thousand employees from losing their jobs.”
Ethan claimed Sterling debt had become impossible after Vale Holdings raised interest rates. Vanessa designed a temporary transfer that would stabilize the hotels until the baby was born.
“Why does the baby matter?” Olivia asked.
Ethan hesitated.
Under Claire Vale’s original trust, Olivia’s first child would receive an additional fifteen percent of Vale voting rights. As the child’s father, Ethan planned to seek joint control.
He insisted he never intended to take the shares permanently.
“You prepared a psychiatric declaration.”
“For emergencies.”
“You froze my money.”
“To stop you from making decisions while upset.”
“You threw me outside in a storm.”
“I knew the clinic car was coming.”
There had been no clinic car.
Ethan looked toward the dark observation glass.
Olivia realized he understood the room was monitored.
He shifted his language carefully.
“I made mistakes. But Vanessa designed the legal strategy.”
“So you were manipulated?”
“Yes.”
“Then help me prove it.”
Ethan agreed too quickly.
Olivia slid a document across the table.
It was a false transfer order only Detective Ortiz possessed.
If Ethan took it to Vanessa, police would know they were still communicating.
He placed the paper inside his briefcase.
“I’ll fix this.”
After he left, Ortiz tracked him.
Ethan drove directly to a private airport hangar.
Vanessa was waiting beside a jet.
So was Olivia’s obstetrician, Dr. Paul Danner.
May you like
The doctor had signed the false incapacity report.
They were preparing to leave the country.
