Chapter 4 - The Unraveling LieHiding inside a cramped electrical closet near the kitchen, Emma helped bandage Ethan’s bruised arms. William sat on a crate, his face pale as he processed the reality of his life over the past month.
"I didn't see it," William whispered, shaking his head. "She looked like her, sounded like her... I thought she was just distant because of the wedding stress."
"She was poisoning Ethan slowly, Mr. Sterling," Emma said softly. "The 'family trip to Maine' was a cover to keep him away while she extracted whatever data she was looking for."
Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, metallic flash drive attached to a silver chain. "She was looking for this," he whispered. "Mom gave it to me before she died. She told me never to let anyone take it, not even Dad."
William blinked in shock. "Your mother gave you that? What is on it?"
"It’s not just financial data," Ethan said, his voice trembling. "Mom told me that if anything ever happened to her, it meant Dad's company was involved in something terrible."
William’s expression hardened. "That's impossible. My late wife, Evelyn, died in a car accident!"
"It wasn't an accident," a voice called out from the dark hallway outside the closet.
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The closet door was kicked open. Standing there was not Victoria, but William’s chief head of security, Marcus, holding a silenced pistol aimed directly at William's chest.
"You really were kept in the dark, weren't you, Mr. Sterling?" Marcus sneered. "Evelyn found out about the offshore network three years ago. Victoria didn't infiltrate your life on her own—she was hired by your own board of directors."
