Flawless in his custom navy suit.
The same man who had stood beside me at my wife’s funeral.
The same man who had gripped my shoulder and told me I would survive.
He gave me a faint smile.
“Adrian.”
I didn’t offer him a seat.
He noticed.
Of course he did.
Ethan noticed everything.
“I got your message,” I said.
He nodded.
“I assumed you would.”
That made my eyes narrow.
“You assumed?”
He moved closer.
“Adrian, before you make a decision based on incomplete information, we need to discuss what you found.”
Interesting choice of words.
Not what happened.
Not the mistake.
Not the accusation.
What you found.
“You know exactly what I found.”
Ethan sighed.
Then lowered himself into a chair without being invited.
A small thing.
But Ethan always did small things.
Testing boundaries.
“Look,” he said.
“I know what this looks like.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You know what it is.”
For the first time, his expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
A crack.
“You think I stole from you.”
“I think you stole from them.”
I pointed toward the payroll reports.
Ethan glanced at the screen.
Then replied evenly:
“You have no idea what you’re looking at.”
“Then explain it.”
Silence.
“Explain why June Carter was paid half of what my company approved.”
He leaned back.
“June?”
The way he said her name bothered me.
