Chapter 14 - THE WOMAN ETHAN TRUSTED MOST
Margaret Sloan had been Ethan’s general counsel for eleven years.
She had handled Amelia’s estate.
Lily’s supposed death certificate.
Charles’s probate.
Victor’s temporary succession authority.
Every major legal event after the hospital fire had passed through her hands.
Ethan felt foolish for not seeing it.
Margaret was arrested before sunrise.
She did not resist.
When Ethan entered the interrogation room, she looked almost relieved.
“You finally found the account.”
“You helped them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Margaret folded her hands.
“Because Victor owned me before you ever hired me.”
She explained that her father had accumulated millions in illegal gambling debts.
Victor paid them.
In return, Margaret entered Blackwood Holdings and became his source inside Ethan’s legal department.
“At first, it was documents.”
“Schedules.”
“Private conversations.”
“Then Amelia discovered the offshore accounts.”
“And you gave Victor the warning.”
Margaret nodded.
Ethan’s voice became colder.
“That warning led to the fire.”
“I know.”
“Twenty-three people died.”
“I know.”
“My wife lost seven years.”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“My daughters were stolen.”
“I know.”
Ethan leaned across the table.
“No.”
“You know words.”
“You do not know what those words cost.”
Margaret looked away.
Then she gave him something unexpected.
“The account contains more than payments.”
“What else?”
“Video archives.”
Victor had recorded people committing crimes.
Executives.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officers.
He used the recordings as insurance.
One file was labeled A.B.
Amelia Blackwood.
Margaret had never seen its contents.
Ethan ordered investigators to open it.
The video had been recorded the night before the hospital fire.
Amelia stood inside Charles Blackwood’s study.
She was speaking to someone outside the camera frame.
“I copied everything.”
A male voice answered.
“You should never have opened that safe.”
Amelia held her pregnant stomach.
“If Ethan sees these accounts, he’ll go to federal authorities.”
The man stepped into frame.
Victor.
Then another voice came from behind the camera.
“Take the copies from her.”
Charles.
Ethan stopped the video.
He could not continue.
Amelia, now recovering in a private hospital suite, insisted he play the rest.
She needed to know too.
The video resumed.
Charles entered the frame.
But instead of helping Victor, he stood between Victor and Amelia.
“Leave her alone.”
Victor laughed.
“You created this problem.”
“I’ll deal with Ethan.”
“No.”
Amelia backed toward the door.
Victor suddenly pulled a gun.
Charles grabbed his arm.
The recording ended.
Amelia stared at the blank screen.
“I remember.”
Ethan turned toward her.
“What?”
“The gun.”
“The argument.”
“Your father told me to run.”
Ethan’s assumptions shifted again.
Charles was guilty of corruption.
Guilty of silence.
Guilty of hiding Amelia afterward.
But perhaps he had not ordered her murder.
Then Amelia whispered.
“There was another person in the study that night.”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see his face.”
“But Victor called him Judge.”
Ethan and Samuel looked at each other.
There was only one federal judge who had been closely tied to Blackwood Holdings for decades.
May you like
Judge Henry Vale.
The man currently assigned to Victor Blackwood’s criminal case.
