Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN THE PARKING GARAGE
Laura was found inside the hospital parking garage.
She sat in the back of an abandoned ambulance.
Her wrists were tied.
A wound marked the side of her head.
At first, she claimed Ethan had kidnapped her.
Then Mara showed her the recovered messages.
Laura stopped crying.
She asked for an attorney.
I watched through a secure video link from my room.
Liam sat beside me with an oxygen tube beneath his nose.
He had refused admission to another department.
Doctors made terrible patients.
Laura entered the interview room wearing a hospital gown.
She looked smaller without her executive clothes.
Mara placed photographs of my injuries on the table.
“Did you know Ethan planned to attack Sarah?”
“No.”
“Did you put tranquilizer in her dessert?”
Laura stared at the photographs.
“I was told it would make her calm.”
“Calm for what?”
“A conversation.”
“About the audit?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you warn Ethan?”
“Because Apex would collapse.”
Mara leaned forward.
“Sarah’s audit was designed to prevent collapse.”
“No.”
Laura’s voice sharpened.
“It would expose the city contracts.”
“The banks would freeze credit.”
“Employees would lose everything.”
“So you chose to poison the majority owner.”
“I chose to delay her.”
The words sounded like Ethan.
Every crime became temporary when described by the person committing it.
A temporary transfer.
A temporary incapacity.
A temporary disappearance.
Mara showed her the message.
THEN STOP ASKING.
“What did you believe that meant?”
Laura’s face tightened.
“I thought he would force her to sign.”
“How?”
“He had used physical pressure before.”
Liam closed his eyes.
I did not.
I needed to watch her say it.
“You knew he hit me,” I whispered.
The microphone in the interview room carried my voice.
Laura looked toward the camera.
She knew I was watching.
“I suspected.”
“You saw bruises.”
“You lied to me.”
“I was scared for the company.”
“You were scared for your shares.”
She looked down.
Ethan had promised Laura twelve percent ownership after taking control.
He also promised they would run Apex together.
Their affair had lasted eighteen months.
Laura insisted she loved him.
Mara opened a separate email.
Ethan had arranged a life-insurance policy on Laura.
Ten million dollars.
Dr. Vale signed the medical forms.
The beneficiary was a shell company controlled by Ethan.
Laura read it.
Her hands began shaking.
“He said it protected the business.”
“He planned to kill you too,” Mara said.
“No.”
“Your blood was in the car.”
“Your handbag was placed near the forged psychiatric order.”
“He intended to frame Sarah for attacking you.”
Laura looked toward the camera again.
For the first time, her shame appeared larger than her fear.
“Ethan said Sarah would never leave.”
“He said she needed the company too much.”
I answered through the speaker.
“He confused what I built with what I loved.”
Laura began crying.
Not because she regretted warning him.
Because she finally understood she had never been his partner.
Only another asset.
She agreed to cooperate.
She gave Mara the location of Ethan’s hidden financial server.
It was inside an unfinished Apex apartment tower near the river.
She also revealed Dr. Vale’s role.
Vale had falsified safety inspections on three public-housing projects.
One building was currently occupied.
Its support beams did not meet code.
If the records became public, hundreds of families would require immediate relocation.
Ethan had planted explosives inside the unfinished tower to destroy the server.
The detonation system was connected to a remote device.
Laura did not know who had it.
Then my hospital television activated.
Ethan appeared on-screen inside the tower.
He held the remote.
“Sarah.”
May you like
“You wanted the truth.”
“Come watch what it costs.”
