Chương 5
"What kind of information?"
He swallowed.
"Your finances."
I stared at him.
"Your company structure."
The silence after that was unbearable.
"Your estate."
I stood.
"Ethan."
"Listen to me."
"No."
My voice shook.
"Do you have any idea what you are saying?"
"Yes."
"Then why am I hearing it now?"
He looked down.
Because that was the question.
Not why Victoria did it.
Not why she lied.
Why had he stayed silent?
"I was trying to find out what she was planning."
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"By helping her?"
"I wasn't helping her."
"She had access to information because of you."
"I know."
The admission stopped me.
He looked exhausted.
"I know."
For the first time since entering the office, Ethan looked less like an enemy.
He looked like someone who had made a decision he could not undo.
"I made mistakes."
I said nothing.
"I thought I could control the situation."
There it was.
The same flaw that had destroyed our partnership.
Ethan always believed he could manage consequences after creating them.
"What did you tell her?"
He looked away.
"Enough."
I waited.
"Enough to make her think she had a chance."
The room became quiet.
Outside, people moved through the office hallway.
Phones rang.
Printers worked.
An entire building continued functioning while my life became something I no longer recognized.
"Why?"
Ethan closed his eyes.
"Because I wanted you to lose."
The honesty hurt more than another lie would have.
I said nothing.
He continued.
"After everything that happened between us, I wanted you to understand what it felt like."
"What what felt like?"
"Watching you take the company and walk away like I was nothing."
I stared at him.
"You sued me."
"I know."
"You tried to remove me from the company I built."
"I know."
"Then why are you acting like you were the victim?"
His face tightened.
"Because I was angry."
The answer was simple.
Human.
And somehow more frustrating.
People rarely destroyed things because they thought they were villains.
They destroyed things because they convinced themselves they were justified.
Ethan looked at the photograph.
"Victoria was supposed to expose you."
I froze.
"What?"
"She believed you had something to hide."
"Like what?"
He shook his head.
"She never told me everything."
Another missing piece.
Another incomplete truth.
"Then what did she want?"
Ethan looked at me.
"Your marriage."
A cold feeling moved through my body.
"Why?"
His answer came quietly.
"Because once she became your wife, she believed nobody could stop her."
I looked at Ethan for a long moment.
The person sitting across from me was someone I had once trusted with my company, my money, and parts of my life I rarely shared with anyone.
Now I was trying to understand whether he had been my enemy or just another person who had convinced himself he was doing the right thing.
"Start from the beginning."
Ethan looked toward the window.
"I don't know where the beginning is anymore."
"Try."
He rubbed his hands together.
It was a small gesture.
Something I remembered from years ago.
Ethan only did that when he was uncomfortable.
"I received an email from Victoria's assistant."
"When?"
"About five months ago."
That was before I proposed.
Before I started planning the wedding.
Before I spent months believing I had finally found someone who wanted the same future I did.
"What did the email say?"
"She wanted to meet."
"Why would she contact you?"
Ethan hesitated.
"Because she knew about the lawsuit."
I stared at him.
"Everyone knew about the lawsuit."
"Not everyone knew the details."
The words bothered me.
Because he was right.
The lawsuit had been public enough that people knew something happened.
They did not know the private conversations.
They did not know how angry we both became.
They did not know how many nights I sat in my office wondering if success had turned me into someone who deserved to lose everything.
"What details did she know?"
Ethan looked down.
"Things only someone close to you would know."
The room became quiet.
I thought about Victoria.
The late-night conversations.
The questions she asked.
The moments I thought were curiosity.
"She was gathering information."
"Yes."
"And you helped her."
He did not defend himself this time.
"Yes."
The honesty made it worse.
A lie would have given me something to fight.
Truth just sat there.
Heavy.
"Why didn't you warn me?"
Ethan leaned back.
"At first, I wanted to hurt you."
I looked at him.
He did not look away.
"That was the truth."
The anger came back.
Not because I was surprised.
Because part of me had hoped for something else.
Some explanation that made him less responsible.
Some misunderstanding.
Some accident.
But people rarely ruined relationships accidentally.
They usually did it one small choice at a time.
"I thought if you lost everything, you would finally understand what I felt."
His voice lowered.
"But then I realized I wasn't watching you fail."
He swallowed.
"I was helping someone else use the same anger I had."
I said nothing.
Ethan stood and walked toward a cabinet near the wall.
He opened it and pulled out a folder.
"I kept copies."
I did not move.
"Of what?"
"Messages."
He placed the folder on the desk.
"Between me and Victoria."
I looked at it.
A strange feeling moved through me.
Relief.
Suspicion.
Fear.
All at once.
"Why keep them?"
"Because I knew eventually someone would ask."
"Someone?"
He looked at me.
"You."
I opened the folder.
The first page was a printed email.
Victoria's name appeared at the top.
The message was polite.
Professional.
Almost harmless.
She thanked Ethan for agreeing to speak.
She said she wanted advice about protecting herself financially.
Nothing about stealing.
Nothing about manipulation.
Nothing that proved anything.
Then I read the second page.
The third.
The tone changed.
Slowly.
Almost carefully.
She asked about my habits.
My schedule.
May you like
My decision-making.
How involved I was with company finances.
