Chapter 8 - THE MAN WHO STOOD BESIDE THE CASKET
Ethan Reed had attended both funerals.
Marcus’s.
Elena’s.
Naomi remembered him hugging her after Marcus died.
Telling her Marcus had loved her.
Telling her to call if she ever needed anything.
Now his voice had warned her away.
Damon ordered security to bring Ethan in for questioning at company headquarters.
Ethan never arrived.
His office was empty.
Laptop gone.
Company phone destroyed in a trash compactor.
Victor claimed ignorance.
“I haven’t spoken to him since yesterday,” he told Damon’s attorneys.
Theo proved that was a lie within an hour.
Victor and Ethan had exchanged fourteen encrypted messages overnight.
Damon’s board called an emergency session.
For the first time in Ashford Holdings history, Victor was temporarily suspended from financial authority.
He smiled through the entire meeting.
“You’re letting grief make decisions for you.”
Damon leaned across the table.
“No. Records are.”
Victor looked toward the directors.
“You all know Elena was fragile near the end.”
Damon’s hands tightened.
Then Naomi’s voice came from the doorway.
“She was sick because someone wanted her sick.”
Everyone turned.
Naomi should not have been there.
Damon had told her to stay home with Zuri.
Instead, she carried a black binder.
“Marcus left this with a college friend,” she said.
Damon stood.
“What?”
“I remembered something last night. After Marcus died, his friend Caleb kept calling. I thought he was checking on me. He was trying to give me something.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“I changed numbers.”
Caleb had kept the binder for three years.
Inside were Marcus’s audit notes.
Victor’s name appeared repeatedly.
So did Ethan’s.
But neither sat at the top of Marcus’s diagram.
A third name did.
CHARLES ASHFORD.
Damon closed his eyes.
Marcus believed Charles discovered the theft before Elena did.
Instead of reporting it, he created a private repayment plan designed to replace the stolen funds quietly.
Victor had diverted foundation money.
Charles covered the shortage with company transfers to protect the family name.
Then the scheme grew too large.
Elena found it.
Marcus confirmed it.
And suddenly two people were dead.
Victor stared at the binder.
“You have no proof anyone killed them.”
Naomi’s face hardened.
“Not yet.”
For the first time, Victor looked nervous.
Then a board member asked the question everyone had avoided.
“Why would Ethan warn Naomi now?”
Theo answered.
“Because Ethan is trying to leave the country.”
Airport security records showed he had booked a flight to Panama under a second passport.
Corporate security reached the private terminal before boarding.
Ethan was detained for questioning by federal investigators already examining the foundation transfers.
Within hours, his attorney requested a cooperation meeting.
Victor’s face finally changed.
Damon received one message from investigators that evening.
Ethan was willing to talk.
But only if Naomi Carter was present.
When she entered the interview room, Ethan looked at her and began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Naomi sat across from him.
“For what?”
He looked toward Damon.
Then back to Naomi.
“Marcus called me from his car the night he died.”
Naomi stopped breathing.
May you like
Ethan whispered:
“He told me someone was following him.”
