Chapter 5 - Ethan Sent Emma the Warning
Ethan arrived with an attorney.
He admitted sending the warning.
But he denied working with Marcus.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Everybody keeps saying that while lying to me.”
Ethan explained that he had suspected Marcus for months.
He discovered unexplained transfers from Kane Development accounts.
When he confronted Vanessa privately, she became defensive.
Ethan realized she might be involved.
He wanted evidence before telling Daniel.
So he warned Emma anonymously.
“Why not call me?”
“Because Marcus had access to your corporate phone records.”
Daniel stared.
That was possible.
Marcus oversaw executive security budgets and had relationships with the
company’s telecom vendors.
Ethan feared any direct warning would reach him.
Still, Ethan had withheld critical information.
Daniel did not excuse it.
Then Ethan revealed why he was truly frightened.
Their father, Charles Kane, had discovered similar financial
irregularities shortly before his death four years earlier.
Officially, Charles died from a heart attack.
Ethan had found a draft email on an old backup drive.
MARCUS — WE NEED TO DISCUSS THE ESCROW TRANSFERS. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID.
Daniel felt the room narrow.
“Dad knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I found it two weeks ago.”
The timing mattered.
Ethan found the email.
He began investigating.
Marcus accelerated his plan against Daniel.
Then Emma remembered another detail from her recording.
During Vanessa’s call, Marcus said:
“We already survived Charles.”
At the time, she did not understand.
Now everyone did.
Daniel looked at Officer Cole.
“My father’s death needs another look.”
The officer did not promise a conclusion.
He promised the evidence would be forwarded.
Daniel appreciated the distinction.
Suspicion was not proof.
But Marcus had just become connected to two different crises in the Kane
May you like
family.
And one of them ended with a funeral.
