Chapter 18 - Ethan Makes A Final Desperate Appeal
Late Friday afternoon, I agreed to meet Ethan in the visitor room of the federal courthouse in Alexandria.
He sat across from me at a wooden table, wearing a orange jumpsuit provided by the holding center.
His hair was unwashed, his face was covered in stubble, and the arrogant shine in his eyes was completely gone.
“Mara... thank you for coming,” Ethan whispered, his voice trembling as he looked at my dark business suit.
“I don't have much time, Ethan,” I said, setting my briefcase on the table between us.
“The grand jury is returning the final indictments at 0900 hours on Monday.”
“Please... you have to help me,” Ethan sobbed, leaning across the table until the guard stepped forward warningly.
“My mother forced me into those logistics transfers! She told me it was legal tax mitigation! I didn't know!”
“You signed seventy-two separate fraudulent bills of lading, Ethan,” I pointed out with cold, mathematical precision.
“You signed them because your mother promised you a million-dollar trust fund when you made Lieutenant Colonel.”
“You traded your honor, your oath, and your career for money you didn't even earn.”
Ethan buried his face in his cuffed hands, his shoulders heaving with deep, ugly sobs of complete despair.
“Did you ever love me, Mara?” Ethan asked softly through his tears, looking up at me with red, swollen eyes.
“Or was I just an assignment to you?”
I looked at him for a long, quiet moment, remembering the early days of our marriage when I thought he was a good man.
“I loved the man I thought you were, Ethan,” I answered honestly.
May you like
“The man who served his country with pride and treated people with respect.”
“But that man died the moment you let your mother treat your wife like trash at Table Seven.”
