Arthur’s eyes stayed fixed on the coffee sitting inside the evidence bag.
That tiny glance told me everything I needed to know.
He knew.
He knew the coffee had been tampered with.
And he knew exactly what was supposed to happen after I drank it.
“Take him,” I told Marcus.
Arthur suddenly turned and ran toward the fire exit.
Security officers moved immediately.
Within seconds, they caught him before he could reach the elevators and forced his hands behind his back.
I stood behind the glass doors, watching the man I had trusted for years being handcuffed.
But my anger wasn’t the strongest emotion I felt.
It was betrayal.
I turned back toward Ethan and opened Clara’s journal again.
His mother had discovered that people inside my company were secretly changing safety-test results for our new artificial heart valves. The designs were being stolen and sold to a rival company.
Clara had tried to stop them.
She had confronted Arthur.
And then she had died.
I looked at Ethan.
“Did your mother know she was in danger?”
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
“She told me she was scared.”
My heart sank.
“She told me that if she didn’t come home, I had to bring the journal to you.”
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Three weeks ago, I had stood at Clara’s funeral believing I had lost a dear friend to a tragic accident.
Now I understood that she may have been murdered because she discovered the truth.
And then I realized something even more painful.
Ethan had lost his mother.
He had been carrying her final instructions alone.
And somehow, despite being only ten years old, he had found the courage to walk into a building filled with strangers and warn me that someone was trying to kill me.
I knelt beside him.
“Ethan, you don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
He looked at me.
But instead of looking relieved, he asked a question that broke my heart.
“Where am I going to go now?”
I didn’t have an answer yet.
But I knew one thing.
I wasn’t going to let this brave little boy walk back into the world alone.
And before that day ended, I would make him a promise that would change both of our lives forever.
