Chapter 102

Chapter 102

"What's your name?"

The man stiffened all at once, straightening his back on instinct. "My name is Levi. I'm in charge of logistics coordination for this division."

"Logistics coordination." Ethan repeated the words, then said, flat and even, "Last night — the vehicle rerouting and road closures in the south district. How many times did you put your hands in that?"

The moment the words landed, the entire conference hall went dead silent.

Eddie whipped his head around and stared at the man, real killing intent rising in his eyes for the first time.

Because Ethan had hit too close to home.

The color drained from Levi's face in an instant. Even his lips had gone tight. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You don't know?" Ethan finally sat down. His fingers came to rest on the armrest and tapped it once, lightly. "Let me rephrase. Last night, at 10:42 PM, the lockdown on the south district freight line was supposed to tighten twenty minutes earlier. Who told you to hold the order until 11:07?"

Levi went completely rigid.

Because that timestamp was too specific.

Specific enough that no one could mistake it for a bluff.

Eddie felt his stomach drop.

He'd always known there were dirty hands inside Dragon Security Bureau's Chicago division — there was no other explanation for how badly things had fallen apart last night. But he'd assumed those people had only dragged their feet a little, taken advantage of the timing. He'd never imagined it had already gone this far.

Ethan watched him, nothing in his eyes at all. "You can tell me yourself, or I can tell it for you."

Levi's throat tightened. Sweat broke out across his forehead in waves.

No one in the hall dared to say a word.

Because everyone could see what this was. They hadn't been called here for a meeting. They'd been called here to settle accounts.

Levi finally broke. He dropped to his knees. "I just took a message from outside." His voice was shaking badly. "I thought it was just a routine delay on the order. I had no idea it would end up involving that young lady."

When Eddie heard that, everything in front of him went dark for a second.

Ethan looked at him, his voice going even flatter. "Whose message?"

"I..." Levi bit down on his lip, looking like he was trying to stall just a little longer.

Ethan raised his eyes. "It seems you still don't understand. I didn't come here today to listen to you play innocent."

The next second, the two guards standing at Levi's sides moved in simultaneously — fast enough that no one could react — and grabbed him by the shoulders, one on each side, then drove him hard into the floor.

The dull impact made several people in the back rows go pale.

The pain nearly blacked Levi out. Before he could even try to struggle, his left arm was already pinned to the floor under a boot.

A scream started to rise, then was cut off.

Ethan was still sitting right where he'd been, hadn't shifted his posture at all. "Last chance," he said. "Whose message?"

Levi shattered completely. "It was Cruz!" He practically screamed it. "Cruz had someone pass the word — said just push the timing back a little, don't ask anything else. That's the only thing I did. I really didn't know it was going to blow up like this."

The conference hall went quiet again.

Everyone knew who Cruz was.

One of the deputy directors of Dragon Security Bureau's Chicago division. He'd always kept a low profile, but he had a talent for trading favors. Most people had written him off as just smooth and politically savvy. Now it was clear — it wasn't savvy. He'd been rotten through and through for a long time.

Eddie slowly turned his head toward the face on his left that had shown almost no expression this whole time.

Cruz was still standing. More than half the color had left his face, but he was somehow still on his feet.

"Mayor." He finally spoke. His voice was steady enough, considering. "There were real failures in the division's response last night — no question about that. But pinning everything on me based solely on a statement from one logistics officer seems like a stretch."

The words sent a ripple of tension through the people behind him.

No one had expected him to push back. Not now. Not here.

Eddie's expression darkened, but before he could speak, Ethan was already looking at Cruz. "You think it's a stretch?"

"I do." Cruz held his ground. "Dragon Security Bureau isn't a place where anyone gets to decide someone's fate on their word alone — even the mayor. There should be evidence."

Eddie understood immediately.

Cruz wasn't stupid, and this wasn't impulse. He knew that if he admitted it now, it was over. So he had to gamble. If he could hold the line — keep pushing the idea that a single statement wasn't enough — there might still be a way out on the other side.

Too bad he'd read the table wrong.

Ethan looked at him, and then he smiled. Just slightly.

"Evidence?" he said. "Sure."

Something lurched in Cruz's chest. He didn't know why, but the smile made it worse.

The next second, the side door of the conference hall swung open from the outside.

Jennifer walked in.

She was dressed simply. In her hand was a thin black folder. She came through the door, let her gaze sweep over Levi kneeling on the floor, then glanced at Cruz. Something faintly contemptuous crossed her face and was gone.

"Good timing," Ethan said. "Someone here wants to talk about evidence."

Jennifer nodded. She set the folder on the table. "Then let's talk."

She opened to the first page. Her voice was quiet but landed cleanly in every set of ears in the room. "Last night at 9:57 PM, Cruz's private external terminal placed one call to the transit department of Vertex Holdings Group. Duration: three minutes and sixteen seconds. At 10:09 PM, one call to a backup number registered to Decker. Duration: forty-seven seconds. At 10:21 PM, an internal directive was issued through the logistics department to delay the order's release. The directive number has been pulled. At 10:31 PM, a short-burst coded message was transmitted via a third-party relay unit toward the lakeside villa. The contents have been reconstructed."

With each sentence, Cruz lost another shade of color.

By the end, there was almost nothing left.

Because Jennifer wasn't speaking in vague terms. She had call logs. Directive numbers. The contents of the coded message. Real, specific, documented evidence.

Once something like that was on the table, he had nowhere to hide.

Eddie stood to the side, his fingers going tense.

Jennifer closed the folder and looked at Cruz. "Do you want to keep going?"

Cruz's lips moved. For a long moment, nothing came out.

Because at this point, anything he said would just sound like a joke.