Chapter 92

Chapter 92

There was nothing about this man that said "we can talk about this."

He wasn't here to negotiate.

He was here to make everyone in the room understand who had the right to set the rules tonight.

Ethan stopped walking, swept his gaze across the hall, and spoke in a calm that was somehow more frightening than anger.

"Everyone here?"

Eddie forced himself to answer. "Everyone who could make it... is here."

"Could make it?"

Ethan looked at him, his expression completely flat. "So the ones who couldn't — did they run, or are you stalling for them?"

The temperature in the room dropped instantly.

Someone behind Eddie already had sweat on his forehead.

The question was too blunt. No room to breathe, no room to dodge.

Eddie's expression darkened, and he finally gave in.

"Two people are still on their way."

"Names."

"Kroll. Kalman."

"What do they do?"

"One handles outside procurement. The other handles internal HR."

Schumann stood to the side, listening, and the coldness in his eyes kept growing.

Because those two positions — one facing out, one facing in — were exactly where tonight's mess was most likely to have started.

One who could reach people on the outside. One who knew everything happening inside the company.

Ethan walked forward a couple of steps and sat down in the single chair in the center of the hall.

Only after he sat did he look up at Eddie. "Talk. When did you find out Lena had been taken tonight?"

Eddie was quiet for two seconds. "After you did."

"How much after?"

"Less than twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes." Ethan repeated it, his voice giving nothing away. "A living person gets pulled out of the company, handed off to Black Tiger Society, then sent to the lake house — and you found out twenty minutes later. You actually believe that?"

Eddie's back went rigid.

He didn't believe it for a second.

But he also understood that tonight, the real question wasn't about belief. It was whether Ethan was going to let him stay alive long enough to keep talking.

Someone in the hall tried to speak up. "Sir, Black Tiger Society did act without any warning on their end, so we—"

They didn't get to finish. Schumann was already moving, grabbed the man by the back of the neck, and slammed him down onto the table.

The man's face caught the corner of the table. He made a choked sound of pain.

Schumann kept his hand pressed down on the back of the man's neck, his voice low and sharp. "He didn't ask you. Who told you to open your mouth?"

No one else moved.

Eddie's eye twitched hard, but he didn't try to stop it.

Because he had figured it out. Whether he kept his position tonight — whether he kept his life tonight — didn't depend on what rules already existed in this room. It depended on whether Ethan decided to give them any rules at all.

Ethan kept his eyes on Eddie. "Who does Decker belong to?"

This time Eddie didn't hesitate. "He was built up by Vertex Holdings Group itself."

"You didn't know?"

"I knew something."

"Knew something — or left it alone on purpose?"

"He hadn't done anything out in the open yet. I was going to wait and see."

Ethan smiled.

It was a small smile. But the moment Eddie saw it, his stomach dropped.

Because the calmer Ethan looked, the more it meant he was already past the point of holding it back.

"People like you love that phrase." Ethan leaned back in the chair, his voice still even. "'Wait and see.' Someone underneath you gets dirty — you wait and see. Someone outside comes looking for trouble — you wait and see. And then when someone actually ends up in a death trap, you step forward and say things got out of hand."

No one said a word.

The only sound in the hall was breathing, getting heavier by the second.

Ethan's gaze moved across the faces near him. "Everyone sitting in this room tonight — every single one of you. If you knew in advance something was going to happen to Lena, if you ever had contact with Decker, if you opened any door for Black Tiger Society — step forward now, and I'll at least let you kneel with some dignity."

The moment he said it, several faces changed.

Not everyone had actually crossed a line. But anyone who had gotten close to Decker before tonight felt their chest tighten.

Eddie finally spoke.

"Sir, we can give you a full account of everything, but you have to give us some time to sort through—"

"You've got it wrong."

Ethan cut him off. "You're not giving me an account of anything."

"What you're doing right now is getting on your knees and begging me to give you a chance to explain."

The hall went completely silent.

Some faces had already gone pale.

Some people dropped their eyes, unable to look at Ethan.

Two people standing further back looked like their legs were about to give out.

Schumann was watching all of it, and suddenly pointed.

"Sir. Third one on the left. His eyes have shifted three times."

The man flinched hard. "I didn't — I was just—"

"Just what?" Schumann stared at him. "Waiting for someone else to go down first, so you could see if you could slip through?"

The man's lips started shaking. He couldn't get a full sentence out.

Ethan looked at him. "Name."

"Jack."

"What do you do?"

"Internal HR assistant."

"How many times did Decker pass messages out?"

Jack went white.

Eddie snapped his head around to look at him, and for the first time genuine anger flashed in his eyes.

Because Ethan had aimed at exactly the right spot.

Jack's throat tightened. His whole body started to shake. "I... I only helped pass things along twice. It wasn't my idea. Decker said it was just a routine personnel transfer. Just..."

"Just that you got paid for it." Ethan finished the sentence for him.

Jack collapsed.

That was as good as a confession.

Schumann walked over and drove a kick into the back of his knee. Jack went down, his knees hitting the marble floor with a crack that rang through the room.

"Keep talking." Schumann looked down at him. "A routine personnel transfer lands someone in Black Tiger Society's hands?"

Jack's forehead nearly touched the floor, his voice coming out in broken pieces. "I really didn't know it would go this far. I was just passing along what was happening inside the company at night. Decker said he just wanted to make her stumble — make Lena look bad in the south district. He said nobody would get seriously hurt."

Ethan's eyes went cold, one degree at a time.

"So you knew."

Jack broke completely. "I knew Decker wanted to go after her. But I never thought it would end up at the lake house. I really never thought—"

"You don't need to have thought about it."

Ethan's voice stayed flat. "You just need to admit that you did it."

Jack opened his mouth and couldn't find a single thing to say against it.

Because he had done it.

It didn't matter that he thought he was only passing messages. Once he'd done that, everything that came after was already tied to him.

Eddie's expression turned completely dark.

He had been planning to pin everything on Decker and Black Tiger Society. But now that Jack was on his knees, that was finished — it meant someone inside had already been involved.