A Man Saved a Female CEO’s Life One Night—Then Walked Into Her Company for an Interview the Very Next Morning
Chapter 4
Ethan’s first week at Halston Technologies was harder than expected.
His supervisor, Mark Reynolds, didn’t like him.
Not because Ethan was incompetent.
Because everyone knew the CEO had personally approved his hiring.
“You got lucky,” Mark told him on Monday morning.
Ethan kept sorting invoices.
“Maybe.”
“Most people wait months for an interview.”
“I waited four months.”
Mark looked at him.
“You know what I mean.”
Ethan did.
He ignored the comment.
His job involved coordinating deliveries, checking inventory, resolving vendor disputes, and tracking internal transfers.
Within three days, he noticed something strange.
Several shipments were being recorded as delivered.
But the warehouse never received them.
He brought the discrepancy to Mark.
“These invoices don’t match the receiving logs.”
Mark barely looked.
“Accounting handles that.”
“But the numbers are wrong.”
“Then send them to accounting.”
Ethan frowned.
He did.
Accounting replied that the warehouse records were wrong.
Ethan checked again.
They weren’t.
Someone was moving money through fake shipments.
That evening, Victoria called him.
“Your first week?”
“Busy.”
“Regrets?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He hesitated.
“There is something I found.”
“What?”
“Possibly nothing.”
“Tell me.”
“Several shipments don’t exist.”
Victoria became silent.
“Send me the details.”
“I already did.”
She opened the files.
Her expression changed.
“How did you find these?”
“They were in the receiving records.”
“I’ve had internal auditors looking for discrepancies for six months.”
“Maybe they weren’t looking in the right place.”
Victoria smiled.
“Come upstairs.”
Ethan arrived twenty minutes later.
Victoria had already pulled up the records.
“Look here.”
She pointed to a company called Northbridge Logistics.
“They’re one of our approved vendors.”
Ethan nodded.
“But their invoices are almost identical.”
“Exactly.”
She opened another file.
Different dates.
Different amounts.
Same formatting.
Ethan studied the documents.
“Someone is copying the invoices.”
“And charging Halston for deliveries that never happened.”
“How much?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Seven million dollars.”
Ethan stared.
“That can’t be accidental.”
“No.”
“Who approved them?”
Victoria showed him.
Three names.
The chief financial officer.
The head of procurement.
And the chief operating officer.
Ethan looked at the screen.
“That’s three executives.”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust them?”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“I trusted them.”
Suddenly the office lights flickered.
Victoria looked toward the door.
“Did you hear that?”
Ethan stood.
A faint sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
They moved away quickly.
Ethan opened the door.
Nobody was there.
But on the floor was a small black object.
A USB drive.
Victoria picked it up.
“Don’t plug that in.”
Ethan nodded.
She called security.
Five minutes later, the drive was being examined.
Then Victoria received an anonymous message.
STOP LOOKING.
Another appeared.
THE MAN YOU HIRED WON’T SAVE YOU TWICE.
Victoria looked at Ethan.
His face had gone pale.
“They know about you.”
Ethan looked toward the glass windows overlooking Chicago.
“They knew before I arrived.”
And suddenly, his job wasn’t just a job anymore.
Someone inside Halston Technologies knew exactly who he was.
