She Rejected the Poor Boy in College… 5 Years Later, He Became Her Boss!
Chapter 5
Ethan rarely discussed his father.
He had died in a workplace accident.
At least, that’s what the family had been told.
The official report said equipment failure.
But Ethan had never believed it.
His father had been an engineer.
Careful.
Experienced.
The accident made no sense.
Now, five years after building his company, Ethan had finally gained enough resources to investigate.
The old Northstar founder, Thomas Reid, had apparently known something.
Before disappearing, he had left a file in a private storage facility.
Ethan, Emma, and the legal team opened it.
Inside were decades-old financial records.
Payments.
Contracts.
Names.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Victor Shaw.
A former executive.
He had left Northstar shortly before Ethan’s father’s death.
He now served as an adviser to Sterling.
Ethan stared at the name.
“That’s impossible.”
Emma asked:
“Why?”
“My father thought he was a friend.”
The evidence suggested otherwise.
Victor had been moving money through fake contracts.
Ethan’s father discovered it.
Then died.
The investigation was quietly buried.
Emma saw Ethan’s face.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He looked at the records.
“But I know what to do.”
They built a legal case.
Victor denied everything.
The board demanded proof.
Then the company was attacked.
A major data breach exposed private employee information.
The timing was too perfect.
Someone wanted Ethan distracted.
The breach led to a secondary server.
Inside were encrypted files.
Emma discovered something.
A hidden payment.
Made five years ago.
To a private investigator.
The client?
Ethan’s mother.
She had secretly continued investigating his father’s death.
Ethan stared at the document.
“She knew.”
“Maybe.”
He called her.
She cried when he asked.
“I didn’t want you dragged into it.”
“Mom.”
“You were building your life.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wanted one person in this family to have a future without fear.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
His mother admitted that his father had discovered the fraud shortly before his death.
But she had never found proof of murder.
Only evidence of a cover-up.
Then she said something that stopped him.
“Victor wasn’t alone.”
“Who was with him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom.”
“I only know the person who paid for the cover-up wasn’t from Northstar.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“Who?”
She hesitated.
“Someone from Sterling.”
The investigation changed completely.
The fraud was bigger than Northstar.
Victor was connected to people inside Ethan’s new company.
That meant someone close to Ethan had known the truth for years.
Emma asked:
“Who?”
Ethan looked at the files.
“We don’t know yet.”
Then another document appeared.
A transfer from Sterling’s private trust.
Signed by someone with complete executive authority.
Someone sitting on Ethan’s board.
