They Humiliated the Poor Cleaner… Until the CEO Walked In
Chapter 6
Clara confronted Ethan the next morning.
He was in his private office when she walked in without knocking.
“Did your father pay you?”
Ethan looked up.
“For what?”
“To stay silent about mine.”
His face changed.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Someone texted me.”
“Show me.”
She handed him the phone.
He read the message.
Then he sat back.
“That’s a lie.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was never paid.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You knew something.”
“I suspected.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No.”
He stood.
“Clara, I was twenty-two.”
“You were old enough to speak.”
“I wasn’t brave enough.”
She stared at him.
“Then tell me everything.”
Ethan took a breath.
“My father discovered that someone inside the company was stealing money.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because he thought I was being watched.”
Clara crossed her arms.
“What happened the night my father disappeared?”
Ethan looked away.
“I saw him.”
“You saw my father?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At the underground parking garage.”
Clara’s voice trembled.
“What did he say?”
“He told me to stay away.”
“Why?”
“He said if I got involved, your family would be killed.”
Clara froze.
“What else?”
Ethan hesitated.
“He gave me something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“Where is it?”
Ethan walked to a safe.
He opened it.
Inside was a small brass key.
Clara stared.
“Why did you keep it?”
“Because I promised him I wouldn’t lose it.”
She took it.
“Do you know what it opens?”
“No.”
She turned it over.
A number was engraved on it.
Ethan frowned.
“That’s a hotel room.”
“Which hotel?”
“The old Halston Hotel.”
Clara’s eyes widened.
“My father stayed there.”
“How do you know?”
“He wrote it in my mother’s birthday card.”
They drove there immediately.
The hotel had been closed for years.
Room 417 still existed.
The door opened with the key.
Inside was almost nothing.
A desk.
A broken lamp.
An old suitcase.
Clara opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Her father.
Her mother.
And Ethan’s father.
Together.
Clara stared.
“They knew each other.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
Then she found a letter.
It was addressed to her.
Clara,
If you are reading this, I failed to protect you.
Her eyes filled with tears.
The letter continued.
Your mother knows the truth about Orion.
Clara’s breath caught.
Her mother had died when Clara was nineteen.
She had believed her mother knew nothing.
Then came the sentence that shattered everything.
Richard Cole did not betray me. He was trying to save me.
Ethan read over her shoulder.
His face went pale.
“My father wasn’t part of it.”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
She kept reading.
The person you should fear is the man everyone trusts.
There was no name.
Only a photograph.
Clara picked it up.
She recognized the face immediately.
Daniel Reed.
Ethan’s trusted lawyer.
