Chapter 5 - Unraveling the Lies
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General Hayes turned his head slightly toward the back of the auditorium. “Agent Ross, step forward.”
A tall man in a dark tailored suit stood up from the back row and walked briskly down the aisle, holding a leather folder.
“Mr. Ethan Vance,” Agent Ross said, opening the folder. “In addition to the assault on an active military officer today, you are currently under investigation for corporate espionage and wire fraud involving your employer, Apex Defense Logistics.”
Ethan stumbled backward, catching himself against a row of chairs. “What? That’s crazy! I don't—I don't have access to classified logistics!”
“No,” Agent Ross said smoothly. “But you used your wife’s military credentials without her knowledge to access federal procurement databases. You’ve been selling supply-chain schedules to unauthorized third parties for the past fourteen months to cover your personal gambling debts.”
The auditorium gasped.
I stared at Ethan in absolute shock. All those times he insisted on 'helping' me clean my home office, all those times my laptop had been moved slightly on my desk—he wasn't just being a controlling husband. He was using me.
“No… no, Clara, listen to me!” Ethan panicked, looking down at me on the floor. “They’re lying! I did it for us! I was trying to build us a future!”
“You did it to pay off three hundred thousand dollars in illicit debt,” Agent Ross countered flatly. “And your mother, Margaret Vance, was a co-signatory on the shell account used to launder the wire transfers.”
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Margaret let out a strangled shriek and clutched the edge of a chair to keep from fainting.
“You thought your wife was weak because she stayed quiet to keep the peace,” General Hayes whispered, bending down until he was nose-to-nose with Ethan. “You thought her kindness was vulnerability. You had no idea she was the only thing keeping a federal indictment from crushing your entire family.”
