“You think this was a prank?” John’s frown was a few steps away from being a scowl of anger. “You think people walk around offering death threats for fun?” John demanded.“What?” Ethan was taken aback by the sudden switch in John’s voice.He didn’t doubt that someone might actually have been after his life, but he wanted to shut down the conversation so that he could go and try to figure out who was responsible, as well as make sure no one else was thinking about it.If he had just left after finding out that someone was trying to get him killed, John would have gone home and told his wife about his day, told his buddies too, and before long, it would be everywhere at the facility.Human Resources would want to look into it. They would want to research who he was for their safety and the safety of the other workers.If it gets to that point, he would have to stop his little infiltration plan. Ava wouldn’t even sit for a discussion. He would be forced to make a lot of uninformed deci

Ethan didn’t speak.What was he supposed to say? He could play mental games when John was talking about the threats, but now? How was he supposed to convince them that the money was not a confirmation that someone out there really wanted him dead?Inside, Ethan knew, there was no wriggling out of this.He was hoping to quench their fires and find a quiet place to try to figure out who might have been after him, but now he had no choice.If he hoped to put a lid on this and keep it from blowing out of proportion, he had to figure out who was behind the men looking for him, so he could steer Jane and John away from it.In mere moments, his mind had already tabulated a list of suspects, their motives for wanting him dead.Two seconds had barely passed when his eyes lifted slowly and drifted to Jane.Someone was really after him. They were either bold enough to attack him in broad daylight, or they were cunning enough to use it as a warning.And Jane…Jane was definitely capable of being

The single word cut through her like a blade. She froze mid-breath.“Now,” Ethan continued, unbothered, “... while I absolutely believe you are capable of ordering a hit on me, I also believe you’re not stupid enough to do it without meticulous planning.”He gestured vaguely toward the lobby, the building, the idea of it all.“And from what I’ve heard - from John, and from you too - I see planning everywhere.”“You structured it so cleanly it wouldn’t trace back to you at all, at least not easily. In fact, you made yourself a secondary victim.”“What do you mean?” John asked, intrigued by the connections Ethan was making and how it all made sense.“Well, if those men left all that cash here, what does that tell you?” Ethan asked.John thought for a brief moment before he answered.“It tells me that they are not scared and will be willing to come back here for you at any time.””Exactly,” Ethan nodded in affirmation.“That means that my being here puts everyone at risk,” he said and t

The way to ensure that John would be so disgusted and pissed at Jane that he would never talk about it again was to go for the one thing John cherished so much, his family.Ethan figured that John was a man that cherished his family, and the thought that he had put them in trouble by association would make him so mad at himself he wouldn’t want to talk about it to anyone, and Ethan knew just how to do it.He had just successfully tricked Jane into the spot he needed her to be to kill two birds with one stone.Jane asking why knowing John’s routines mattered was exactly what he needed,“You said you would be losing money if this was actually you, but I don’t think that is true,” Ethan replied.“The money here wasn’t transferred. It was cash.”Jane’s breath caught as she realized he was trying to do something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.“Since it is in cash, who is to say that you didn’t instruct your men to take it back after his shift?” Ethan continued, and Jane knew she

“Your motive is me, obviously,” Jane replied without a hint of hesitation in her voice. She was so confident in her answer.“What?” Ethan raised a brow, genuinely surprised by the words he had just heard.“Yes,” Jane pressed. “You wanted to get back at me for what I did last night at the parking lot.”“You must think so highly of yourself,” Ethan shook his head, almost laughing at her.“So you think I went home last night, and spent my entire time trying to orchestrate all of these? Because of you?”“...” Jane opened her mouth then closed it back.“You are of no consequence to me, Jane. I don’t care what you say, think or do,” Ethan said with a conclusive tone, but she was not about to let it go.“You don’t care what I think but you focused and painted me as the villain to John?” she gritted her teeth, getting more mad just thinking about it.“That tells me something different.”Ethan sighed, frustrated, then closed a little distance between them.“You were the one that was insisting