Ethan let her words wash over him, steadying him more than he expected, but there was still one thing that was bugging him.“…And the restaurant?” he asked at last. “Buying it that night. Wasn’t that excessive? Reckless?”Ava didn’t answer right away either.Her silence stretched long enough that he felt his heartbeat in his throat.Finally, she said quietly, “I don’t know why you’re doubting yourself so much today. But no, I do not think you acted recklessly.” “Master Ethan, you have a reputation to maintain as the heir, as well as current CEO of Nexus Global Group.” “Someone disrespected you publicly. That man needed to understand the weight behind the person he was speaking to.”Ethan inhaled slowly, letting her words ground him.She didn’t tell him how much she’d spent on that restaurant, and he didn’t push to know. It didn’t matter to him what it had cost.He straightened from the wall, clearing his throat.“Ava,” he said softly.“Yes, sir?”“Going forward… I want you involve

The janitor cleared his throat and moved his bucket aside, like he had been hoping for someone to ask him about it for years.That was when it hit Ethan.People usually called the Janitor ‘Crazy Jim. ‘Is it because he tells fake stories or he has just heard things that make him sound insane when he talks to people about them?’Ethan looked at him closely for a few seconds, starting to rethink his decision to listen to the man, but he had already started, and so far the man had a good grasp on things.‘If he knew about the Jane thing, and knew it was weird for me to not have been injured at the parking lot that day, then he must really know something that could be important.’‘Although, since he made that guess about me sleeping with Jane… I would probably have to take his words with a pinch of salt.The Janitor, Crazy Jim, leaned one shoulder against the wall, folding his arms slowly.His eyes drifted toward the restroom door as if checking to see if anyone might walk in and interrup

After giving Ethan a moment - he didn’t need - to catch his breath, Crazy Jim continued his explanation.“I talked to a few guys in the department and they confirmed that the same aircraft part had been reported missing during transfer.”“They probably wrote it off as a cargo lost at sea or something, but they had sold it off to god knows where.”He paused then raised a finger.“After that, it happened again. Same bay. Same time. Same silence.”“No one talked about how it was getting missing, they didn’t tell the workers in the department about it, like a general announcement or anything, just radio silence about the damn thing.”He looked Ethan straight in the eye.“That’s when you know it’s not theft anymore. It has basically become a policy. Take from every shipment and sell it off to the highest bidder on the black market.”The restroom fell quiet again, the hum of the lights suddenly too loud.Ethan finally spoke, voice low.“Who the hell buys airplane parts on the black market?”

Crazy Jim continued his explanation of his deductions.“They could have used their parents’ login details, but I guess that was more risky.”“I think they did it this way, so that if the kids ever made a mistake in the process, it would reflect with the staff’s name in the log, and the staff would just randomly get fired for something they knew nothing about.”“Hmm… They are covering their tracks well,” Ethan grunted lowly.His fingers curled slowly.“And the logs?” he asked. “They should have shown that someone logged in at the time they weren’t actively in the office, right?”“What do you think?” the old man smiled thinly. “It was all cleared out. Complete system overrides were approved randomly during that period.”“They approved it to clean the logs and claimed some bullshit ‘Executive discretion’ nonsense,” Crazy Jim said with annoyance all over his face.“They cleaned up shop, they left absolutely no records.”Crazy Jim tapped the side of his head.“People don’t notice access wh

Jim stared at the tiled floor for a while, trying to recollect the way things had played out so he doesn’t mix events up, before he continued speaking.“He listened this time. He didn’t laugh.”Ethan’s chest tightened. “What did he do?”Jim’s jaw clenched.“He said he’d handle it,” Jim replied. “Said this was bigger than both of us. But I guess his ambitious side kicked in. He probably figured if he took it upstairs, there’d be rewards. Promotions… everything he wanted.”Ethan’s lips pressed into a thin line. He could already guess how this one ended, but he let Jim continue, uninterrupted.“After that day, he stopped showing up,” Jim said.The words landed heavily.“No calls from him, no messages, nothing.”“After a while, HR said he resigned. Security said he transferred. Payroll said nothing. The stories were different depending on who you were asking”Jim looked up.“The long and short of the matter was… there’s no record of him anywhere. No social media. No phone. No address chan