At that moment, when Doctor Kai's question hung suspended in the air of the dining room, thick with false familiarity and manufactured curiosity, Ethan responded with a simplicity that carried far more weight than the doctor had anticipated, a directness that immediately unsettled the careful performance Kai had been constructing since the moment he walked through the door."No," Ethan said, his voice calm and unbothered, "we have not met before, and I don't even think I've seen you before."The statement landed with quiet finality, and for a brief moment Doctor Kai found himself genuinely taken aback, his composed exterior flickering just slightly as he processed the response, because in truth he had never met Ethan before either, had never laid eyes on this young man prior to walking into this dining room and witnessing the impossible outcome of his supposedly foolproof scheme, and his earlier question—*have we met before?*—had been nothing more than a calculated probe, a lie dresse

At that moment, the man standing over Victoria let out a sharp, dismissive laugh that carried none of the patience she had expected from someone conducting what was ostensibly a business transaction rather than a personal vendetta, and the sound of it, cold and mocking, echoing faintly off the metal walls of the warehouse, sent a fresh wave of unease crawling through her already frayed nerves, an unease that settled deep into her chest and refused to loosen its grip no matter how many times she told herself that she still had the upper hand in this situation."Keep your mouth shut," he snapped, his eyes narrowing as he studied her with the kind of scrutiny reserved for someone he considered both an inconvenience and a curiosity. "And who told you it was this Ethan person you keep mentioning? Who told you it was him? What actually makes you so certain he's the one behind this?"Victoria, however, remained absolutely resolute in her conviction, her certainty unshaken by his obvious conf

The person on the other end of the call let his irritation spill out fully now, his voice sharpening with the particular offense of a man who felt his professionalism had been questioned without cause."What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped. "Seriously, after all the seasons we've worked together, after all the jobs we've done, side by side, you still don't trust me? I don't understand what the hell you're talking about right now. I don't understand what kind of nonsense this is that you're throwing at me. Are you trying to make it look like I didn't do my job properly? Is that what you're implying? Because if that's what you're saying, just say it plainly instead of dancing around it."There was real heat in his voice, the kind that came from years of loyal service suddenly feeling undervalued, and for a moment the line crackled with nothing but his breathing, waiting for Kai's response, daring him to repeat the accusation directly.Kai, recognizing that he had pushed too

Rather than continue arguing with someone clearly determined to remain willfully blind to reason, Ethan pulled out his phone and dialed Megan's number instead, deciding that the fastest way to resolve this absurd standoff was to bring in someone whose word actually carried weight in a place like this.Megan answered after only a couple of rings, her voice warm and slightly distracted, clearly in the middle of preparing for her day, likely already thinking ahead to her visit to the restaurant site later that morning."Hey," she said. "I was just about to head out. Is everything okay?"They exchanged a brief greeting, the familiar warmth between them settling into the conversation naturally despite the tension still coursing through Ethan from his encounter with the receptionist, and then he got straight to the point, not wanting to waste time dancing around the issue."I need your help with something," he said. "I'm at JSK Automobile right now, looking to buy a car, and I don't know if

The front desk lady stood frozen for one long, dreadful second after the director gave the order.It was as if her mind had stopped working.As if the words had reached her ears, but her brain refused to accept them.A few moments earlier, she had been standing there with all the confidence in the world, laughing at Ethan, mocking him, speaking as though she owned the entire building and could decide by herself who had value and who did not. She had been so certain—so painfully certain—that Ethan was bluffing, that he was one more ordinary man trying to force his way into a world he could not afford. She had looked down on him. She had insulted him. She had called him a con artist in front of security and spoken with the arrogance of a person who believed there would never be consequences for her behavior.But now the ground had vanished from beneath her feet.The director's words hit her like a physical blow.You see her, I want her kicked out of this place immediately.Her lips part