PART 9 — THE PERSON INSIDE CARTER TOWER
For the next several seconds, nobody in the conference room moved.
The call had ended.
But the warning remained.
Someone inside Carter Tower has been reporting back to Andrew Vaughn.
I looked around the room.
Every person sitting there had a reason to be trusted.
Every person had access.
Every person could have been the one feeding Andrew information.
And that was the most terrifying part.
The enemy wasn’t standing outside the building.
The enemy had a keycard.
A desk.
A position of trust.
Ethan slowly stood.
“Everyone leaves.”
The lawyers looked confused.
Daniel Brooks frowned.
“Ethan?”
“Now.”
His voice wasn’t angry.
It was controlled.
But everyone in the room understood.
This wasn’t a suggestion.
One by one, people gathered their files and left.
The door closed.
Finally, only Ethan and I remained.
I looked at him.
“You think it’s someone here?”
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because that caller knew something only a few people should know.”
He walked toward the window overlooking Manhattan.
“Someone knew we went to the archives.”
“Someone knew we found the sealed investigation.”
“Someone knew enough to send that threat.”
I looked down.
“And now we don’t know who to trust.”
Ethan turned around.
“No.”
His expression was serious.
“We know exactly who to trust.”
I looked at him.
“Who?”
He stepped closer.
“You.”
The answer surprised me.
Because after everything Andrew had done, I had forgotten what it felt like for someone to believe me without question.
Ethan continued.
“Andrew spent eleven months convincing you that your instincts were wrong.”
“He made you doubt yourself.”
“He isolated you.”
“But you were right.”
A pause.
“Your instincts saved you.”
I looked away.
Because hearing those words hurt.
Not because they were painful.
Because they were something I needed to hear a long time ago.
Then Ethan’s computer screen suddenly lit up.
A notification appeared.
Both of us turned.
An email.
No sender.
No subject.
Only one attachment.
Ethan clicked it.
The file opened.
And immediately, my heart dropped.
It was a photograph.
A photograph of me.
Taken outside my apartment.
Two weeks earlier.
I stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Ethan looked at the image.
“When was this taken?”
I checked the timestamp.
“Two weeks ago.”
His expression darkened.
“Before the gala.”
Before anyone knew.
Before Ethan saw the bruises.
Before we started investigating.
Someone had been watching me.
Not Andrew.
Not after everything happened.
Before.
I felt a cold wave move through me.
“Ethan…”
He looked at me.
“What?”
“Maybe Andrew wasn’t the one who started this.”
The words came slowly.
Because suddenly, everything looked different.
Maybe Andrew wasn’t hiding something because he was afraid I would leave.
Maybe he was afraid I would discover something much bigger.
Ethan opened the attachment information.
There was another file hidden inside.
A document.
He opened it.
The title appeared.
PROJECT AVALON — SUBJECT: AVA BENNETT
My blood went cold.
“What is that?”
Ethan scrolled through the document.
His expression changed.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s my name.”
“Yes.”
“Why is my name there?”
He kept reading.
Then stopped.
“Ava…”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward me.
The document contained dates.
Medical information.
Personal history.
My education.
My career.
My family.
Everything.
It wasn’t a normal file.
It was a profile.
A complete analysis of my life.
Someone had been studying me.
For years.
“No.”
I stepped back.
“This can’t be real.”
Ethan looked at the document.
“This was created before you met Andrew.”
The room became silent.
“What?”
He pointed to the date.
“Four years ago.”
Four years.
Before the engagement.
Before Andrew entered my life.
Before I knew Ethan.
Someone had been watching me long before I ever understood why.
“Who created it?”
Ethan kept scrolling.
The answer was hidden near the bottom.
And when he saw it…
He stopped.
“Ethan?”
He didn’t answer.
I walked closer.
“What does it say?”
Slowly, he turned the screen.
At the bottom of the document was a signature.
A name.
A name that made everything feel impossible.
Charles Whitmore.
I stared.
Again.
Charles.
The same man connected to Andrew.
The same man who had helped hide investigations.
The same man whose company controlled the legal records.
“He was watching me?”
Ethan looked disturbed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He didn’t know.
But then another line caught my attention.
A note written below the signature.
A private instruction.
I read it aloud.
“Monitor Ava Bennett until contact is established.”
My breathing stopped.
“Contact?”
Ethan continued reading.
The next sentence was even worse.
“Subject must remain unaware of her connection to the original case.”
I looked at him.
“The original case?”
Neither of us spoke.
Because suddenly, I understood.
I wasn’t just a victim.
I wasn’t just someone Andrew hurt.
I was connected to something that started years before.
Something Charles Whitmore wanted hidden.
Something Andrew had been protecting.
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
The number was unknown.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man’s voice.
Calm.
Older.
Confident.
A voice that sounded like someone who had spent a lifetime being obeyed.
“Ethan Carter.”
Ethan froze.
I could see it.
He knew exactly who it was.
“Charles.”
My heart stopped.
The man continued.
“You should have left this alone.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“You threatened Ava.”
A small laugh.
“No.”
Charles sounded almost offended.
“I warned you.”
“Why were you watching her?”
Silence.
Then Charles answered:
“Because she is the only person who can destroy everything.”
I felt my blood run cold.
Ethan stepped forward.
“What does that mean?”
Charles didn’t answer immediately.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter.
“Ask Ava what happened seven years ago.”
I froze.
“Seven years?”
Charles continued:
“She remembers more than she thinks.”
The call ended.
The room became silent.
Ethan looked at me.
I looked at him.
Neither of us knew what to say.
Because now the question had changed.
It wasn’t only:
What did Andrew Vaughn do?
It wasn’t only:
Who was protecting him?
The real question was:
What happened seven years ago that connected me to all of this?
And why had everyone spent years making sure I forgot?
