Chapter 3 - THE PRISON VISITOR
The visitor’s room at the King County Correctional Facility was sterile, gray, and smelled of industrial bleach. Naomi sat on one side of the thick plexiglass partition, her arms crossed over her chest.
When the heavy steel door opened, Ethan Vance was escorted in by two armed guards. The contrast between the man who had poured salad dressing over her head twelve hours ago and the man standing before her now was jarring. His designer tuxedo had been replaced by a rough orange jumpsuit. His perfectly styled hair was disheveled, and his wrist bore dark red chafing from the handcuffs.
He sat down heavily, grabbing the plastic telephone receiver with trembling hands. Naomi picked up hers, her face impassive.
"Satisfied?" Ethan spat, his voice raspy through the phone speaker. "You destroyed my life, Naomi. You ruined my wedding, you ruined my reputation, and Vanessa’s lawyers are already filing for an annulment!"
"You destroyed your own life the moment you walked out of my father’s vault with something that wasn't yours," Naomi said coldly. "Why did you demand to see me, Ethan? The prosecutor said you wanted to trade information."
Ethan leaned closer to the glass, his eyes wild with a mixture of fear and desperation. "They're going to kill me in here, Naomi. You think this was about me wanting to show off at a dinner party? You think I give a damn about a stupid cushion-cut diamond?"
"You used it as an engagement ring for your new wife to humiliate me," Naomi pointed out.
"Because I was ordered to wear it! I was ordered to make sure you saw it!" Ethan hissed, his breath fogging up the glass. "I owed twenty million dollars to people you don't want to cross after my tech startup failed last year. They wiped my debt on one condition: I had to get into your father’s vault, retrieve the Carter Diamond, and display it publicly."
Naomi’s eyes narrowed. "Why would anyone want you to publicly flaunt stolen property?"
"Because the diamond wasn't the target!" Ethan whispered frantically. "The diamond was the signal! Showing that stone meant the encryption keys inside the vault were compromised. It was the green light for Vanguard Holdings to launch their cyber attack on Carter Global’s shipping network!"
Naomi felt a cold sensation spread down her spine. "Who is behind Vanguard, Ethan? Who paid you?"
Ethan shook his head terrifiedly. "I don't know a name! I only ever dealt with an intermediary—a man who goes by the moniker 'The Architect'. But I know this: the person who gave me the vault’s biometric bypass card works on the executive floor of Carter Global."
"Give me a name," Naomi demanded.
"I can't! He never showed his face!" Ethan pleaded, tears of genuine terror welling in his eyes. "Naomi, please... tell your father to drop the grand larceny charges. If I go to federal prison, I won't survive a month. I'll tell the FBI everything I know about the offshore accounts!"
Naomi looked at her ex-husband—the man who had spent years making her feel small, useless, and disposable. Seeing him now, reduced to a weeping shell, she felt no triumph. Only a chilling realization of the danger her family was in.
"You made your bed, Ethan," Naomi said softly. "You wanted an audience for my humiliation. Now you have an audience for your own downfall."
She hung up the receiver, stood up, and walked out of the room, ignoring his frantic banging on the glass.
As she stepped out into the rain outside the facility, Marcus Thorne was waiting by his sleek black Audi. He held an umbrella over her head as she approached.
"Did he give you anything useful?" Marcus asked.
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"He confirmed my worst fear," Naomi said, looking up into Marcus’s dark eyes. "Ethan was just a weapon. The real enemy is inside our company, and they're preparing to shut down Carter Global’s entire supply chain by Friday."
Marcus looked at her with a mixture of admiration and fierce determination. "Then let's make sure we destroy them first."
