Chapter 14 - The Son Nobody Wanted at the Table
The first time Ethan Moretti walked into my office, I almost didn't recognize him.
Gone was the arrogant eighteen-year-old who had mocked Noah in the Harvard rotunda.
The young man standing in front of me wore work boots, faded black jeans, and a gray jacket with an electrical contractor's logo stitched over the pocket.
His expensive watch was missing.
So was his careless smile.
"Mrs. Bennett," he said awkwardly.
I rose from my chair.
"Ethan."
He glanced at the doorway as though expecting security to escort him out.
"I know I'm probably the last person you want to see."
"That depends on why you're here."
He reached into his jacket and removed a small, grease-stained notebook.
"Because I think I know who's trying to destroy your foundation."
Before I could answer, Vincent appeared in the hallway.
His face changed when he saw Ethan.
"Son?"
Ethan stiffened.
"Hey, Dad."
For several seconds, neither moved.
Vincent had spent the past year learning how to become Noah's father.
But he had also made a painful mistake with Ethan.
When Sophia's crimes were exposed, Vincent had treated his younger son as though he were an extension of his mother's betrayal.
He had provided money and schooling, but emotional distance had remained between them.
Watching Ethan stand in my office, I could see the consequences.
"Why didn't you call?" Vincent asked.
"I did. Twice."
Vincent looked ashamed.
"My assistant said you were busy with the foundation," Ethan continued. "So I stopped trying."
Something shifted in Vincent's face.
"That shouldn't have happened."
Ethan gave a short, bitter laugh.
"Yeah. Well. A lot of things shouldn't have happened."
I gestured toward the chairs.
"Sit down, both of you."
Ethan placed the notebook on my desk.
He explained that he had been working as an apprentice electrician while attending trade school.
His employer had recently been contracted to inspect electrical systems at several aging waterfront facilities.
One of them was Blackwater Pier.
"Eastbridge Coastal hired us to evaluate the pumping station," he said. "We were supposed to document damaged control panels and electrical failures."
"And?" Vincent asked.
"The panels weren't failing."
Ethan opened his notebook.
"I was there with my supervising electrician. The station needed maintenance, sure. But most of the supposedly destroyed equipment was operational."
I remembered Lila's father.
"He said the same thing."
"Then somebody should listen to him."
Ethan pointed to an entry dated August 22.
"My supervisor filed the inspection report. Two days later, our company received a revised version that described the entire system as beyond economical repair."
"Who revised it?" I asked.
"A consultant from Eastbridge."
"Did your supervisor challenge it?"
"Yes. He refused to sign."
Ethan swallowed.
"Last Friday, our company lost the contract."
Vincent slowly picked up the notebook.
"Why bring this to us?"
Ethan looked directly at his father.
"Because I heard what happened to the scholarship applications."
His voice tightened.
"And because I know what people are saying about you."
"What are they saying?" Vincent asked.
"That you never really left the old business. That you're using the foundation to move money through waterfront development projects."
Vincent's jaw hardened.
"That's a lie."
"I know."
The certainty in Ethan's voice surprised both of us.
He looked down at his hands.
"I spent most of my life believing Mom was always right and everybody else was beneath us. Then I watched her go to prison because she thought she could steal anything she wanted."
He took a deep breath.
"I'm trying not to become that person."
I saw Vincent's eyes glisten.
"Ethan—"
"Don't," Ethan interrupted. "Please don't tell me you're proud of me just because I showed up with a notebook."
Vincent closed his mouth.
Ethan continued.
"I know Noah's the brilliant one. I know he earned everything while I wasted every opportunity you bought me."
"That isn't a competition," I said gently.
Ethan looked at me, startled.
"He didn't choose the circumstances of his childhood," I added. "Neither did you. But you're responsible for what you do next."
For the first time, he seemed to breathe normally.
Then he reached into his pocket and placed a business card beside the notebook.
The name printed on it was Adrian Vale.
Below it was a private phone number.
"There's one more thing," Ethan said.
"Where did you get this?" Vincent demanded.
Ethan hesitated.
"Vale came to see me outside the trade school two weeks ago."
My stomach tightened.
"What did he want?"
"He offered me a job. Two hundred thousand dollars a year to manage maintenance contractors for his waterfront properties."
"That's absurd," Vincent said.
"I thought so too."
Ethan's voice dropped.
"He told me I deserved a real inheritance. He said Noah had stolen my future."
Vincent's expression turned murderous.
"What did you say?"
"I told him I wasn't interested."
"And then?"
Ethan swallowed.
"He smiled and said there were other ways to make a young man useful."
A terrible silence filled the office.
Then Ethan opened his phone and played a recorded voicemail.
Adrian Vale's smooth voice drifted through the speaker.
"Think carefully, Ethan. Your mother made the mistake of trusting the wrong Moretti. Don't make the same mistake twice."
Vincent stared at the phone.
May you like
And I realized that our enemy wasn't merely attacking a foundation.
He was trying to turn two brothers against each other.
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