Chapter 15 - DEREK FINALLY TALKSDerek broke when Calvin Avery stopped paying his lawyer.
Fear made loyalty fragile.
His attorney approached prosecutors.
Derek would cooperate.
The interview lasted five hours.
Nora received the summary two days later.
Derek admitted he knew the restroom assignment was wrong.
He admitted following Nora.
Photographing her movements.
Recording who she met.
He admitted the client wanted material to discredit her.
He also admitted being offered a bonus if Nora withdrew from foundation work.
“Who gave the instructions?” Nora asked Priya.
“Calvin.”
“Did Calvin name Celeste?”
“Sometimes.”
Nora froze.
Priya continued.
“Derek says Calvin referred to ‘Mrs. A.’”
Warren leaned forward.
“Could mean someone else.”
“Yes.”
Nora hated his caution.
Respected it too.
Then Priya reached the critical part.
“Derek says Calvin wasn’t the only person aware of surveillance.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“Ethan.”
She went cold.
“No.”
Priya raised a hand.
“Listen carefully.”
Derek never spoke to Ethan.
Never received instructions from him.
But according to Calvin, Ethan knew “security people” had been asked to monitor Nora’s activities.
Nora closed her eyes.
That part she already knew.
Priya continued.
“Derek says Calvin told him Ethan wouldn’t interfere.”
Warren’s face hardened.
Nora whispered:
“Why?”
“Because Celeste had told Ethan it was routine family-risk management.”
Not new.
Still devastating.
Then another line.
Derek claimed Celeste personally approved an escalation after Nora began reviewing vendor records.
Did that include the restroom?
He could not prove it.
Calvin gave that order.
Derek believed it came from above.
Belief.
Not evidence.
Nora sat back.
“Anything else?”
Priya nodded.
“Derek says Calvin told him, quote: ‘Celeste isn’t the only Arden who knows we’ve been watching her.’”
Nora’s chest tightened.
Ethan.
Again.
When she confronted him, he did not deny it.
“I knew someone might be watching your meetings.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks before the gala.”
Nora stared.
“You knew?”
“I thought it was background monitoring.”
“You knew enough to warn me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Ethan began crying.
Nora had almost never seen him cry.
“Because Mom said you were becoming obsessed with the foundation.”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“And you believed her.”
“Yes.”
There it was.
Clean.
Ugly.
True.
Nora whispered:
“You let me think I was imagining being followed.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
For Nora, that betrayal cut deeper than the restroom.
May you like
Derek had been a stranger.
Ethan was the person who was supposed to make home feel safe.
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