Chapter 15: Digging Up the Devil
692 Words
Jason didn’t chase Zara.
That was the first thing that terrified everyone who knew him.
Instead, he disappeared.
By midnight, the penthouse was empty, the city unaware that Jason Hale had shifted from defense to offense. He sat in the back of a black sedan as it cut through traffic, laptop open, phone pressed to his ear.
“Start from the beginning,” Jason said calmly. “I want everything on Ethan Cole. Not the résumé version. The buried one.”
Security Chief: “We already pulled his financials. Clean on the surface.”
Jason’s lips curved faintly. “Everyone looks clean from the surface.”
Two hours later, the first crack appeared.
Ethan Cole wasn’t as self-made as he claimed.
A private equity firm quiet, aggressive, and morally flexible had backed his rise. The same firm had a history of media manipulation, smear campaigns, and strategic leaks.
Jason leaned back. “Who’s the partner?”
A pause.
Security Chief: “Name’s Victor Crane.”
Jason’s eyes darkened. He knew the name.
Crane didn’t invest in businesses.
He invested in leverage.
Jason’s second stop was less official.
An old contact. A journalist who no longer played by newsroom rules.
“You didn’t hear this from me,” the man said, sliding a file across the table. “But Ethan’s been paying to keep something quiet.”
Jason opened the folder.
Hospital records. Non-disclosure agreements. A settlement.
Not Zara’s.
Another woman.
Jason’s jaw tightened. “What happened?”
“She worked for him,” the journalist said. “Assistant. Relationship went bad. She threatened to talk.”
“And?”
“And he made it disappear.”
Jason closed the folder slowly.
“So he’s not just desperate,” Jason said. “He’s dangerous.”
Meanwhile, Zara sat alone in her apartment, staring at her phone.
No messages.
No missed calls.
Jason had vanished completely.
Her chest ached with a fear she hadn’t expected.
What if I pushed him too far this time?
She hugged her knees to her chest, whispering into the quiet, “Please be safe.”
Jason wasn’t being safe.
He was being thorough.
By dawn, his team had uncovered the third piece the one Ethan would kill to keep hidden.
A shell company.
A false transfer.
Money routed through three countries and funneled directly to a tabloid editor who had broken the first story about Zara.
Jason stared at the screen, something dark and lethal settling in his chest.
“So Ethan didn’t just react,” Jason murmured. “He planned this.”
He stood, straightening his jacket.
“Time to return the favor.”
Ethan was halfway through a strategy meeting when his phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
He ignored it.
It buzzed again.
Then again.
Annoyed, he stepped out and answered. “What?”
Jason’s voice came through the line low, controlled, unmistakable.
“I know about Victor Crane.”
Ethan froze.
Jason continued calmly, “I know about the shell company, the payoffs, the settlement you buried, and the woman who signed an NDA because you scared her into silence.”
Silence.
Then Ethan laughed weakly. “You think you scare me?”
“No,” Jason replied. “I think you’re already scared.”
Ethan’s voice hardened. “If you expose me, Zara burns with me.”
Jason paused.
And when he spoke again, his voice was ice.
“You misunderstand. I’m not here to expose you.”
“Then what..”
“I’m here to end you.”
The call disconnected.
Jason stood by the window of his office as the sun rose, the city stretching beneath him like a chessboard.
He hadn’t come back into Zara’s life to relive the past.
He’d come back to correct it.
And Ethan Cole had made one fatal mistake
He’d mistaken Zara’s kindness for weakness.
Jason picked up his phone and sent one message.
Jason: I know why you pushed me away. I won’t let you carry this alone again.
Across the city, Zara’s phone lit up.
Her heart stopped.
Because she knew that tone.
Jason Hale had finished investigating.
And the war was about to turn personal.
- Writer
