Part 10:

This company employs 40,000 people. If you destroy it with this crusade, those jobs disappear. Families lose their livelihoods. Communities collapse. Is that what you want? I want you to stop killing people. The room went dead silent. Celeste stepped forward. Richard, you’re terminated effective immediately.

 Security will escort you out. We’re turning all evidence over to federal prosecutors. If you want to fight this, do it in court. Kavanaaugh looked around the table. A few board members wouldn’t meet his eyes. Others looked shell shocked. You’re making a mistake, Celeste. This company is going to survive without you. Two security guards appeared in the doorway.

 Kavanaaugh stared at them, then at Celeste, then at Ethan. This isn’t over. Yeah, Ethan said. It is. They escorted Kavanaaugh out. The boardroom stayed silent until the door closed behind him. than chaos. Board members demanded to see the full evidence. Patricia walked them through every email, every memo, every piece of documentation they’d compiled.

 Ethan answered questions about his methodology, his records, his timeline. The meeting stretched past 5:00 p.m. then 6:00 p.m. then 700 p.m. Finally, at 7:43 p.m. the board voted 11 to1 in favor of full cooperation with federal investigators and immediate implementation of enhanced safety protocols.

 The one dissenting vote came from Kavanaaugh’s closest ally, a man who resigned on the spot rather than be associated with what was coming. Ethan didn’t get home until almost midnight. Maya was asleep at Mrs. Patterson’s house. The security car followed him the whole way. Inside his quiet house, Ethan poured himself a drink and sat at the kitchen table.

 His phone had 17 missed calls and 43 unread texts. He ignored all of them except one. Celeste, thank you. We did the right thing. Ethan typed back. Now comes the hard part. Her response was immediate. I know. He set the phone down and stared at nothing for a while. Tomorrow the news would break. Celeste Motors COO terminated.

 Federal investigation launched. Evidence of decadel long coverup. And Ethan’s name would be right in the middle of it all. Rebecca Marsh had been right. Everything was about to change. He just hoped he was ready for it. The news broke at 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. Ethan woke to his phone vibrating so hard it fell off the nightstand.

 He grabbed it, still half asleep, and saw 37 notifications. Texts, emails, missed calls from numbers he didn’t recognize. The first headline he saw made his stomach drop. Celeste Motors COO fired amid criminal coverup investigation. He scrolled through more. Decadelong safety defect concealment exposed. Federal prosecutors launch investigation into automotive giant.

 Whistleblower mechanic’s 10-year paper trail uncovers corporate fraud. Whistleblower. They were calling him a whistleblower. His phone rang. Rebecca Marsh. Tell me you’re not reading the comments, she said immediately. I just woke up. Good. Don’t read them. Don’t read any of it. The story’s out there now, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

 How much worse? Kavanaaugh’s already retained counsel, high-profile defense attorney out of New York. They released a statement an hour ago calling the termination politically motivated and the evidence circumstantial. They’re claiming Celeste fabricated the emails to shift blame away from her own mismanagement. Ethan sat up. That’s Of course, it’s but it’s going to play in the media.

Kavanaaugh’s people are good at this. She paused. They also mentioned you by name. What did they say? that you’re a disgruntled former employee with a history of employment issues and financial instability. That you’ve been illegally hoarding company property for years, that your so-called evidence is unreliable because you have a clear financial motive to distort the facts.

 I don’t have a financial motive. I’m not suing anyone yet. That’s what they’ll say, that you’re positioning yourself for a big payday. Rebecca’s voice softened. Ethan, this is what I warned you about. They’re going to dig into everything. Your past, your finances, your relationship with Maya’s mother, anything they can use. Let them dig.

I’ve got nothing to hide. Everyone has something to hide. The question is whether yours is bad enough to matter. After he hung up, Ethan made coffee and checked on Maya. She was still asleep, curled up with the stuffed rabbit she’d had since she was two. He stood in the doorway and watched her for a moment, trying to hold on to something normal.

By the time he got to the shop at 8, there were already two news vans parked across the street. A reporter saw him and started walking over, cameraman in tow. Mr. Cross, Amanda Fischer, Channel 7 News, can we get a statement about your role in the Celeste Motors investigation? Ethan kept walking. No comment.

 Is it true you’ve been collecting evidence against the company for 10 years? No comment. Were you fired for trying to expose the defect? He unlocked the shop door and went inside without answering. Through the window, he watched the reporter do a standup in front of his garage, gesturing animatedly. His phone rang again. Another unknown number.

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