The Harris deal had collapsed. Ethan hadn’t even needed to take Brad’s frantic call to know it. By the time the official email came through, confirming what he already feared, the pit in his stomach had grown deep enough to swallow him whole. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the email on his screen, his fingers trembling. It wasn’t just a deal falling through; it was the final confirmation that things were spiraling out of his control.
He had made promises—big ones. He’d assured the Board that everything was on track, that the targets would be met. And now? Now he had nothing to show for it except a mounting list of failures and a team that was slowly fracturing under his leadership.
Ethan knew what was coming. He could feel it, looming just on the horizon. The board would lose confidence in him. They’d start questioning whether he was still the man for the job. Maybe they already had. Brad’s warnings echoed in his mind, people whispering about him, questioning his decisions. The fear gnawed at him relentlessly.
He slammed his laptop shut and stood up, pacing the office. His heart raced, his palms were clammy, and a familiar anger began to rise in his chest. He needed someone to blame. Someone had to be responsible for this, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be him. No, he couldn’t let it be him. He wouldn’t be the one to take the fall.
And so, his thoughts circled back to Brad.
Later that afternoon, Ethan called a meeting with his senior managers. He’d requested them all to come in person—no more phone calls or virtual meetings. He needed to see them, to look them in the eye. They needed to understand the gravity of the situation.
The conference room was spacious and sleek, with floor-to-ceiling windows that let in the afternoon light. But the mood was anything but bright. The managers shuffled in, their faces tight with tension. They all knew something was wrong; they just didn’t know how bad it was.
Brad was the last to arrive, his eyes darting nervously around the room as he took his seat. Ethan watched him with a steady gaze, the anger simmering beneath the surface, barely contained. He had already made up his mind—Brad was going to be the scapegoat for all of this.
Once everyone was seated, Ethan cleared his throat and began. “We’ve hit a critical point,” he said, his voice low and controlled. “The Harris deal is dead. We’ve lost a major client, and now the Board’s breathing down my neck, asking questions I don’t have answers to.”
The room was silent, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. No one dared to speak, all eyes trained on Ethan. But his focus was on Brad, sitting at the far end of the table, looking increasingly uncomfortable.
“This didn’t just happen overnight,” Ethan continued, his eyes never leaving Brad. “There have been mistakes—big ones. Failures to communicate, missed opportunities, sloppy work.” He paused, letting the words sink in. “And those mistakes? They fall on leadership.”
Brad shifted in his seat, his face pale. “Ethan, I—”
“No,” Ethan cut him off sharply. “You’ve had chance after chance to fix things, and every time, you’ve dropped the ball. This mess is on you, Brad. The Harris deal, the numbers, everything. You’ve let this team down, and now we’re all paying the price for it.”
Brad’s mouth opened, but no words came out. He looked around the room, as if searching for someone to come to his defense, but no one did. Everyone sat in stunned silence, unwilling to get involved.
“I trusted you,” Ethan said, his voice growing colder. “I put you in charge of key accounts, and you’ve done nothing but screw it up. You’re done, Brad. Pack your things. You’re out.”
The finality in Ethan’s words hung in the air like a guillotine blade. Brad looked as though he had been physically struck, his eyes wide with shock. “Ethan, please, I—”
“Get out,” Ethan repeated, his tone dark, unyielding.
Brad stood slowly, his body trembling. He glanced around one last time, but there was no one willing to meet his eyes. Defeated, he turned and walked out of the room, his footsteps heavy and slow.
Ethan watched him go, the anger still burning in his chest. He had done it. He had taken control, asserted his authority. He had cut off the dead weight. But even as Brad disappeared from view, a part of Ethan knew this victory was hollow. It didn’t solve the real problem. The deal was still gone. The Board was still watching him closely. And now, he had just lost a key member of his team—however incompetent he thought Brad might have been.
But it was done. There was no going back now.
That night, Ethan sat alone in his office at home, nursing his third glass of whiskey. Julie was already in bed, and the house was quiet. Too quiet. The only sound was the faint clink of ice against glass as he swirled his drink, staring blankly at his computer screen.
He had thought firing Brad would bring him some sense of relief, some closure. But all it had done was leave him feeling more isolated than ever. The decision had been rash, made in a fit of anger and desperation. Now, as the alcohol dulled the edges of his thoughts, he realized that he might have just made things worse.
He couldn’t shake the image of Brad’s face as he walked out of the conference room, the look of shock and betrayal. Ethan had humiliated him in front of the entire team, made an example of him to save himself. But deep down, Ethan knew—Brad hadn’t been the only problem. There were deeper issues at play, problems that couldn’t be solved by firing one man.
But it didn’t matter now. The decision had been made. Brad was gone, and Ethan had to live with that.
As he sat there, his mind drifting in and out of the fog that the whiskey brought, his phone buzzed. It was a text from Cara.
Just heard from Brad. He’s telling people he’s going to talk to the Board about what really happened with Harris. Thought you should know.
Ethan stared at the message, his heart pounding in his chest. Brad wasn’t just going to walk away quietly. He was going to fight back. He was going to drag Ethan down with him.
Fear gripped him, icy and cold. What had he done?
He set the glass down, his hands trembling. He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t let Brad ruin everything. Not after everything he had worked for. But what could he do? The damage was already done, and now Brad was a threat—one that could destroy his career, his reputation, everything.
Desperation clawed at him, tightening its grip. His mind raced with possibilities, none of them good. He had crossed a line, and now the fallout was coming. And for the first time, Ethan realized he had no idea how to stop it.
The next day, Ethan went into the office with a new determination, though it was far from noble. His thoughts weren’t on fixing what had been broken. No, he was thinking about how to cover his tracks, how to shift the blame further, how to protect himself. The guilt from the day before had evaporated, replaced by cold calculation.
Brad was a threat, and Ethan had to neutralize it before it got out of control.
It was no longer about leading, or guiding, or doing what was right. Now, it was about survival.
Part 4 | Part 6
