Member-only story
Everything Can Fall Apart in 60 Minutes
Sex, Blackmail, and Total Ruin
No one expects their life to implode in a matter of minutes. Ethan Thompson didn’t either. Forty-two years of an apparently perfect existence — marriage, kids, a stable career — would turn to ashes in less than an hour, in the most unlikely of places: the cramped and dusty janitor’s closet at his office. There was no escape from the personal apocalypse he had unknowingly set in motion.
When Olivia Carter, the new receptionist at his company, crossed his path for the first time, Ethan had no idea she would be the spark that would ignite his destruction. At just 29 years old, Olivia exuded a carefree energy and carried a smile that seemed to promise forbidden secrets. She was unlike anyone else at the office: confident, magnetic, and brimming with a vitality that made Ethan feel alive again. One moment of weakness would be enough to burn down everything he had built over decades.
And that is precisely what occurred.
Ethan appeared to be the type of person who had everything under control.
Married to Laura for 15 years, father to two teenagers — Emma and Jake — he worked as a sales manager at a respected company in Chicago. To anyone looking from the outside, he was the picture of stability and success. But inside, Ethan felt hollow. His marriage…
