CHAPTER FIVE
1219 Words
MAYA’S POV
“Ethan… what if the crash wasn’t an accident?”
The moment the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back.
The room became completely silent.
Ethan didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t even breathe for a second. His eyes remained fixed on the message on my phone.
The colour had drained from his face.
And that scared me more than the text itself.
Because until now, Ethan has always looked in control. Calm. Composed. Untouchable.
But not anymore.
Now he looked shaken. Deeply shaken.
I swallowed nervously. “Ethan?”
His gaze slowly lifted to mine.
“Delete that message.”
“What?”
“Delete it.”
His voice was cold, not angry. It's just cold. The kind of cold that made me instantly understand how he became one of the most powerful businessmen in the country.
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because whoever sent it wants attention.”
“Or maybe they know something.”
His jaw tightened. For a second, I thought he would argue.
Instead, he looked away. And somehow, that worried me even more.
“You’ve thought about it before.”
It wasn’t a question.
His silence confirmed it.
My heart skipped. “Oh my God.”
I stared at him. “You have.”
Ethan walked toward the window. The city lights reflected against the glass. For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he finally spoke. “Seven years ago, every investigator concluded it was an accident.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
He looked exhausted suddenly. As if the weight of seven years had landed on his shoulders all at once.
“No,” he admitted quietly. “No, it doesn’t.”
I stared at him. The honesty surprised me. Most people would’ve denied it immediately.
Not Ethan. He simply stood there looking at the darkness outside.
“After the crash, I questioned everything.” His voice was distant now. Like he was reliving a nightmare. “The weather reports. The pilot. The maintenance records. The investigation.”
I listened carefully.
“I spent years searching for answers.” A painful smile appeared on his face. “And found nothing.”
My chest tightened. For the first time, I wasn’t looking at a billionaire. I was looking at a husband who’d lost his wife. A father who’d lost his daughter. A man who never truly recovered.
The room felt smaller somehow. Sadder.
Then his phone rang.
The sound startled both of us.
Ethan glanced at the screen. His expression hardened immediately.
Liam.
He answered. “What is it?”
I watched his face carefully. Within seconds, his expression changed. Then, I changed again. The tension in his body became obvious.
“What?”
Silence. More silence.
Then—
“When?”
My stomach dropped. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Ethan listened for another few seconds before ending the call.
I stood. “What happened?”
He looked at me. And for the first time since I’d met him, I saw genuine anger in his eyes. Not frustration. Not annoyance. Anger.
“The voicemail.”
“What about it?”
“Liam traced the number.”
I blinked. “You can do that?”
“When you have enough resources, yes.”
Fair point.
“What did he find?”
Ethan’s expression darkened. “The number doesn’t exist.”
A chill crawled down my spine. “What?”
“It was active long enough to send the message.” He paused. “Then disappeared.”
The apartment suddenly felt colder. I crossed my arms, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling growing inside me.
“This keeps getting creepier.”
“It does.”
A knock interrupted us. Three sharp knocks.
Both of us froze. I looked toward the door. Then at Ethan.
Nobody was expecting visitors. Especially at this hour.
The knock came again. Louder this time.
My pulse quickened. “Ethan…”
He was already moving, stepping between me and the door. Instinctively protective.
The realization caught me off guard.
He glanced through the peephole. Then, frowned.
“What?”
His expression became confused. Then surprised. Then annoyed.
“What is it?”
He opened the door and immediately groaned.
A beautiful older woman stood outside. Elegant. Perfectly dressed. Expensive jewellery. The kind of woman who looked powerful without saying a word.
I knew who she was instantly.
Because she looked exactly like Ethan.
“Evelyn Sterling,” I whispered.
She smiled brightly. “Wonderful. She recognizes me.”
Ethan closed his eyes. “Mother.”
Oh no. No. No, no, no.
Not tonight.
Evelyn pushed past him before he could stop her. Then, she walked directly toward me.
I’d never met her before, yet somehow she acted as if we were family. She grabbed both my hands.
“Oh, you’re even prettier in person.”
I blinked. “What?”
Ethan looked ready to lose his mind. “Mother.”
She ignored him completely.
“I knew it.”
“Knew what?” I asked.
“That my son has excellent taste.”
I nearly choked. Across the room, Ethan looked seconds away from a headache.
“I’m not his girlfriend.”
Evelyn waved her hand. “Of course you are.”
“We really aren’t.”
“You live together already?”
“We don’t.”
“Planning to?”
“No!”
She looked disappointed. How was she disappointed? We’d known each other for two days. Two. Days.
Ethan stepped forward. “Mother, enough.”
For the first time, she turned toward him. And immediately, her smile disappeared.
Something passed between them. Something serious.
Then Evelyn looked at me again.
“I’ll leave.”
Thank God.
“But first…”
Uh-oh. Whenever someone says “but first,” nothing good follows.
Evelyn reached into her handbag and pulled out a tablet. She tapped the screen and then handed it to Ethan.
The moment he looked at it, his face went pale.
My stomach dropped. “What is it?”
Nobody answered.
“Ethan?”
Still nothing.
I moved closer and looked at the screen.
The headline nearly stopped my heart.
“NEW EVIDENCE EMERGES IN STERLING AIRWAYS CRASH CASE”
The article had only been published ten minutes ago.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was the photograph attached to it.
A photograph was taken seven years ago.
A photograph of a man.
A man standing beside the aircraft hours before the crash.
A man whose face had been circled in red.
Underneath the image was a single sentence.
*Authorities never identified this individual.*
I looked at Ethan. His expression had become unreadable.
Then I looked back at the photograph.
Something about the man felt familiar. Very familiar.
My pulse quickened.
I leaned closer to the screen.
And suddenly realized why.
I had seen that face before. Recently. Very recently.
The realization hit me like a truck.
Slowly, I turned toward Ethan.
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Ethan…”
He looked at me.
I pointed at the photograph, my hands trembling.
“I know that man.”
The silence that followed felt endless.
Then Ethan took one step toward me and asked the question that changed everything.
“Where have you seen him?"
- Writer
