Chapter 5 - THE BILLIONAIRE WHO COULDN’T BUY TRUST
Daniel disappeared.
His passport was flagged.
His accounts were frozen.
Police and federal investigators took over the case.
But Ethan couldn’t stop thinking about one question.
Why?
He had trusted Daniel more than anyone.
That realization disturbed him almost as much as the betrayal itself.
For years Ethan had assumed loneliness was simply the price of ambition.
Now he wondered whether he had helped build it.
Maya found him at 4:00 a.m. standing at the apartment window.
“You don’t sleep?”
“Occasionally.”
“Try harder.”
She handed him coffee.
“Thanks.”
Maya stood beside him.
“Were you close?”
“Daniel?”
She nodded.
“We started the company together.”
“I thought you founded it.”
“I did. Daniel joined six months later.”
Ethan looked down at Chicago.
“When nobody would fund me, he worked for almost nothing.”
“And then?”
“We won.”
“That sounds lonely.”
Ethan glanced at her.
“Winning?”
“The way you said it.”
He smiled faintly.
“You notice too much.”
“Occupational hazard.”
Ethan laughed.
She had stolen his phrase.
A week passed.
Then two.
Investigators discovered Daniel’s network had siphoned nearly two hundred million dollars through vendors over seven years.
Ben Collins had found it.
Daniel learned he was investigating.
Travis, drowning in gambling debt, had been paid to frighten Ben into silence.
The car crash had not been planned.
But Daniel had helped bury the circumstances afterward.
Maya listened to the investigators without crying.
After they left, she locked herself in the bathroom.
Ethan heard her sobbing.
He stood outside for several minutes.
Then sat on the floor.
He didn’t knock.
Didn’t speak.
Twenty minutes later the door opened.
Maya looked down at him.
“What are you doing?”
“Sitting.”
“Why?”
“You looked like you might not want to be alone.”
Her face crumpled.
Ethan stood.
Maya stepped into his arms.
He held her while she cried for the husband she had already mourned once.
Later, she whispered, “Ben didn’t die because of me.”
“No.”
“I spent four years wondering whether I should’ve stopped him from going out that night.”
Ethan tightened his arms.
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I know that now.”
She pulled back.
Their faces were close.
Ethan wanted to kiss her.
Maya knew.
For one breath, she didn’t move.
Then she stepped away.
“I can’t.”
Ethan nodded.
“Okay.”
“You’re not going to ask why?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
Ethan looked toward Lily’s room.
“You’ve had enough people deciding what you should feel.”
Maya’s eyes softened.
“Thank you.”
Three days later, Ethan took Lily to buy ice cream.
Maya came.
The trip became a two-hour argument about which flavor constituted proper ice cream.
Lily insisted bubblegum.
Ethan called it a chemical experiment.
Maya chose vanilla.
Ethan looked offended.
“Vanilla?”
“It’s classic.”
“It’s surrender.”
“You eat cheeseburgers.”
“That’s different.”
Lily watched them.
“You two argue like married people.”
Silence.
Maya nearly dropped her spoon.
Ethan coughed.
Lily continued eating.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Maya said too quickly.
That night, Ethan returned to his penthouse.
It felt enormous.
Beautiful.
Empty.
There were twelve chairs around the dining table.
He had never used more than two.
He walked into the kitchen and remembered Bellweather Grill.
One extra chair.
That chair had felt more like home than anything he owned.
The next morning his board called an emergency meeting.
The Daniel Ross scandal threatened Mercer Dynamics’ valuation.
Several directors wanted Ethan to step down temporarily.
One board member, Victoria Lang, was particularly aggressive.
“You missed warning signs.”
“So did internal audit.”
“You trusted Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“That trust cost shareholders billions.”
Ethan didn’t defend himself.
“What do you propose?”
“Temporary leave.”
Another director spoke.
“And distance from Ms. Collins.”
Ethan looked up.
“What?”
“The press is already connecting her husband to the fraud.”
“She exposed it.”
“She complicates the narrative.”
Ethan’s expression turned cold.
“She isn’t a narrative.”
Victoria leaned forward.
“Ethan, perception matters.”
“To people who confuse it with truth.”
“If you continue seeing her, reporters will suggest your judgment is compromised.”
Ethan stood.
“Then let them.”
“Think carefully.”
“I am.”
He left.
Outside, dozens of reporters waited.
Questions exploded.
“Mr. Mercer, are you resigning?”
“Did Maya Collins blackmail you?”
“Were you romantically involved before the breach?”
Ethan stopped.
Cameras lifted.
He could have walked away.
Instead he turned.
“Maya Collins is the reason Mercer Dynamics now knows the full extent of the theft.”
More questions.
Ethan continued.
“She owes this company nothing.”
“Are you dating her?”
Ethan paused.
“That is none of your business.”
The clip went viral.
Maya watched it from her apartment.
She should have been angry.
Instead she smiled.
Then her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Lily leaving school.
Below it were six words.
TELL MERCER TO DROP THE INVESTIGATION.
Maya’s smile vanished.
May you like
A second message arrived.
OR NEXT TIME SHE DOESN’T COME HOME.
