The Call He Tried to Erase
Chapter 02 - The Call He Tried to Erase
Maya regained consciousness in the hospital with a fractured wrist, bruised ribs, and a police officer sitting outside her room. The doctor told her she had been lucky. Another few inches, and the fall could have ended very differently. Yet the first person who entered was Ethan, carrying white roses and wearing the expression of a devoted husband.
He kissed her forehead and asked what she remembered. Maya watched his eyes instead of answering. When she mentioned the broken banister, his concern hardened for half a second. Then he blamed the age of the house and suggested Sophie’s argument had distracted her.
By morning, Ethan’s version of the story was everywhere. According to him, Sophie had always resented Maya’s place in the family. Guests remembered hearing raised voices upstairs. A blurry hallway camera showed Sophie reaching toward Maya moments before the fall. Online rumors turned a frightened sister-in-law into a jealous attacker before police had finished collecting evidence.
Sophie was questioned. Margaret was warned not to contact Maya. Ethan stayed beside the hospital bed, controlling every visitor and repeatedly asking where Maya’s phone had gone.
He did not know it was hidden inside Margaret’s coat.
Just before the ambulance arrived, Maya had whispered one instruction to her mother-in-law: “Take it. Don’t let Ethan see.” Margaret had obeyed, even though fear shook her hands. That evening, she returned disguised as a hospital volunteer and slipped into Maya’s room while Ethan met with detectives downstairs.
The call history had been erased remotely, but the damaged phone had automatically saved a few seconds of audio to the cloud. Ethan’s words—“Is it done?”—were clear. The security chief’s confession was muffled but recognizable.
Margaret began to cry. She admitted that Ethan had spent months draining money from the family company. Maya’s late father had left her a controlling interest in a separate trust, and Ethan needed her signature to merge it with Blackwood Holdings. She had refused. If she died, he would inherit enough influence to bury the missing money.
Sophie had discovered the fraud and planned to warn Maya at the dinner. Their argument upstairs had been about how to do it without alerting Ethan.
Before Maya could process the betrayal, the hospital door opened.
May you like
Ethan stood there.
His gaze moved from Margaret’s terrified face to the cracked phone in Maya’s hand. He smiled softly, locked the door behind him, and said, “You should have stayed unconscious.”
