The Man Behind the Accident
Chapter 04 - The Man Behind the Accident
Maya refused to let fear decide what happened next. Still wearing a wrist brace, she left the hospital under police protection and met Detective Ortiz at a secure apartment. Sophie and Margaret joined her there, united by the realization that Ethan had tried to turn each woman against the others.
The threat against Sophie was a trap. Ethan expected Maya to panic, withdraw her statement, and sign control of the trust in exchange for Sophie’s safety. Instead, Maya agreed to speak with him while detectives traced the call.
Ethan contacted her at midnight. He claimed Sophie had been taken and demanded that Maya come alone to an abandoned Blackwood property outside the city. Maya kept him talking while Ortiz’s team searched traffic cameras. A reflection in Ethan’s video feed revealed that he was not at the warehouse at all. He was still inside Blackwood Manor, hiding in a sealed records room behind the library.
Sophie was never kidnapped. Ethan had used an old photograph and a prerecorded scream.
Police surrounded the estate, but Ethan barricaded himself inside with Charles Wynn and the security chief. Through the manor’s speaker system, he blamed Maya for destroying everything. He insisted the money had been necessary to save the company and claimed the fall was only meant to frighten her.
Then Charles turned on him.
Realizing the police had the recorder, the attorney opened the hidden room and tried to surrender. Ethan lunged for the remaining financial files, but the security chief blocked him. The three men struggled as officers entered. No one was seriously injured, and within minutes, all three were in custody.
The final twist came during the investigation. The company had never been close to collapse. Ethan had transferred millions into private accounts under false charities, planning to leave the country with a woman he had been secretly seeing. Maya’s death would have given him access to the one trust he could not steal from while she was alive.
In court, the staircase recording, hospital audio, bank records, and Charles’s testimony formed an unbreakable chain. Ethan accepted a long prison sentence rather than face a public trial. Charles and the security chief also pleaded guilty and agreed to help recover the stolen money.
When the judge dismissed every accusation against Sophie, she collapsed into Maya’s arms.
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Yet one question remained: what would become of Blackwood Manor, the beautiful house that had nearly become Maya’s grave?
Maya already knew the answer—and it would change the family forever.
