Tomorrow was the meeting with the Japanese investors—the $400-million merger Ryan and Laura had insisted on organizing.
“What else did you hear?” Ethan asked, pretending to scroll on his phone while watching the lit windows of the tenth floor.
“They laughed,” the girl said. “They said you’d sign papers without reading them. Said you’re stupid. That the day after tomorrow, you’d be looking for a job.”
She shrank into herself. “My grandma says kids shouldn’t repeat bad words, so I won’t.”
Ethan felt rage… and something unexpectedly close to respect.
This child had risked herself to warn a stranger.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Maya,” she said. “And you’re Ethan Carter. They say your name all the time.”
She hesitated. “Are you going to call the police on me now?”
For the first time in weeks, Ethan smiled for real.
“No, Maya,” he said softly. “You may have just saved everything I built.”
As he drove away, he saw the office lights shutting off one by one. Ryan and Laura were likely heading down, confident that tomorrow would ruin him.
What they didn’t know was that their plan had just gained an unexpected witness.
And Maya had given Ethan something priceless: time.