Chapter 2: The Truth Hidden in the Crash
The office remained frozen in silence.
Ethan slowly walked toward Ava, ignoring everyone else.
He dropped to one knee beside her, his expensive suit pressing against the hardwood floor without hesitation.
His trembling hands gently brushed strands of hair away from her bruised face.
"Ava..."
His voice cracked.
"What did they do to you?"
Ava forced a faint smile despite the pain.
"You came home..."
Tears gathered in Ethan's eyes.
He carefully lifted her into his arms while paramedics, already called by Lena, rushed through the front entrance.
Margaret finally found her voice.
"Ethan, listen to me. She's manipulating you. She's been unstable for months."
He didn't even look at her.
"Not one more word."
The authority in his voice silenced everyone.
Hours later, Ava rested in a private hospital suite.
Doctors confirmed something Ethan never expected.
The sedatives found inside the orange juice matched traces that had remained in Ava's bloodstream for months.
Someone had been drugging her regularly.
But another discovery shook him even harder.
The chief neurologist placed a stack of MRI scans on the light board.
"Mr. Carter... your wife's spinal injuries don't fully match the accident report."
Ethan frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means..."
The doctor hesitated.
"...the damage may not have been caused by the collision itself."
That evening Ethan returned to the mansion.
Security investigators were already removing computers, documents, and surveillance hard drives.
One detective approached him.
"We recovered deleted footage from three years ago."
Ethan's heartbeat accelerated.
"The night of Ava's accident?"
The detective nodded.
"Someone erased ninety-eight percent of the recordings."
"But not all of them."
The recovered footage showed Ava walking normally through the mansion's underground garage moments before leaving for dinner.
She laughed while talking on the phone with Ethan.
Then another figure appeared behind her.
Margaret.
She waited until Ava reached the marble staircase leading toward the private garage.
Then...
She deliberately poured clear oil across several steps.
She calmly walked away.
Minutes later—
Ava slipped.
Her body crashed down the staircase.
The impact left her unconscious before she ever reached her car.
The official "traffic accident" had never been the true cause of her paralysis.
Ethan stared at the screen in complete disbelief.
"My God..."
When he turned around...
Margaret was standing behind him.
May you like
For the first time in her life...
She looked afraid.
