THE BILLIONAIRE’S DAUGHTER FELL IN LOVE WITH HER UBER DRIVER
Chapter 3
Charles Bennett noticed everything.
It was one of the reasons he’d become a billionaire.
At breakfast on Monday morning, he looked at Sophia’s tablet.
“You’ve been taking Uber?”
Sophia nearly choked on her coffee.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to.”
“You have a driver.”
“He wasn’t available.”
“Then call the company.”
Sophia rolled her eyes.
“Dad.”
Charles ignored it.
“What’s the driver’s name?”
Sophia looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I asked.”
“Ethan.”
“Last name?”
“Carter.”
Charles’s expression changed.
“What does he do?”
“He drives.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Sophia put down her coffee.
“He was an aircraft engineer.”
Charles studied her.
“And now?”
“He’s an Uber driver.”
Charles leaned back.
“How often have you used him?”
Sophia didn’t answer.
“That often?”
“Dad.”
“I’m asking because you are my daughter.”
“And I’m asking you to stop treating me like I’m twelve.”
Charles sighed.
“I worry.”
“You control.”
“There’s a difference.”
“Not from my side.”
Sophia stood.
“I’ll be late for work.”
Charles watched her leave.
He waited ten seconds.
Then he called his head of security.
“Find Ethan Carter.”
By noon, Charles had a file.
Thirty-two years old.
Former aircraft engineer.
Single father.
Daughter: Lily Carter, eight.
Home address: modest apartment.
No criminal record.
No debt beyond an old student loan and medical bills.
Former employer: Atlas Aviation.
Layoff date: eleven months earlier.
Charles looked at the photo.
Something bothered him.
Not the fact that Ethan was poor.
Not the fact that he drove for Uber.
It was something in his employment history.
Charles had seen the name Atlas Aviation before.
He called his chief legal officer.
“Pull every contract we had with Atlas.”
Two hours later, the answer came.
Bennett Capital had invested heavily in Atlas Aviation seven years earlier.
And Charles suddenly remembered why the company had collapsed.
A maintenance lawsuit.
A whistleblower report.
A confidential settlement.
The case had been buried.
Charles stared at Ethan’s photograph.
Then he saw one sentence.
Former Senior Systems Engineer.
Charles’s stomach tightened.
“Could he know?”
He called Sophia.
“Come home.”
“What?”
“Now.”
“I’m working.”
“It’s important.”
Sophia hung up without answering.
At the office, she confronted him.
“What is this about?”
Charles placed Ethan’s file on the desk.
Her expression hardened.
“You investigated him?”
“Yes.”
“You had no right.”
“I’m your father.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to stalk people.”
Charles lowered his voice.
“There are things you don’t know about him.”
Sophia opened the file.
She read.
Then looked up.
“So?”
“He worked for Atlas.”
“So?”
“Atlas nearly destroyed one of my companies.”
“That’s your problem.”
“No.”
Charles pointed at the file.
“It’s potentially yours.”
Sophia stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Charles hesitated.
“Seven years ago, Atlas falsified aircraft maintenance records.”
“Did Ethan?”
“No.”
“Then why are you showing me this?”
“Because he was one of the engineers who reported the problem.”
Sophia blinked.
Charles continued.
“And someone buried his report.”
She looked at him.
“Who?”
Charles didn’t answer.
Sophia’s voice became quiet.
“Dad.”
He looked away.
“I don’t know.”
That was the first time Sophia understood that her father wasn’t protecting her from Ethan.
He was afraid of what Ethan might know.
That evening, Sophia called Ethan.
“Can you pick me up?”
“Sure.”
“There’s something I need to ask you.”
“What?”
“About Atlas Aviation.”
Silence.
Then Ethan said quietly,
“I wondered when you’d hear about that.”
