The CEO’s Jet Broke Down Again — Her Assistant Whispered, “I Think She Just Wants the Mechanic Back”
Chapter 12
They escaped through a narrow service road along the coast.
Mason drove.
Ava sat beside him.
Her father and Lily were in the back.
Behind them, two black SUVs followed.
“Can they track us?” Ava asked.
“Not if I can help it.”
Mason turned sharply.
Ava grabbed the seat.
“Sorry.”
“You’re still driving like a mechanic.”
“I am a mechanic.”
“You’re also a terrible driver.”
He smiled.
She realized she had missed that smile.
Even now.
Especially now.
They reached an old Sterling warehouse.
Mason led them inside.
There was a secondary server room beneath the building.
Ava’s father unlocked it.
“This is where I hid the original evidence.”
Mason looked around.
“This was built thirty years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Then the technology must be obsolete.”
Her father smiled.
“Not all of it.”
He opened a cabinet.
Inside was the original Sterling aviation diagnostic system.
Mason stared.
“This is what I thought disappeared.”
“It didn’t.”
Mason connected his laptop.
Within minutes, he found the original maintenance records.
Every one of the jet failures appeared.
And next to each one was a hidden authorization code.
The code belonged to Richard Vale.
Ava stared.
“We have him.”
“Not yet,” Mason said.
“Why?”
“Because Richard knows we’re here.”
The lights went out.
Gunfire cracked outside.
Lily screamed.
Her father pulled her behind a wall.
Mason moved toward the door.
Ava grabbed him.
“You’re not going out there.”
“I need to shut the main generator.”
“Someone could shoot you.”
He looked at her.
“I spent six months away from you.”
Ava’s eyes filled.
“Don’t make me lose you now.”
He kissed her forehead.
“I’ll come back.”
He disappeared into the darkness.
Minutes passed.
Ava could barely breathe.
Then the emergency lights returned.
Mason walked back inside.
Alive.
But blood covered his sleeve.
Ava ran to him.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not badly.”
She pulled his jacket away.
The cut was shallow.
Still, her hands trembled.
Her father watched them.
Then quietly said,
“Your mother used to look at me that way.”
Ava stopped.
“My mother?”
Her father nodded.
“She knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That I was alive.”
Ava stared.
“You told me she died years ago.”
“I told everyone.”
“Is she alive too?”
Her father looked toward the locked server room.
“No.”
Ava’s face fell.
“She died believing I was safe.”
Silence settled over the room.
Her father placed a hand on her shoulder.
“And that’s why this ends tonight.”
Mason looked at the recovered evidence.
“We go public.”
Ava nodded.
“No more hiding.”
