The CEO’s Jet Broke Down Again — Her Assistant Whispered, “I Think She Just Wants the Mechanic Back”
Chapter 5
Mason spent the night reviewing Sterling’s maintenance records.
Ava stayed too.
At midnight, Lily brought coffee.
At one in the morning, she found Ava asleep at the conference table.
Mason quietly placed a jacket over her shoulders.
Lily saw it.
She smiled.
“You’re still in love with her.”
Mason immediately shook his head.
“Don’t start.”
“Too late.”
He returned to the laptop.
Lily sat across from him.
“Did you ever tell her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she already knew.”
Lily raised an eyebrow.
“How?”
“She looked at me differently.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It was enough.”
Lily studied him.
Then she placed a folder on the table.
“These are invoices from six months ago.”
Mason opened it.
Several payments had been made to AeroCore for emergency repairs.
He checked the dates.
The repairs matched every one of the jet’s breakdowns.
But something was wrong.
The company had been paying for parts that were never installed.
Mason’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone is creating fake maintenance records.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Not yet.”
Ava woke.
“What did you find?”
Mason looked at her.
“Someone has been overbilling the company.”
“How much?”
“Almost four million dollars.”
Ava’s expression hardened.
“Over what period?”
“Eighteen months.”
She stood.
“Victor.”
Mason nodded.
“Likely.”
“But we can’t accuse him without evidence.”
“Correct.”
Ava stared at the documents.
Then she whispered, “My father trusted him.”
Mason looked up.
“Your father?”
“Victor worked with him before I became CEO.”
Something clicked.
“How long?”
“Twenty-two years.”
Mason leaned back.
“So this isn’t just about the jet.”
“No.”
“It’s about the company.”
Ava nodded.
Suddenly the conference room lights went dark.
Lily gasped.
Emergency lights came on.
Mason stood immediately.
“Stay here.”
Ava grabbed his sleeve.
“I can handle myself.”
“I know.”
He looked at her.
“That’s not why.”
He walked into the hallway.
A security alarm began flashing.
Then Mason heard footsteps.
Fast.
Someone had entered the records room.
He ran.
Ava followed despite his warning.
They reached the room just in time to see a man escaping through a side door.
Mason chased him.
The man disappeared into the parking structure.
Mason returned minutes later.
He was breathing hard.
“Gone.”
Ava looked around the records room.
A single file lay open on the floor.
It contained maintenance reports.
And on the final page was Mason’s name.
Ava picked it up.
Written beside his name was a handwritten note:
The former mechanic noticed too much.
Mason read it.
His face went still.
Ava looked at him.
“That’s why you were fired.”
Mason shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
He looked at the note again.
“They didn’t fire me because I noticed too much.”
He slowly turned the page.
There was another line.
Keep the CEO away from him.
Ava felt cold.
Someone wasn’t trying to silence Mason.
They were trying to keep the two of them apart.
And suddenly, the jet failures made a different kind of sense.
Someone had known exactly what would bring them back together.
