PART 2: “What’s your name?” Ethan asked again, almost carefully.

The young woman’s lashes trembled. Her lips parted, but no sound came out at first. The city lights slid across the tinted windows of the black SUV, painting her pale face in flashes of blue, gold, and red. Ethan had held fragile things before—contracts worth billions, companies on the edge of collapse, reputations that could vanish with one wrong sentence—but nothing had ever felt as terrifying as the woman breathing unevenly against his chest.

“Maya,” she whispered.

Ethan’s hand froze for half a second.

I’ve updated the post with the full story. If you can’t see my comment with Blue text, pls follow this instruction: In the comment section pick “Most relevant” and switch it to All comments. You’ll see one of my comments with a line of blue text – tap it and it will take you to the full story.