Page 73 of Faking it with my Bad Boy Crush

"Apparently yes, because it's happening right now in my hands in legal document form." I flipped to the injunction request. "And they want to stop us from talking about the fraud publicly. Want to silence us so we can't defend ourselves or tell people what actually happened."

My brain, which had been trying very hard to stay calm and rational, chose that moment to completely abandon ship.

Where is Ethan?

He should have warned me this was coming. Should have texted, called, sent a carrier pigeon—something.

And suddenly a terrible, horrible, absolutely awful thought crept in:What if he took the settlement?

What if Marcus had offered Ethan a deal—save yourself, throw Maya under the bus, walk away clean—and Ethan had decided self-preservation trumped love?

"No," I said out loud, startling both myself and Tessa. "No, he wouldn't do that. He literally destroyed his career to protect this bakery. He wouldn't abandon me now."

"Of course he wouldn't—"

"But then where is he? Why hasn't he called? Why didn't he warn me about this lawsuit?" My voice was getting higher, which was never a good sign. "What if the two days of silence is because he made a choice he knows I won't forgive?"

"Maya, you're spiraling—"

"I'm spiraling because I'm being sued for three-quarters of a million dollars and my boyfriend has vanished!" I grabbed my phone, pulling up Ethan's contact. "I'm calling him. Right now. And he better have a really good explanation."

The call went straight to voicemail. Of course it did.

“You’ve reached Ethan Caldwell. I'm unavailable right now—"

I hung up before the beep, fighting the urge to throw my phone across the room.

"Okay," Tessa said carefully, using her 'Maya is losing it' voice. "Let's think about this logically. What's more likely: Ethan suddenly became a heartless monster who abandoned you after weeks of fighting for you, or there's a reasonable explanation for the silence?"

"Reasonable explanations would involve communication."

"Not if he's in the kind of meetings where phones aren't allowed. Not if he's been in nonstop prosecutor prep with no breaks." She grabbed my shoulders. "You're scared. I get it. But don't let fear make you doubt him. He's proven who he is."

She was right. I knew she was right. But knowing and feeling were two very different things when you're holding documents that could destroy your entire life.

I called Richard Sterling, because if anyone would know what was actually happening, it would be him.

He answered on the second ring. "Maya. I was just about to call you—"

"Did you know about this?" I didn't bother with pleasantries. "Did you know Marcus was adding me to his lawsuit?"

"I received a copy this morning. I'm already preparing a response—"

"That's not what I asked." My voice cracked despite my best efforts to sound strong and professional. "I asked if you knew this was coming. If Ethan knew. If anyone thought to warn me before I got blindsided by FedEx."

"Maya—"

"Because from where I'm standing, it looks like everyone knew except me. And Ethan hasn't called in two days, hasn't texted, hasn't given me any heads up that my entire life is about to be destroyed. So I need you to tell me right now: Did he take Marcus's settlement? Did he throw me under the bus to save himself?"

The question tasted like betrayal even as I asked it.

"What? No. Absolutely not." Richard's voice was firm, almost offended on Ethan's behalf. "Maya, Ethan would never—"

"Then where is he? Why hasn't he contacted me?"

"He's been in meetings with the county prosecutor for forty-eight hours straight. Nonstop. Building the criminal fraud case." Richard's tone gentled. "They're working around the clock because the prosecutor wants to file charges before the ethics investigation concludes. Ethan's been in conference rooms with no phone access, eating takeout at midnight, sleeping on a couch in the prosecutor's office. He's exhausted and stressed and worried sick about not being able to contact you."

Oh.