Accused of Crashing My Brother's Plane

"Would you look at her, so full of herself. Just because her family has a little money?"

"Exactly. Melanie's always been so good to her, and now that something's actually gone wrong, she won't even help take the blame."

"Jamie's just unlucky, ending up with a girlfriend like that."

"I've seen Melanie. She won't even touch a flight simulator on a normal day. Elizabeth must have pressured her into flying that thing."

I looked down at the bruise blooming purple where the seatbelt had cut into my arm.

Melanie Griffin had yanked it tight and wound it around me twice, right before takeoff, when I wasn't looking.

She was still putting on her little performance, sobbing where she stood.

"Elizabeth, I'm so sorry. Sorry to you, and sorry to whoever owns this plane.

"But I really did just want you to have a good time. You said you wanted to see the sunrise over the ocean, so I thought, even if I didn't know how to fly, I'd give it a shot."

She'd cleverly pinned the whole thing on me, framing it as though she'd only flown the plane because I'd wanted to see a sunrise.

Jamie Cooper shoved me sideways hard enough that I nearly fell.

He planted himself in front of Melanie, glaring at me like I was the one in the wrong.

"Elizabeth, haven't you caused enough trouble? Melanie's shaking, she's terrified, and instead of comforting her, you're throwing a rich girl's tantrum? I really misjudged you."

The shove sent me stumbling backward into something solid.

I turned to find Preston Bloom, the president of our flight club and one of Jamie's closest friends.

Preston shoved me off him like I disgusted him.

"Elizabeth, get away from Melanie.

"I already got in touch with the plane's owner. He's some rich heir with the last name Statham, just had the jet shipped in from overseas. He said he doesn't care who wrecked it, as long as somebody pays for it. And since you want to be difficult, you can be the one to pay."

I frowned.

Statham?

This was my brother's plane, so how was someone named Statham listed as the owner?

Then it hit me. A few days earlier, before he'd left on a business trip, my brother had mentioned it to me in passing.

The jet's ownership was temporarily registered under a business partner's company, purely for tax purposes.

Everyone outside the family thought the plane belonged to the Stathams. No one knew my brother was the real owner.