Chapter 3 - The Second Flight Plan
“You told me we were staying three nights,” I said.
Daniel reached for his suitcase.
“Plans changed.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“And you forgot to mention another country?”
He exhaled. “Claire, not here.”
“That’s becoming your favorite sentence.”
Valery looked toward the cabin door. It was sealed now. Ground crew moved beyond the small oval window.
She lowered her voice.
“I checked the manifest because his name looked familiar.”
Daniel laughed once. “You’re violating company policy now?”
“No. I’m doing my job.”
“You’re harassing a passenger.”
“I’m speaking to his wife.”
The word wife hung there.
I heard a soft chime from Daniel’s pocket.
He grabbed his phone too quickly.
I saw only the first line of the message before he turned the screen away.
CAR SERVICE CONFIRMED. VANCOUVER 8:40 P.M.
My chest went cold.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
He slipped it into his pocket.
“Claire, listen to me. I was planning a surprise extension. That’s it.”
“Then why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
Valery’s voice was almost a whisper.
“Because he thought I was one.”
Daniel’s head snapped toward her.
Not dramatically. Just enough.
Enough to tell me she was right.
Valery stepped closer to me.
“Twelve years ago, Adam—Daniel—left my apartment before sunrise. He took his clothes, his laptop, and one folder from my mother’s desk.”
Daniel’s expression flattened.
“Careful.”
Valery continued.
“My mother owned a small aircraft-parts company. Two days after he disappeared, one hundred eighty-four thousand dollars was gone from the operating account.”
I stared at my husband.
He shook his head.
“She blamed me because we broke up.”
Valery’s eyes stayed on him.
“She died still believing I had helped you.”
For the first time, anger broke through her calm.
Daniel picked up his suitcase.
“We’re leaving.”
A voice came over the cabin speaker.
“Mr. Mercer, we’ve been cleared for departure.”
Daniel turned toward the seats.
Then Valery said one more thing.
“The money was transferred to a company called Northline Holdings.”
I stopped moving.
Northline Holdings was the company Daniel had put in my name six months after our wedding.
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He had presented the paperwork over dinner with a bottle of wine and a silver pen. "Your first company that nobody in your family controls," he had said. I had been so proud of the idea that I barely read the pages. I remembered signing where he tapped, trusting the man across from me more than I trusted my own last name. Now that memory felt like watching myself walk toward an open hole.
Private Jet Story - 20 Chapters
