Chapter 3 - The Price of ProtectionThe landing in Denver was harder than expected.
A certain tightening in his jaw meant stop talking.
The way he placed his phone facedown meant someone else was involved.
A long silence after a question meant I had already given the wrong answer.
But nothing he had ever done prepared me for hearing his voice outside a first-class cabin while we were flying over the middle of the country.
“Emma?”
I stopped breathing.
Adrian Vale moved between me and the door.
“Stay behind me.”
“I don’t need you to—”
“Not now.”
His tone sharpened.
I hated that I obeyed.
Another knock struck the door.
Then Tyler laughed.
That laugh.
Soft.
Reasonable.
Almost affectionate.
The sound he used whenever other people were nearby.
“Emma, sweetheart, I know you’re in there.”
My skin crawled.
Adrian looked at me.
“Do you want him removed?”
“How?”
“There are legal ways.”
The qualification did not reassure me.
“You can’t start a fight on an airplane.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“What were you planning?”
“Letting federal aviation law do the work.”
Before I could answer, Adrian opened the door.
Tyler stood outside.
For a split second, seeing him hit harder than I expected.
He wore the navy jacket I had bought him for Christmas.
His hair was perfectly combed.
His smile looked worried.
To anyone who didn’t know him, he looked like a devoted boyfriend chasing the woman he loved.
Then his eyes found me.
The smile disappeared.
“There you are.”
My hand closed around the back of Adrian’s seat.
Tyler looked at him.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Someone whose cabin you’re interrupting.”
Tyler glanced at the gold first-class insignia beside the door.
Confusion moved across his face.
“I need to speak to my girlfriend.”
“No.”
Tyler’s expression tightened.
“This doesn’t concern you.”
“She says otherwise.”
“I haven’t said anything,” I whispered.
Adrian didn’t turn.
“You left him.”
The certainty in his voice made Tyler’s face change.
“There’s been a misunderstanding,” Tyler said.
“No,” I replied.
His attention snapped to me.
It was the first time I had contradicted him in public.
The first time I had done it knowing strangers could hear.
Tyler’s eyes narrowed.
“Emma, come out here.”
“No.”
“Now.”
Adrian shifted half an inch.
Tyler noticed.
Something about him finally registered.
Maybe the suit.
Maybe the security man standing farther down the aisle.
Maybe the fact that Adrian showed absolutely no fear.
Tyler looked at him more carefully.
Then recognition struck.
His face drained.
“Vale.”
Adrian’s expression remained unreadable.
“Bennett.”
Tyler took one step backward.
I stared between them.
“You know each other.”
Tyler ignored me.
“Whatever she told you, she doesn’t know anything.”
“Interesting,” Adrian said. “I never claimed she did.”
Tyler realized his mistake too late.
His mouth closed.
A flight attendant approached.
“Gentlemen, I need everyone to return to their assigned seats immediately.”
Tyler looked past Adrian.
“Emma, we’re getting off together in San Francisco.”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“You’re upset.”
“I’m leaving you.”
“You’re confused.”
“I’m not.”
“You haven’t slept.”
“I slept just fine.”
That was petty.
And satisfying.
Tyler’s face darkened.
“Your sister called me.”
My stomach twisted.
“What?”
“She’s worried.”
“You contacted Rachel?”
“She said you’ve been acting irrationally.”
He was lying.
Rachel and I hadn’t spoken in six weeks because Tyler had engineered that separation too.
Adrian glanced at me.
“Would you like to verify?”
I nodded.
He handed me my phone.
No signal at altitude, but Wi-Fi had returned.
I opened my messages.
Seven texts from Rachel.
Emma, Tyler called me.
Where are you?
Please tell me you’re safe.
He says you’re having some kind of breakdown.
I don’t believe him.
Call me.
My knees nearly gave out.
For months, Tyler had told me Rachel didn’t want to hear from me.
That she thought I was dramatic.
That she had called him to complain about my behavior.
All lies.
Tyler read my face.
“Emma, listen to me.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what you’ve done.”
“Then explain.”
His eyes flicked toward Adrian.
“Not here.”
“Here is perfect.”
Passengers were watching now.
Tyler hated witnesses.
He lowered his voice.
“There are things happening that you don’t understand.”
“So explain them.”
“I can’t.”
“Then go away.”
His nostrils flared.
The flight attendant stepped closer.
“Sir, you need to return to your seat.”
Tyler ignored her.
“Emma, you have something that belongs to me.”
There it was.
Not I love you.
Not I was worried.
Not come home.
You have something.
I looked at Adrian.
The flash drive sat hidden inside his jacket now.
“What?”
I asked Tyler.
He hesitated.
“You know.”
“No, I don’t.”
Tyler’s patience snapped.
“The gray suitcase.”
My stomach dropped.
Adrian’s expression didn’t change.
“What about it?”
I asked.
“Where is it?”
“Checked.”
Tyler stared at me as though trying to decide whether I was lying.
Then he looked at Adrian.
“You took it.”
Adrian said nothing.
Tyler stepped forward.
The security man in the aisle moved instantly.
One hand caught Tyler’s shoulder.
“Back to your seat.”
Tyler jerked away.
“Don’t touch me.”
That was enough.
The flight attendant spoke into her handset.
Within thirty seconds, two crew members appeared.
Tyler finally understood how badly he had miscalculated.
He lifted his hands.
“Fine.”
But before turning away, he looked directly at me.
The mask dropped completely.
“You have no idea what happens if you leave me.”
My entire body went cold.
Adrian’s voice became quiet.
“What happens?”
Tyler stared at him.
Then smiled.
“Ask Emma.”
He returned to economy.
The door closed.
Silence filled the cabin.
I sat.
My hands were shaking so hard I tucked them beneath my thighs.
Adrian poured water into a glass.
I didn’t take it.
“You knew he was on the plane.”
“No.”
“You said his men were.”
“They were. Tyler must have boarded later.”
“You have people watching him.”
“Yes.”
“You’re a criminal.”
“Yes.”
“And somehow I’m supposed to trust you?”
“No.”
The answer startled me.
Adrian sat opposite me again.
“You should verify everything I tell you.”
“Why are you helping me?”
His gaze moved toward the window.
For the first time since I woke up, he seemed reluctant to answer.
“Because Tyler stole from me.”
“That explains the flash drive. Not me.”
“You’re leverage.”
I flinched.
Adrian noticed.
“Not mine,” he added. “His.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
He looked at me.
“All of it.”
“Yes.”
Adrian was silent for several seconds.
Then he loosened his tie slightly.
“Tyler wasn’t laundering his own money. He was laundering money for a network run by Marcus Rourke.”
I waited.
“Rourke?”
“A financier. Politically connected. Publicly respectable.”
“And privately?”
“A trafficker. Extortionist. Murderer.”
My stomach turned.
“Tyler works for him?”
“Worked.”
“What changed?”
“Tyler skimmed money.”
“How much?”
“Enough to disappear.”
“Then why hasn’t he?”
“Because he needs what’s on that drive.”
I looked toward Adrian’s jacket.
“What exactly is on it?”
“Accounts. Payoffs. Shell companies. Names.”
“Your name?”
“Yes.”
That surprised me.
“So the drive can hurt you too.”
“Yes.”
“Then why not destroy it?”
“Because it can hurt Rourke more.”
A new possibility entered my mind.
“You want immunity.”
Adrian looked almost amused.
“You’re perceptive.”
“I worked in compliance for five years.”
“I know.”
I stared at him.
“You investigated me.”
“I investigated everyone connected to Tyler.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Fair.”
“What happens when we land?”
“Tyler will be detained.”
“For what?”
“Interfering with the crew, assuming he continues.”
“He won’t.”
“He already sent a message threatening you through the onboard network.”
My eyes widened.
Adrian turned his tablet around.
A message had been captured.
Bring her back or the sister gets involved.
My vision blurred.
“Rachel.”
“She’s safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
“I sent two people to her apartment forty minutes ago.”
I stood so quickly I hit the table.
“You sent criminals to my sister?”
“I sent a retired federal agent and a former Boston police detective.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“They are currently drinking coffee with her.”
I snatched my phone.
A message arrived from Rachel almost immediately.
A man named Daniel Cross is here. Says he works for Adrian Vale. Emma, WHAT IS HAPPENING?
Then another.
He showed credentials. I’m okay.
I sank down.
My lungs finally started working again.
Adrian let me sit in silence.
“I still won’t marry you,” I said eventually.
“I know.”
“Stop looking like you expected me to reconsider.”
“I expected nothing.”
“That’s another lie.”
This time, the almost-smile became real.
Very brief.
Then an announcement came over the speakers.
The captain’s voice.
“Ladies and gentlemen, due to a security matter, we will be making an unscheduled landing in Denver.”
Everyone in the cabin looked up.
My heart began pounding.
Adrian stood.
“What?”
I asked.
He picked up his jacket.
“We have a problem.”
“You say that a lot.”
His eyes moved toward the closed door.
“Rourke has people in Denver.”
A cold chill traveled down my spine.
“Then why are we landing there?”
“Because someone convinced the captain Tyler represents an immediate threat.”
“Doesn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at me.
“But Tyler isn’t the person I’m worried about anymore.”
The plane began descending.
And somewhere beneath the clouds, a city full of strangers waited for us.
May you like
Among them, according to Adrian, were men who wanted the flash drive.
And possibly me.
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