Chapter 2 - The Bodyguard Locks the Cabin
The click of the cabin lock sounded louder than the engines.
Claire still held the silver bracelet.
Adrian was half-reclined in the leather seat, breathing through the
oxygen mask.
His bodyguard, Marcus Vale, stood between them and the cockpit.
One hand hovered near his jacket.
Adrian’s face changed.
“Claire, move away from him.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“Sir, you’re confused.”
“I’m not.”
Claire stepped backward.
Her heart pounded.
“Why did you lock the door?”
Marcus answered calmly.
“Because Mr. Cross needs medical attention without interruption.”
Adrian pulled off the oxygen mask.
“You knew she was on this flight.”
Marcus did not answer.
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“You changed the crew manifest.”
Claire stared between them.
“What is he talking about?”
Marcus looked at her.
“You weren’t supposed to be here.”
The words chilled her.
Claire had boarded the private jet as a last-minute replacement flight
attendant.
Her supervisor called less than two hours before departure.
Another attendant had supposedly become sick.
Adrian coughed.
“Who called her in?”
Marcus remained silent.
Claire tightened her grip on the bracelet.
“Where is my mother?”
Marcus finally moved his hand away from his jacket.
He removed a phone.
Not a weapon.
He placed it on the table.
“There are things you don’t understand.”
Adrian laughed weakly.
“That sentence has protected too many liars.”
Then Claire noticed something on Marcus’s screen.
A photograph.
Her.
Taken that morning outside her apartment.
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“You were watching me.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
Then at Marcus.
“You found her before I did.”
Marcus said nothing.
Adrian’s expression became terrifyingly clear.
His medical collapse had not happened by accident.
May you like
Neither had Claire’s presence on the jet.
And Marcus knew exactly why both had happened.
