Chapter 5
Panic exploded in my chest like a shattered glass bottle as the first-class cabin suddenly felt tiny.
The actress gasped again, while the senator sat up straight, suddenly looking at us like we were criminals.
Vance stepped between us and the aisle exit, blocking any chance I had of grabbing Maya and running away.
“Who are you running from, Lily?” the billionaire asked, his voice surprisingly gentle despite his scary words.
I squeezed my eyes shut, holding Maya against my side while tears finally spilled over my eyelashes.
“Please don’t send us back,” I sobbed quietly, dropping my pride completely right there on the aisle carpet.
“If you report us to the police when we land, they’re going to take Maya away from me.”
“Who is going to take her away?” he asked, leaning forward slightly in his seat.
“Our stepfather,” I confessed, the dark truth tumbling out before I could stop myself.
“He locked us in the attic four days ago because he wanted to sell our mother’s house to a developer.”
“I found the emergency cash hidden in the cereal box, stole our passports from his desk, and ran.”
The entire first-class cabin went dead silent, the earlier irritation completely replaced by stunned horror.
The billionaire’s steel-gray eyes hardened into solid ice, but not directed at me this time.
May you like
“Vance,” the billionaire said, his voice dropping an octave into absolute danger.
“Get my legal team on the satellite phone immediately.”
