Chapter 4 - The Truth Unveiled
The remaining hours of the flight felt like a bizarre dream.
Maya eventually woke up, rubbing her sleepy eyes. When she saw the massive leather seat and the fancy silver trays, she gasped.
"Lily, are we in a castle?" she whispered.
Alexander actually chuckled—a rich, deep sound that startled his security guard. He ordered the flight attendants to bring every dessert on the menu for Maya. Soon, my little sister was happily covered in chocolate mousse, watched over by a highly trained bodyguard who carefully wiped her chin with a linen napkin.
I finally handed Leo back to his father.
Alexander took his son with a newly learned gentleness. He held Leo against his chest, mimicking the sway and the heartbeat rhythm I had taught him. The baby stayed asleep.
"My wife, Elena, died shortly after Leo was born," Alexander said softly, looking out the window at the endless expanse of clouds. "An unforeseen complication. I spent my entire life building an empire, believing I could control everything. But I couldn't save her."
I wrapped my hands around a cup of warm tea a flight attendant had given me. "I'm sorry."
"Since that day, Leo has barely slept. He cries constantly. The doctors said it was colic. The nannies said he was difficult. I fired five of them in three months."
Alexander turned to look at me. "But you knew. You knew he was just mourning."
"Kids know what grief feels like," I said matter-of-factly. "Adults try to fix it with medicine or toys. But you can't fix it. You just have to sit with them in the dark until it doesn't feel so scary anymore."
Alexander stared at me, marveling at the ten-year-old sitting in his first-class cabin.
"Tell me about Richard," he said, his tone shifting back to business.
I took a deep breath and told him everything. I told him how my parents died in a car crash a year ago. How my father's stepbrother, Richard, petitioned for custody. How we quickly realized he only wanted the trust fund my parents had left behind.
I detailed the nights without food, the slaps across the face, and the final straw: Richard plotting to declare me a delinquent so he could institutionalize me and keep Maya, giving him total control over the money.
By the time I finished, Alexander's jaw was clenched so tight I thought his teeth might shatter.
"He drained the accounts?" Alexander asked.
"Most of it," I nodded. "I found a hidden envelope my mom kept in a cereal box. It had just enough for these tickets. A girl at school told me her family in Rome might help us if we could just get there."
"A distant cousin on a couch is not a plan, Lily," Alexander sighed.
"It was better than waiting to die," I shot back defensively.
"Yes. It was." Alexander agreed. "You are incredibly brave. But you are done running."
"The police will be waiting at the airport," I whispered, the fear returning. "An Amber Alert means Interpol. We don't have passports that will pass customs without setting off alarms."
Alexander pulled a satellite phone from his briefcase.
May you like
"You clearly don't understand how the world works when you have endless resources, Lily," he said, dialing a number. "Customs is for regular passengers."
The plane began its descent into Rome. The real fight was just beginning.
