Chapter 1 - MILK AND GUNMETAL
She was walking toward Matteo Volkov.
And that was worse.
One of the bodyguards stepped sideways before Elena had taken three full steps.
His hand disappeared beneath his jacket.
Matteo did not look at him.
“Don’t.”
The single word stopped the man instantly.
Elena kept moving.
The baby gave another thin cry.
It was barely a cry anymore.
More like air scraping through a tired throat.
Elena’s training overpowered her fear.
“How old is she?”
Matteo’s dark eyes lifted to Elena’s face.
“Four months.”
“When did she last eat?”
His jaw tightened.
“Seven hours ago.”
Elena stopped.
“Seven?”
“She refuses everything.”
“Formula?”
“Yes.”
“Breast milk?”
Something changed in his face.
Not anger.
Pain.
“My wife is dead.”
The answer came so quietly Elena almost wished he had shouted.
She looked at the baby again.
The little girl’s fists had stopped fighting.
That frightened Elena more than the armed men.
“What’s her name?”
“Sofia.”
Elena swallowed.
Then she did the most reckless thing she had done since burying her family.
“Give her to me.”
Every man in the cabin seemed to stop breathing.
Matteo’s expression went cold.
“You don’t know who you’re speaking to.”
“I know exactly who I’m speaking to.”
That was a lie.
Elena knew his name because everyone knew his name.
She knew the newspapers called him a businessman.
She knew prosecutors called him untouchable.
She knew bartenders in Brooklyn stopped conversations when one of his cars pulled up outside.
But none of that mattered while a dehydrated infant faded in his arms.
“I’m a neonatal nurse.”
Matteo’s gaze sharpened.
“At Mercy Children’s?”
Elena froze.
She had not told him where she worked.
He looked toward one of his men.
The man immediately lowered his eyes.
Matteo returned his attention to her.
“Passenger records.”
Of course.
He knew everyone on his aircraft.
Elena hated how unsurprising that felt.
She held out her arms.
“She needs to eat.”
“She won’t take a bottle.”
“I’m not offering a bottle.”
For the first time, Matteo Volkov looked confused.
Elena felt heat rise into her face.
She hated this.
Hated that grief had left her body functioning as though her sons might still wake in the night.
Hated the nursing pads.
Hated the ache.
Hated the fact that three months after two tiny coffins had disappeared into the ground, her body still expected hungry mouths.
But Sofia made another broken sound.
Elena looked Matteo directly in the eyes.
“I’m still lactating.”
Understanding crossed his face.
Behind him, one of the guards stared at the carpet.
The flight attendant turned away to give Elena privacy.
Matteo did not move.
“You can feed her?”
“I can try.”
His arms tightened around his daughter.
Suspicion appeared instantly.
It was almost frightening how quickly the helpless father disappeared and the feared man returned.
“Why?”
Elena nearly laughed.
Instead, tears burned her eyes.
“Because she’s hungry.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you need.”
Matteo studied her.
Long enough for Elena to hear the aircraft engines.
Long enough for Sofia to whimper again.
Then something inside him surrendered.
He stood.
He was larger than Elena expected.
Not merely tall.
Heavy with a controlled violence that seemed to bend the air around him.
But when he placed Sofia in Elena’s arms, he did it as if he were transferring something made of glass.
Elena automatically supported the baby’s neck.
Sofia was warm.
Too warm.
Her lips were dry.
Her cheeks had lost the soft fullness babies her age usually carried.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
The words escaped before Elena could stop them.
Sofia turned toward her voice.
Then toward her body.
Instinct recognized what exhaustion had nearly taken away.
Elena looked up.
“I need somewhere private.”
Matteo pointed toward the bedroom cabin.
“You stay where I can see the door.”
Elena gave him a disbelieving stare.
“I’m not kidnapping your child from an airplane.”
A muscle moved in his jaw.
“Humor me.”
She carried Sofia into the private cabin.
The door stayed half open.
Elena sat on the edge of the bed.
Her hands started shaking then.
Not because of Matteo.
Not because of the guns.
Because the last babies she had held this way had been her sons.
Noah had always latched too quickly.
Eli had been slower.
She had teased him.
Patient boy.
Her patient boy.
The memory nearly broke her.
Then Sofia rooted desperately against Elena’s blouse.
Elena closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Her fingers trembled as she adjusted her clothes.
The moment Sofia latched, pain and relief struck together.
Elena bit her lip.
The baby sucked frantically.
Too fast.
“Slow down.”
Elena stroked the back of her tiny head.
“You’re okay.”
She did not know whether she was talking to Sofia or herself.
Outside the open door, Matteo stood perfectly still.
He watched his daughter eat.
The expression on his face was nothing Elena expected from a man whose name terrified cities.
There was no hardness.
No calculation.
Only naked relief.
Sofia’s fist slowly opened against Elena’s chest.
Her cries stopped.
The entire plane became silent.
For several minutes, nobody moved.
Then Elena heard something.
A click.
Tiny.
Metallic.
Her head turned.
The bodyguard nearest the galley was staring at his phone.
Nothing unusual.
Except Matteo had ordered every passenger device surrendered before takeoff.
Elena had watched the flight attendant collect them.
This man still had one.
He noticed Elena looking.
His face changed.
Just slightly.
Then he slipped the phone into his sleeve.
Elena’s heartbeat accelerated.
Matteo was still watching Sofia.
Elena looked toward him.
“Mr. Volkov.”
His eyes moved to hers instantly.
“The man by the galley has a phone.”
Everything happened at once.
The guard reached inside his jacket.
Matteo moved faster.
One of the other bodyguards slammed the man into the wall.
The flight attendant screamed.
Sofia startled but Elena immediately covered her ear and held her close.
“Easy.”
The traitorous guard fought once.
Then stopped when two weapons appeared.
Matteo crossed the cabin.
“What did you send?”
The man said nothing.
Matteo took the phone himself.
His eyes moved across the screen.
Then his face went terrifyingly blank.
“How long?”
Silence.
Matteo looked at his security chief.
“Change course.”
“To where?”
“Anywhere that isn’t where he told them we’re landing.”
The security chief disappeared toward the cockpit.
Elena stared at Matteo.
“What did he send?”
Matteo looked at Sofia.
Then at Elena.
“Our location.”
The baby continued nursing.
Elena felt cold despite the warm cabin.
“Who wants your location?”
Matteo’s gaze stayed on her for several seconds.
“People who want my daughter.”
Elena looked down at Sofia.
“Why?”
He did not answer.
The traitorous guard laughed once.
It was a bitter sound.
Matteo slowly turned toward him.
The man’s eyes moved toward Elena.
And something about that look made every instinct inside her tighten.
“You think this changes anything?”
The guard spoke in accented English.
“The woman already touched the child.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“What does that mean?”
The man smiled.
“They’ll know her now.”
Elena’s stomach dropped.
Matteo grabbed the front of the man’s jacket.
“Who?”
The guard spat blood onto the cream carpet.
Then he laughed again.
“You really don’t know.”
Matteo’s fist tightened.
But before anything else happened, the pilot’s voice came over the intercom.
“Mr. Volkov, we have a problem.”
Everyone looked upward.
“There’s an aircraft matching our new heading.”
The cabin went silent.
The pilot continued.
“It changed course when we did.”
Matteo looked toward Elena.
Sofia had finally stopped feeding.
Her eyes were drifting closed.
For the first time in hours, she looked peaceful.
Matteo looked at his daughter.
Then at the woman holding her.
His next words were quiet.
But they changed Elena’s life.
“When we land, you do not go home.”
Elena stared at him.
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Someone has identified you.”
“That is your problem.”
“It became yours the moment you saved her.”
Elena stood carefully, Sofia still in her arms.
“You do not get to decide where I go.”
Matteo stepped closer.
His expression was no longer cold.
That somehow made it worse.
“I know.”
“Then take me home.”
“If I take you home tonight, you may be dead before sunrise.”
Elena’s throat tightened.
He looked toward the traitorous guard.
Then back at her.
“And whoever is hunting my daughter now knows exactly who kept her alive.”
The plane suddenly banked hard.
A glass shattered somewhere in the galley.
Elena tightened her arms around Sofia.
Matteo braced one hand against the wall beside her.
May you like
The baby slept through the movement.
And somewhere beyond the dark window, another aircraft followed them through the night.
