Chapter 2 - Thirty Thousand Feet
Silas moved before Victor cleared the weapon.
His hand slammed Victor’s wrist against the cabin wall.
The gun hit the carpet.
Two security men immediately drew their weapons.
Nobody knew where to point them.
“Back off!” Silas roared.
Victor struggled.
“Silas, listen to me!”
“You knew?”
The jet dropped suddenly in turbulence.
Gemma screamed from the galley.
Matteo grabbed Khloe’s arm.
Khloe signed quickly.
Stay with me. Look at me.
The boy focused on her.
Behind them, Silas shoved Victor into a seat.
“You knew my son was deaf?”
“Not deaf.”
“What?”
Victor’s breathing was heavy.
“He had hearing loss after the fever in May.”
Silas looked stunned.
“What fever?”
Victor’s face changed.
Too late.
Silas saw it.
“What fever, Victor?”
“Your mother handled it.”
“My mother?”
Khloe watched the pieces move across Silas’s face.
Confusion.
Then fury.
Then something worse.
Betrayal.
Matteo tugged Khloe’s sleeve.
He signed.
Grandma said Dad would send me away if I was broken.
Khloe felt sick.
She looked at Silas.
“Your son was told you would get rid of him if you learned he couldn’t hear.”
Silas turned pale.
“Who told him that?”
Matteo was already signing.
Khloe hesitated.
Silas noticed.
“Tell me.”
“Your mother.”
Nobody spoke.
Silas Costello was a man who could make grown men disappear from meetings simply by entering the room.
But now he looked like someone had punched through his chest.
“My mother told him that?”
Khloe nodded.
Victor rubbed his wrist.
“It was complicated.”
Silas turned.
Victor stopped talking.
Silas picked up the gun from the floor, removed the magazine, cleared the chamber, and tossed both pieces onto separate seats.
Then he sat across from Victor.
“Make it uncomplicated.”
Victor looked toward the windows.
Rain streaked across the glass.
“We were trying to protect the company.”
Khloe almost laughed.
“A six-year-old’s hearing has something to do with your company?”
Victor ignored her.
Silas didn’t.
“Answer her.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Your father’s trust.”
Silas stared.
“What about it?”
“Matteo inherits controlling shares if anything happens to you.”
“I know my own estate plan.”
“No. Your father changed it before he died.”
Silas leaned forward.
Victor continued.
“If Matteo is declared medically incompetent, custodial control transfers to the family trustee.”
Silas’s face hardened.
“My mother.”
Victor nodded.
Khloe felt Matteo’s hand squeeze hers.
Silas whispered, “She was trying to have my son declared incompetent?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Victor looked toward Matteo.
Then away.
“Your mother needed documentation showing severe developmental impairment.”
Silas’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“And when he only had hearing loss?”
Victor didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Khloe understood first.
“Oh my God.”
Silas looked at her.
Khloe’s stomach twisted.
“She wasn’t hiding his deafness.”
Silas frowned.
Khloe whispered, “She was making sure nobody taught him how to communicate.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Silas stood.
The jet shook again.
But nobody moved.
“If Matteo could sign,” Khloe continued, “if he could read, if he could communicate normally, then no doctor could honestly claim his hearing loss made him mentally incompetent.”
Silas turned toward Victor.
“You helped her.”
Victor jumped up.
“No. I tried to stop her.”
“By lying to me?”
“I was gathering proof.”
“For four months?”
“I needed enough to survive accusing Helena Costello.”
Silas stepped closer.
“You should’ve been more afraid of me.”
Victor looked at him.
For the first time, there was no fear.
Only exhaustion.
“I was.”
The cockpit door opened.
The captain appeared.
“Mr. Costello, we have a problem.”
Silas didn’t turn.
“What?”
“We received instructions to divert.”
“From who?”
The captain swallowed.
“Your office.”
Silas looked at Victor.
Victor slowly shook his head.
“I didn’t send anything.”
The captain continued.
“They want us on the ground in Pittsburgh immediately.”
Khloe’s eyes moved toward the satellite phone.
Silas reached for it.
No signal.
The cabin Wi-Fi screen blinked red.
DISCONNECTED.
Then every light in the aircraft went out.
Matteo screamed.
And somewhere in the darkness, someone whispered—
May you like
“Now.”
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