Chapter 3 - The Man in Seat Seven
Khloe dropped to the floor.
A body rushed past her.
Silas shouted.
A struggle exploded in the dark.
Then emergency lights flashed red along the cabin floor.
Khloe saw a man she hadn’t noticed before.
The quiet passenger in seat seven.
One of the “security team.”
He had Victor’s neck locked beneath his forearm.
Victor slammed an elbow backward.
Silas grabbed the attacker.
The man pulled a knife.
Khloe covered Matteo’s eyes.
Silas caught the man’s wrist just before the blade reached his ribs.
They crashed into the walnut table.
Victor recovered and drove his shoulder into the attacker.
The knife flew.
Gemma kicked it beneath a seat.
“Cabin secure!” the captain shouted from the doorway.
“Lock the cockpit!” Silas yelled.
The door slammed.
Silas pinned the attacker against the floor.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed.
Blood ran from his lip.
“You already know.”
Silas punched him once.
Khloe flinched.
“Silas!” Victor shouted. “We need him conscious.”
Silas stopped.
Barely.
Matteo was shaking against Khloe.
She signed.
Don’t look. Stay with me.
Matteo stared at her hands.
Is Dad bad?
The question hit harder than the violence behind them.
Khloe considered lying.
She didn’t.
Your dad is angry.
Matteo signed again.
People are always scared of him.
Khloe glanced at Silas.
The man was interrogating an assassin at thirty thousand feet.
Yes.
People probably had reasons.
But then Silas suddenly turned toward his son.
His expression changed instantly.
He stepped away from the attacker.
Slowly, he crouched several feet from Matteo.
He didn’t speak this time.
He looked at Khloe.
“Show me.”
“What?”
“How do I tell him I’m not angry at him?”
Khloe’s chest tightened.
She raised her hands.
“Like this.”
She demonstrated.
Silas copied awkwardly.
His fingers were stiff.
Wrong shape.
Khloe corrected him.
Again.
Silas tried again.
Matteo watched.
Finally, Silas signed:
Not angry at you.
Matteo stared.
Silas added, slower:
I’m sorry.
His son’s mouth trembled.
Then Matteo began crying silently.
Silas looked helpless.
Khloe whispered, “Let him come to you.”
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Matteo ran into his father’s arms.
Silas caught him and closed his eyes.
The most feared man in Chicago held his son like he had just found him after years missing.
Behind them, Victor’s prisoner laughed again.
“Enjoy it.”
Silas opened his eyes.
The attacker smiled.
“You won’t have him long.”
Silas stood.
“What did you say?”
The man leaned his head back against the carpet.
“Helena’s already filed the emergency petition.”
Victor cursed.
Silas looked at him.
“What petition?”
“To remove you as Matteo’s legal guardian.”
Khloe stared.
“On what grounds?”
The prisoner grinned.
“That Silas Costello is violent, unstable, criminally connected, and medically negligent.”
Silas looked toward his son.
The man continued.
“And by the time this aircraft lands, every court in Illinois will have photographs, testimony, hospital records, and videos proving it.”
Silas’s face became cold.
“Videos of what?”
The assassin’s smile widened.
“Ask Victor what happened in May.”
Everyone turned.
Victor’s face had gone white.
Silas walked toward him.
“What happened in May?”
Victor said nothing.
Silas’s voice dropped.
“What happened to my son?”
Victor looked at Matteo.
Then at Khloe.
Finally, at Silas.
“The fever didn’t cause his hearing loss.”
The cabin seemed to shrink.
Silas whispered, “Then what did?”
Victor swallowed.
May you like
“Someone did.”
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