Chapter 3 - 30,000 Feet Above the Past
The seatbelt sign chimed off.
I waited exactly five minutes before I unbuckled and walked toward the front of the economy cabin.
Valerie was in the aisle seat now, Lucy asleep with her head in Valerie's lap.
I crouched down next to her in the aisle.
"Hi," I whispered.
Valerie didn't smile.
"You shouldn't be here, Carter."
"You have a wife."
The word 'wife' felt like a curse in my own ears.
"It was a business transaction, Val."
"An arrangement."
"One I never should have made."
Valerie looked out the window, her jaw set tight.
"That's not my problem."
"My only problem is protecting my daughter."
"Our daughter," I corrected gently.
Valerie snapped her gaze back to me, her eyes flashing with sudden anger.
"Don't."
"Don't you dare say that."
"You don't get to claim her after three years of silence."
"I didn't know!" I argued, keeping my voice hushed.
"If I had known, I would have burned my father's company to the ground to get to you."
Valerie scoffed softly.
"Would you?"
"Because when I left, you didn't even follow me to the elevator."
Her words cut deep, exposing the cowardice I had lived with every day since.
"You're right," I admitted, the shame burning my throat.
"I was weak."
"I let them convince me that I was saving you from a life of misery."
"My father told me you just wanted money."
Valerie’s expression darkened.
"Your father did more than that, Carter."
I froze.
"What do you mean?"
Valerie looked down at Lucy, gently stroking the sleeping girl's hair.
"When I found out I was pregnant, I tried to call you."
"When you didn't answer, I went to your office."
"Your father intercepted me in the lobby."
My stomach plummeted.
"He pulled me into a private room."
"He told me that if I ever tried to contact you, he would use his lawyers to prove I was an unfit, unemployed mother."
"He said he would take my baby and make sure I never saw her again."
I felt physically sick.
My own father had threatened the woman I loved and the child he knew was his own granddaughter.
"He also made sure I was fired from the preschool," she added quietly.
"He paid off my landlord to evict me."
"He chased me out of New York, Carter."
Tears blurred my vision.
The monster I had called a father had systematically destroyed her life, all to keep his precious corporate merger with the Vance family intact.
"Valerie... I swear to God, I had no idea."
She finally looked at me, seeing the raw devastation on my face.
"I know you didn't," she whispered.
"Because if you did, and you still did nothing, I wouldn't even let you breathe the same air as her."
A flight attendant walked by, tapping my shoulder to clear the aisle.
I stood up slowly.
"Where do you live now?" I asked.
"Silver Lake," she said.
"Los Angeles."
"I'm going with you," I declared.
Valerie shook her head.
"You have nothing, Carter."
"Your father will take it all."
I looked down at the sleeping girl who shared my eyes.
May you like
"He can have it."
"I only want what's mine."
