Chapter 6

I was sitting in the sterile quiet of the first-class airport lounge, watching the rain streak against the floor-to-ceiling glass, when my phone vibrated against the table.

It was a news alert.

BREAKING: Acosta Corp in Crisis. CEO Emilio Acosta Accused of Corporate Espionage.

I stared at the headline. It had started.

Ayla called me a moment later. Her voice was tight, coiled with panic. "Elana, have you seen the news? It's bad. Hayden... she's spinning it. She's telling everyone she's the one holding the company together while Emilio has a 'breakdown'."

"Let them eat each other," I said, taking a slow, deliberate sip of my tea. "It has nothing to do with me."

"It does," Ayla said. "Emilio is holding a press conference right now. He's... he's doing something stupid."

I switched the lounge TV to the news channel.

There he was. Emilio stood at a podium, looking haggard, his tie slightly askew. Microphones were thrust in his face. Beside him stood Hayden, wearing a modest black dress, clutching his arm like a grieving widow. She looked terrified, but I knew better. Beneath the fear, her eyes were calculating.

"I take full responsibility," Emilio said into the cameras. His voice shook. "The leak... the unauthorized transfer of assets to the Cayman accounts... it was my decision. To protect my family."

My jaw dropped. He was confessing to crimes he didn't commit. He was taking the fall for Hayden.

"He's insane," I whispered.

"Why is he doing this?" Ayla asked through the phone.

"Because she has something on him," I murmured, the realization settling like cold stones in my stomach. "Or because he loves her that much. He's sacrificing his legacy for her."

On the screen, a reporter shouted, "Mr. Acosta! Is it true you mortgaged your personal properties to cover the losses? Even your wife's assets?"

Emilio flinched. "My wife... Elana and I are separated. She is not involved."

"But the house? The accounts?"

"Everything I have is on the line," Emilio said, looking at Hayden with a desperate, blind devotion. "I will do whatever it takes to secure the future of my son and his mother."

His son. His mother.

I felt a phantom pain in my womb. He was burning down his world to keep them warm, while he had pushed me onto the pavement.

"Elana," Ayla said. "Hayden just texted me. She wants you to know."

"Know what?"

"She sent a photo. It's... it's a copy of the new insurance policy Emilio took out. On you."

I froze. "What?"

"If anything happens to you before the divorce is finalized... the payout goes to the trust. Leo's trust."

The air was sucked out of the room.

He wasn't just sacrificing himself. He was betting on my death.

My phone rang again. It wasn't Ayla. It was Emilio.

I stared at the screen. My thumb hovered over the decline button. But a morbid curiosity took over. I needed to hear his voice one last time. I needed to confirm he was truly gone.

I answered.

"Elana?" His voice was frantic, breathless. I could hear the chaotic swell of shouting reporters in the background.

"I saw the news," I said, my voice steady against his chaos. "You're a fool, Emilio."

"You don't understand," he rasped. "They were going to arrest Hayden. I couldn't let Leo see his mother in handcuffs."

"But you could let me bleed out on a sidewalk?"

Silence.

"I need you to sign a waiver," he said, rushing past my words. "The lawyers say if you waive your claim to the marital assets, I can use the liquidity to save the company. Please, Elana. For old times' sake. Just sign it. I'll pay you back later."

He was asking me to fund his mistress's defense.

"You really don't get it, do you?" I asked, my voice trembling with rage. "I am not your bank. I am not your backup plan."

"Elana, please! Hayden is... she's fragile! If I lose the company, she'll leave me!"

"Good," I said. "Maybe then you'll see her for what she is."

"Don't you dare talk about her!" he snapped. The old anger. The defense mechanism. "She's stood by me! Where are you? Running away to Europe while I'm drowning!"

"I'm drowning because you pushed me!" I screamed. People in the lounge turned to look. I didn't care.

"I have to go," he said abruptly. "The board is calling. Just sign the papers Marcus sent. Do it today."

"Emilio, wait," I said. A sudden, cold calm washed over me. "I have something to tell you."

"Make it quick."

"I'm not signing anything. And I'm not coming back. You chose your family, Emilio. Now live with them."

"Elana-"

I hung up.

I blocked the number.

I looked up at the TV screen. Emilio was being ushered away by security. Hayden turned to the camera for a split second. She smiled. A tiny, triumphant smirk.

She thought she had won. She thought she had stripped me of everything.

But she was wrong. She had just stripped me of the dead weight.

"Flight 802 to Zurich is now boarding," the announcer's voice echoed.

I stood up. I picked up my bag.

I walked to the gate. Every step felt lighter. With every step, I left behind the woman who begged for crumbs of affection.

I handed my ticket to the attendant. She scanned it.

"Have a safe flight, Ms. Acosta," she said.

"It's Ms. Valeri," I corrected. The name tasted like fresh air. "Just Elana Valeri."

I walked down the jet bridge. The cold, telescoping tunnel felt like a birth canal-a passage from one life to the next.

I stepped onto the plane. I found my seat by the window.

As the plane taxied down the runway, the engines roared to life. The force pushed me back into my seat.

We lifted off.

I looked down at the city, shrinking into a grid of indifferent lights. Somewhere down there, Emilio was fighting for a lie. Somewhere down there, Hayden was counting her winnings.

I closed my eyes.

"Goodbye, Emilio," I whispered to the glass. "Goodbye to everything."

I didn't feel fear. I felt... free.

The plane pierced through the clouds, breaking into the blinding sunlight above.

I smiled. It was a small, sad smile, but it was mine.

"Hello, Elana," I said to the reflection in the window. "Nice to meet you."