Chapter 2

Veronica scoffed, her lip curling.

"A lowly attendant playing hero? Ridiculous."

She turned, her hand gesturing dramatically towards a man beside her, Julian Croft.

He stood there, charismatic, a practiced smile on his handsome face.

"My Julian is the only one who can save us! He' s Julian Croft, heir to the Croft Tech empire in Europe!"

Julian Croft, the con artist.

The man who faked his own disappearance, stole art, and watched me die.

He stepped forward, radiating false confidence.

"Everyone, please remain calm. I have experience in crisis situations. I will assess the problem and ensure our safety."

The passengers, desperate for a savior, clung to his words.

I knew Julian.

Not as a tech heir, but as Julian Kowalski, son of a disgraced pilot my father fired.

The pilot had been caught embezzling funds and flying recklessly, endangering lives.

Like father, like son, it seemed. Both were charlatans.

Julian' s "Croft Tech empire" was a fantasy, a carefully constructed lie to woo the wealthy and naive, like Veronica.

I couldn't resist a dry remark, my voice cutting through Julian' s smooth reassurances.

"If Mr. Croft is so adept, perhaps he can single-handedly rebuild the bridge?"

Julian' s smile faltered, his eyes narrowing at me. Anger flashed across his face before he smoothed it over.

Veronica, however, exploded.

"How dare you, you insolent peasant!"

She lunged, shoving me hard.

My hand hit the brass railing of a nearby seat.

The Kingmaker Casino signet ring, my father' s crest, a unique piece commissioned for his sole heir, slid partially off my finger.

It glinted under the carriage lights.

A portly man in an expensive suit, a man I vaguely recognized as a high-roller at the Kingmaker, gasped.

His eyes widened, fixed on the ring.

"That crest... that' s Marcus Thorne' s private crest! Only his son wears that ring!"

Julian' s eyes widened in feigned astonishment, his recovery swift.

"Elias... I mean, Ethan? Ethan Thorne?"

He shook his head, a look of pained recognition on his face.

"I can't believe it. He used to be a junior analyst at a firm my family consulted for years ago."

He paused, letting the implication sink in.

"He became... obsessed with my success. Fixated. He even tried to sabotage my private helicopter once! A desperate act of jealousy."

Julian gestured to a faint, almost invisible mark above his eyebrow.

"I still have the scars to prove it!"

The elite passengers, easily swayed by Julian' s apparent status and his dramatic tale, turned on me.

Their earlier hopefulness transformed into suspicion and hostility.

"A saboteur?"

"He was trying to get us all killed!"