Chapter 2: The Private Jet Door Opened
Lucas kept staring at the jet door.
Elena noticed.
His little mouth was pressed into a hard line, but his eyes kept moving upward, waiting.
“He’ll come,” Elena whispered.
Victoria heard her and scoffed.
“He?” she said. “You speak very confidently for someone carrying documents.”
Elena looked at the tray in her hand.
Inside were Lucas’s passport papers, Adrian’s travel file, and medical documents Adrian had asked her to bring personally.
Victoria saw only the tray.
Only the apron.
Only the uniform.
That was enough for her.
“You should be grateful they let you near the plane at all,” Victoria said.
Lucas suddenly stepped forward.
“Don’t talk to her like that.”
Elena pulled him gently back.
“Lucas.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
For one brief second, the elegant mask slipped.
“You should teach him manners,” she said.
Elena looked at her then.
Not timidly.
Not angrily.
Just steadily.
“I have,” Elena said. “That’s why he knows cruelty when he hears it.”
The words landed harder than Elena intended.
One of the drivers near the SUVs looked up.
Victoria’s cheeks flushed.
She turned fully toward Elena, her voice dropping.
“You think being close to his child makes you important?”
Elena said nothing.
Victoria leaned closer.
“Women like you are always temporary.”
Lucas’s breathing grew shaky.
Elena could feel it through his hand.
Then a mechanical sound cut through the runway.
The private jet door opened.
Sunlight flashed across the metal stairs.
Everyone turned.
Adrian appeared at the top step.
Black suit.
White shirt.
No tie.
The wind moved slightly through his neatly combed brown hair as he paused, looking down at the runway.
At first, his expression was unreadable.
Then his eyes found Lucas.
Then Elena.
Then Victoria blocking the stairs.
Lucas broke free from Elena’s hand.
“Dad!”
He ran two steps toward the stairs, his blue backpack bouncing against his shoulders.
Victoria turned sharply.
Her confident smile froze.
Adrian came down the stairs quickly, ignoring everyone else. Lucas reached him first and wrapped both arms around his father’s legs.
Adrian placed one hand on Lucas’s head, but his eyes never left Elena.
She stood still at the bottom of the stairs, document tray held close to her body, eyes wet, as if she was afraid that moving too quickly would make the moment worse.
Victoria stepped forward, trying to recover.
“Adrian, I was only trying to keep things organized. Your staff was—”
Adrian walked past her.
He did not even look at her.
The silence became heavier than the heat.
Elena lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to cause trouble.”
Adrian stopped in front of her.
For one second, his face softened completely.
Then he gently lifted her face with both hands.
“Elena,” he said quietly.
Before Victoria could speak again, Adrian leaned down and kissed Elena openly in front of everyone.
The drivers froze.
The security guard stared.
Victoria’s sunglasses slipped lower in her hand.
May you like
Lucas smiled through the tears gathering in his eyes.
And the woman Victoria had called a servant stood in the arms of the man who owned the jet.
