Part 1: The Golden Cage at 35,000 Feet
The hum of the private jet’s engines felt lower now, vibrating through the soles of my shoes like a countdown. Dominic Walker remained standing, his towering frame casting a shadow over me. His daughter, whom I now knew was named Adriana, was tucked securely against his broad chest, her tiny breaths even and peaceful for the first time in days.
"What do you mean I can never go home?" I demanded, my voice trembling but laced with a sudden spike of maternal fury. "I helped your daughter. I did what no one else in this cabin could do. Is this how you repay a favor, Mr. Walker?"
Dominic didn't flinch at my tone. He gestured to the head bodyguard, a scarred man named Santos, who immediately stepped forward holding a tablet.
"Emily," Dominic said, his deep baritone cutting through my panic. "Two hours ago, while we were mid-flight, your apartment building in Chicago was targeted. A gas leak, the news will call it. But it wasn't a leak. It was a message meant for me, executed by people who thought my daughter was hidden there."
My breath hitched. My mind raced back to the untouched nursery, the memories of my late husband and my lost twins. Everything I had left of them was in that apartment. "No... no, that’s impossible. Why would anyone think she was there?"
"Because someone in my inner circle leaked a false safehouse address to buy us time to get on this plane," Dominic explained calmly, though the tightening of his jaw betrayed a lethal anger. "The men who did this are the Volkov syndicate. They don't leave witnesses, and they don't stop hunting. If you return to Chicago, you walk into a graveyard. Furthermore, you have now touched my daughter. You have her scent on you. In my world, that makes you a target, but it also makes you invaluable."
"I am not a weapon, and I am not a shield!" I cried out, taking a step back, but Santos shifted slightly, blocking the aisle.
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"No," Dominic agreed, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my skin prickle. "You are her lifeline. Adriana has a rare metabolic condition. She rejects synthetic formulas. The doctors in Europe couldn't find a match, and her mother... her mother abandoned her the moment she realized what being a Walker entailed. You came along when my child was hours away from organ failure. You think this is a choice, Emily? It’s survival. For her, and now, for you."
The cabin lights flickered as the pilot announced our descent into an undisclosed private airfield in upstate New York. I looked out the window at the dark expanse of trees below. I had boarded this plane fleeing my own ghost, only to land straight into a living nightmare. I was a prisoner, wrapped in luxury, bound by a liquid gold that my body produced for a child that wasn't mine.
