“You chose to try again.”
The aircraft shuddered.
“You’re going to be brave for me now.”
“Are you leaving?”
The question almost broke her.
Maya kissed his forehead.
“For a few minutes.”
“No.”
“Leo—”
“Don’t go.”
His fingers closed around hers.
Eight years earlier, Maya had lost Ethan without goodbye.
She suddenly understood what leaving felt like from the other side.
She knelt beside her son.
“I promise you something.”
“What?”
“I will fight my way back to this seat.”
Leo swallowed.
“You promise?”
“With everything I have.”
Aaron stood.
“I’ll stay with him.”
Maya looked at him.
“If anything happens—”
“It won’t.”
“If anything happens to my son, there is nowhere on Earth you can hide from me.”
For the first time, Aaron almost smiled.
“That,” he said, “is exactly what Ethan told me you would say.”
Maya turned toward the cockpit.
At that exact moment, the radio system crackled throughout the cabin.
