CHAPTER 2 — YOU CAN NEVER GO HOME NOW
CHAPTER 2 — YOU CAN NEVER GO HOME NOW
"What do you mean... I can't go home?"
Emily's voice came out barely above a whisper.
The words hung in the silent cabin.
Dominic Walker didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he carefully adjusted the tiny pink blanket around his sleeping daughter, his rough, tattooed fingers surprisingly gentle. The baby's breathing had finally settled into peaceful little sighs.
Only then did he look up.
"My enemies watched this flight take off."
Emily frowned.
"I don't understand."
"They know my daughter has been sick."
He paused.
"They also know every person on this aircraft."
A cold knot formed in Emily's stomach.
"So?"
Dominic's eyes never left hers.
"They watched you walk toward me."
Silence.
"They watched you disappear behind that curtain."
Emily's heartbeat accelerated.
"No..."
"They'll assume you've become important to me."
The realization hit her like ice water.
"No, they'll know I fed your baby."
"They won't care why."
His voice remained calm.
"They'll only care that you now possess something capable of controlling me."
Emily took a step backward.
"I don't want anything from you."
"I believe you."
"Then let me leave."
"I can't."
Her pulse thundered.
"You said please."
"I did."
"You begged me to save her."
"I did."
"And now you're imprisoning me?"
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
One of the bodyguards stepped forward and placed a tablet on the table.
Dominic tapped the screen once before sliding it toward Emily.
"Look."
She hesitated.
Then she looked.
The screen showed live security footage.
Not from the plane.
From outside.
A private airport.
Several black SUVs waited near the runway.
Men stood beside them.
Armed.
Watching.
Waiting.
Emily's face drained of color.
"Who are they?"
"My rivals."
"What do they want?"
Dominic answered without emotion.
"My daughter."
Emily stared.
"They've tried twice already."
Another video appeared.
A hospital security recording.
Doctors running through smoke.
Nurses screaming.
A woman clutching a newborn before disappearing from frame.
"The day she was born," Dominic said quietly.
Emily covered her mouth.
"They attacked a hospital?"
"They killed eleven people."
Her stomach turned.
"Her mother?"
Dominic didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
The silence said enough.
Emily whispered,
"She's dead..."
"They poisoned her three weeks after the birth."
For the first time since she'd met him...
Dominic Walker looked broken.
"I buried my wife six weeks ago."
Emily felt the air leave her lungs.
She knew that grief.
She knew exactly what it felt like to walk into a nursery that would never again hear laughter.
"My husband died in a car accident," she admitted softly.
Dominic looked at her.
"My sons..."
Her voice cracked.
"They were only four days old."
The cabin became impossibly quiet.
Two parents.
Two impossible losses.
Separated by worlds.
United by grief.
The baby stirred in Dominic's arms.
He instinctively rocked her.
Emily noticed.
Even now...
He never stopped protecting his daughter.
A sharp electronic beep shattered the silence.
One bodyguard touched the earpiece hidden beneath his collar.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We've lost radar contact with two escort helicopters."
Dominic stood instantly.
"Cause?"
"No response."
The pilot's voice suddenly blasted through the cabin speakers.
"Mr. Walker..."
His tone was tight.
"We have company."
Everyone rushed toward the cockpit.
Emily followed before anyone could stop her.
Outside the windshield...
Three black helicopters burst through the clouds.
Closing fast.
"Oh my God..."
One wasn't enough.
There were three.
No identification.
No lights.
Only dark machines racing straight toward the private jet.
The pilot's hands shook on the controls.
"They're locking onto us."
Dominic's face hardened.
"How long?"
"Ninety seconds."
The bodyguards loaded compact rifles from hidden compartments beneath the seats.
Emily froze.
"This can't be happening."
Dominic handed his daughter to her without warning.
"Hold her."
"What?"
"If anything happens to me..."
"No!"
His eyes locked onto hers.
"They'll protect you."
"I don't even know your daughter's name."
A faint smile crossed his exhausted face.
"Aurora."
Emily looked down at the sleeping infant.
"Aurora..."
The baby wrapped tiny fingers around Emily's thumb.
Without thinking...
Emily held on.
The aircraft suddenly lurched violently.
The cabin lights flickered.
A deafening explosion echoed somewhere behind them.
The plane dropped hundreds of feet.
Passengers screamed.
Loose luggage slammed into the ceiling.
The pilot shouted,
"We've been hit!"
Warning alarms exploded throughout the cockpit.
Red lights flashed.
Smoke poured from the left engine.
Dominic grabbed the nearest support rail as the aircraft shook violently.
His voice became cold.
Precise.
Absolute.
"They're not trying to scare us anymore."
Another explosion.
Even closer.
Metal screamed.
A window cracked.
The pilot yelled over the alarms,
"They're trying to bring us down!"
Emily clutched baby Aurora against her chest.
The little girl began crying again.
Not from hunger.
From terror.
Dominic turned toward Emily.
Their eyes met across the chaos.
"If we survive the next five minutes..."
He reached inside his jacket and removed a sealed envelope.
He shoved it into Emily's trembling hands.
"Whatever happens..."
His voice was steady.
"Don't let anyone else open that."
Emily stared at the envelope.
"What is this?"
Dominic's answer came just as another missile warning filled the cockpit.
May you like
"The reason they want my daughter dead."
END OF CHAPTER 2
