Noah stared at me, his expression unreadable beneath the harsh fluorescent lights.
"I'm an emergency pilot, Ava, not an air taxi," he said, his voice flat. "And like I said, the second I touch that throttle without tower clearance, I’m committing a federal crime."
"Then let them charge you," I said.
Before he could answer, the audio from the wall-mounted television swelled. The organ music in St. Jude’s Cathedral faded into a reverent hush, and Daniel stepped back up to the mahogany pulpit.
"Ava would not want us to dwell in shadow," Daniel said, his rich baritone resonating through the church speakers. He turned his head toward the front row, his expression softening into an affectionate smile. "She spent her life building a legacy of innovation. And she always believed in handing the torch to someone who shared her heart."
He extended a hand toward the VIP aisle.
A young woman stood up, smoothing the fabric of a pristine ivory coat.
Elise.
My throat went dry. Elise had been my personal assistant for three years. I had mentored her, promoted her to operations coordinator, and brought her into our home for dinner every Sunday.
As she stepped into the aisle and turned toward the cameras, the coat parted slightly.
Underneath the silk blouse, her belly rounded outward in a distinct, undeniable curve. She was at least five months pregnant.
Five months.
I had been freezing on that ridge for six days, but the betrayal in that broadcast reached back half a year.
"It was Ava’s deepest wish that our life’s work continue uninterrupted," Daniel told the congregation, resting his hand gently against the small of Elise’s back as she joined him on the platform. "Effective today, the board has ratified Elise Vance as the acting Chief Executive Officer of Vance Tech."
A wave of quiet murmurs rippled through the cathedral pews.
*Elise Vance.*
She had already taken his name.
"He gave her your company?" Noah asked quietly from beside the bed.
I couldn't speak. I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen. Vance Tech wasn't a family heirloom. It wasn't something Daniel had built. I had coded the core architecture in my college apartment, spent four years pitching reluctant venture capitalists, and worked eighty-hour weeks until my fingers cramped.
Daniel had managed the marketing. He had smiled for investors.
Now, he was handing the keys to my assistant over my empty casket.
On the screen, Elise wiped a delicate tear from her cheek. "I only hope to honor Ava’s memory," she spoke into the microphone, her voice trembling with practiced sweetness. "She was an inspiration to all of us."
"And there is one more duty I must fulfill today," Daniel said.
He reached into the breast pocket of his charcoal suit and pulled out a small velvet box.
My breath stopped entirely.
Daniel turned toward Elise, right in front of the massive portrait of my face, right beside the polished mahogany casket flanked by white lilies.
He clicked the box open.
The studio lights caught the center stone, sending fractured prisms of light across the lens. It was a three-carat, emerald-cut diamond flanked by twin baguettes.
My wedding ring.
I had left it in the master bedroom safe before taking the puddle-jumper flight to inspect the northern server facility. Daniel had always insisted I shouldn't wear high-value jewelry on rough field trips.
*Leave it safe at home, darling,* he had whispered, kissing my cheek by the front door. *It’ll be waiting for you when you get back.*
"Ava gave me this ring as a symbol of unending devotion," Daniel announced to the crowded cathedral, dropping to one knee before Elise. "In her final letter to me, she told me not to live in grief. She told me to protect our future, to protect the child that Elise carries. Elise... will you marry me?"
The cameras zoomed in tight on Elise’s face.
She let out a soft, theatrical gasp, placing a manicured hand over her mouth. Then she nodded, stepping forward and extending her left hand.
Daniel held the open box toward her waiting hand.
The front pews erupted into applause. Board members stood, clapping with solemn approval. Family friends wiped away tears, nodding at the supposed bravery of a mourning husband moving forward for the sake of an unborn child. The pastor stepped forward immediately, opening his book as Daniel turned the memorial into an impromptu wedding ceremony.
In the small clinic room, the plastic casing of the emergency beacon cracked.
I looked down. I had clenched my fist so hard that the shattered plastic was biting into my palm, but I didn't feel the sting.
I didn't feel the cold linoleum beneath my bare feet.
I didn't feel the throbbing in my ribs or the deep ache in my fractured collarbone.
Every drop of grief that had kept me shivering in the dark, praying for Daniel’s rescue chopper, burned away. It vanished like dry grass caught in a wildfire.
There had never been a rescue effort.
The beacon signal hadn't been lost; it had been buried. Maybe the flight hadn't been an accident. And I wasn't a grieving widower's lost love.
I was an obstacle. A stepping stone to an empire, discarded the second my name could be signed onto a death certificate.
"Ma'am, you are bleeding all over the floor!" The clinic doctor hurried forward again, waving a sterile dressing. "Look at your arm! You’ve opened the vein!"
"Get away from me," I said.
The doctor flinched at the tone of my voice and took a step back, looking toward Noah for backup.
Noah didn't move to help him. His gaze shifted from the screen, where Daniel was kissing Elise beside the casket, back down to me. The cynicism in his eyes had hardened into something cold and sharp.
"You see it now?" Noah asked.
"I see it," I whispered.
"You walk out that door, Ava, and the weather isn't your biggest problem. Your husband has the sheriff in his pocket and half the county council on his payroll. If they know you’re alive, you won't survive the ride back."
"Then don't take the road," I said, stepping closer to him.
A fresh drop of blood fell from the puncture wound on the back of my hand, hitting the toe of his scuffed leather boot.
"I already told you," Noah said, his jaw tightening. "My bird is grounded. The FAA will yank my certificate before we hit cruising altitude. Flying is my life. I’m not throwing twenty years of flight hours in the trash for a domestic dispute."
"This isn't a domestic dispute," I said, holding his gaze without blinking. "This is murder."
Noah remained silent, his arms crossed over his flight jacket.
"Daniel thinks he inherits Vance Tech," I continued, my voice steady, sharp, and razor-thin. "He thinks he inherits my shares, my patents, and my estate. But he doesn't know about the private trust."
Noah’s brow twitched slightly. "What trust?"
"My grandmother set up an offshore family fund before Vance Tech ever launched," I said. "It holds forty million dollars in liquid treasuries and blind capital. The terms are ironclad. It cannot be touched by Vance Tech, it cannot be divided in a divorce, and in the event of my certified death, it transfers automatically to an independent charity."
I took another step, closing the distance until I could smell the scent of aviation fuel and stale coffee on his jacket.
"Daniel has spent the last forty-eight hours leveraging company stock on the assumption that he’s about to inherit my entire portfolio," I said. "He has debts he hasn't told the board about. He needs my death finalized by noon today to sign the asset transfer."
"That’s your money, Ava. Not mine."
"Ten million," I said.
Noah’s eyes widened slightly, though his posture didn't change.
"Ten million dollars," I repeated, each word deliberate. "Transferred to an account of your choice the second we touch down in Seattle. You won't just keep flying, Noah. You can buy the hangar. You can buy the fleet. You’ll never take orders from a corrupt county dispatcher again."
Noah looked at me. His eyes swept down to the blood dripping steadily from my fingers, trailing across the floor, then back to my face.
There were no tears in my eyes. No panic. Just the absolute, unyielding demand of a woman who had crawled out of a frozen grave to reclaim what was hers.
"You’re missing half your skin," Noah muttered, his voice gravelly. "You look like a ghost."
"Then fly me back," I said. "So I can haunt them."
Noah stared at me for three long, agonizing seconds.
Outside the window, the low drone of an incoming storm rattled the thin glass. On the television, Daniel was slipping his arm around Elise’s waist, turning toward the cameras for a formal family portrait in front of the church altar.
Noah reached into his pocket, pulled out a clean bandanna, and tossed it into my lap.
"Wrap that around your hand," he said, turning toward the coat rack by the door and grabbing his helmet. "The fuel truck leaves the strip in ten minutes. If we’re doing this, we move now."
