I didn't wait to see how he'd react. I walked straight to the intercom.

Behind me, Xavier stood there, unsettled, his throat working over and over.

I ignored him, announced the diversion plan, and went back to the cockpit.

I hadn't expected him to follow.

I blocked the cockpit door, ignoring the way his mouth kept opening as if he wanted to speak.

"Sir, please return to your seat right away."

He'd never seen me this cold. His pupils shrank, and he suddenly grabbed my arm.

"You're not going to drag out the landing just to get back at me, are you?"

Looking at the naked distrust in his eyes, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Ruin my career, for you?" I shook his hand off. "You're not worth it."

With that, I slipped into the cockpit.

But as I moved to shut the door, he jammed it hard.

"I don't trust you. What if you settle scores at everyone's expense? Swap her out! Let the first officer fly!"

The first officer stiffened, then said evenly, "Captain Vance is the best pilot at this airline. Her skill and professionalism are known by everyone."

"She's handled countless emergency diversions, including far worse conditions in bad weather, and she still has a spotless zero-incident record."

"If you keep this up, can you take responsibility for what happens?"

Xavier's face darkened until it looked ready to drip.

Of course he couldn't take responsibility.

His precious illegitimate son was in danger, and his beloved mistress was heartbroken.

Only I could save them.

He had no choice but to pull his hand back, seething, and watch the door close in front of his eyes.

Every bit of the noise was shut out.

I let out a slow breath.

The pain of losing my daughter, my husband's betrayal—all of it, every love and hatred, set aside for now.

In the pilot's seat, I was only the captain of this flight.

The one thing in my mind was getting every passenger safely on the ground.

Twenty minutes later, the plane touched down smoothly.

The instant I set the parking brake, my vision blurred.

The blows one after another and the high-intensity flying had drained me, body and mind.

But I couldn't let go yet.

I made my way to the cabin door and saw Xavier hurrying toward it.

He didn't spare me a single glance. He slammed into me, shoving me aside.

Before the dark took me, all I heard was his voice, thick with reassurance.

"Don't be scared, Dora. Felix is going to be fine."

Xavier stood in front of the cabin door. One second, two seconds.

The door still hadn't opened.

His brow drew tighter and tighter, and what little patience he had left burned away fast.

His voice shot up. "Amelia Vance! What kind of game are you playing now?"

Just then, the head flight attendant cried out.

"Captain Vance! Wake up! Are you all right?"

"She sat up all night at the wake yesterday without sleeping, got called back to work the moment the funeral ended, and then that whole thing happened. In just a few days, look how thin she's gotten!"

Xavier froze, and only then did he notice how gaunt my face had become.

His chest tightened without his meaning it to. "She... passed out?"

Dora tugged at his sleeve. "Xavier, Miss Vance looks really bad. She probably needs to go to the hospital. She... she wouldn't take Felix's ambulance, would she?"

"She wouldn't dare." Xavier's expression turned cold. "She was full of life a minute ago when I wanted her replaced, and now that she's seen the ambulance she's playing dead. You guessed it—that's exactly what she's after, the ambulance."

I opened my eyes slowly, straight into the contempt filling his.

"What? Not going to keep pretending?"

Whatever last trace of warmth was left in my heart went cold for good.

Bracing myself against the wall, I made it to the cabin door and used the last of my strength to turn the handle.

The door swung open with a boom. I stayed inside and didn't look at Xavier again.

After the ambulance left, the crew received notice that the flight couldn't take off because of the weather.

At the head flight attendant's insistence, I was taken to the hospital for an IV too.

On my way out, I passed the room next door and heard Dora's voice inside, tearful.

"Xavier, why isn't Felix waking up? I'm so scared..."

"I looked into it. This hospital isn't good at treating Felix's condition, but the one in the next city is, and it's closer to the airport too."

"Do you think Captain Vance picked a hospital that can't cure Felix on purpose, just to get back at us?"

Xavier softened his voice. "Silly girl, the hospital was arranged by the airline."

Dora only grew more anxious. "But I'm really so scared!"

"Miss Vance must hate me now. Why would she ever want to save my child?"

"Everyone at the airline knows her. Picking which hospital is just a word from her mouth..."

"Miss Swanson, spreading lies carries legal consequences."

I pushed the door open and looked straight at Dora, curled against Xavier's chest.

She fell silent at once and quickly buried her face into him.

Seeing her frightened, cowering, Xavier's urge to protect her surged to its peak.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here."

He turned to me, his eyes full of scrutiny.

"What did you come here for?"

"Or is it that you really do have some shady connection with this hospital?"

My voice didn't waver. "My only job is to report a passenger's condition. I know nothing about the treatment arrangements."

"Every call during the flight is recorded. Check them all you like. My conscience is clear."

My firmness lit his temper in an instant.

"You make it sound so nice. Felix is still so small. He's been unconscious this long. If there are lasting effects, can you take responsibility for that?"

A boundless exhaustion swept over me. I sighed.

"If you don't trust this place, then transfer him yourselves."

I turned to go, and Dora suddenly rushed over, dropping to her knees and wrapping her arms around my legs.

"Miss Vance! I know you hate me, but Felix is innocent. I'm begging you, let him go!"

"Didn't you just lose your own child? Just give Felix a way to live, and from now on he'll be your child! I promise we'll never appear in front of you again!"

I frowned and tried hard to pull free of her. "There's no need. Let go of me first—"

"Ah!"

Before I could finish, Dora suddenly screamed and dropped to the floor, clutching her ribs.

"Dora!" Xavier's pupils shrank, and he strode to her side.

"Amelia Vance, you dare to hurt Dora right in front of me!"

"I didn't—"

"Xavier, it's all right, I'm fine." Dora spoke almost at the same time as me.

She drew thin, ragged breaths. "As long as Miss Vance is willing to let Felix go, a few kicks are nothing..."

Xavier's eyes on me were cold as ice.

He stood, and raised his hand high.

"Amelia Vance, how can you be this vicious!"

Crack!

After the sharp sound, the ward fell into dead silence.

Xavier stared at his own reddened palm, frozen for a moment.

Dora knelt back on the floor, her voice timid. "Miss Vance, don't blame Xavier. I'll apologize for him. It's all my fault, so hit me!"

The fury reignited in Xavier's eyes in an instant.

He grabbed me by the collar, his gaze sweeping over my cheek, already swollen high, as if it weren't there at all.

"That was only a warning. If you dare touch a single hair on her again, I'll make you pay a hundred times over!"

The burning sting on my face kept reminding me of what had just happened.

Xavier had hit me. For another woman.

Before, it would probably have felt like a knife twisting in my heart.

But now, my heart had long gone numb.

I pulled my collar out of his hand and straightened it.

Then I walked out of the ward without hesitation, without a shred of reluctance.

On the road back to the airport, I called my lawyer.

"Prepare the divorce paperwork for me. The party at fault is Xavier Sawyer. I'll send the evidence of his affair to your email later."

Dense drops of rain beat wildly against the car window. The heater was on inside, but it couldn't warm my frozen heart.

As I got out, my phone rang.

Holding my coat up against the rain, I fumbled to answer.

"Amelia Vance, you shameless bitch!"

I frowned. It was Xavier's mother.

"That useless little girl you gave birth to is dead, and now you can't stand to see my precious grandson do well! You black-hearted, rotten bitch, you deserved to give birth to a short-lived brat!"

"Don't think no one can see through your filthy little scheme! Dora told me everything. You deliberately arranged some garbage hospital, trying to kill my grandson!"

"Let me make this clear. Everything the Sawyers own goes to Felix. You won't see a cent of it!"

"If you know your place, this family might still put food in front of you. But if you dare pull another one of these schemes to grab money and kill for it, I'll have my son divorce you!"

Threats, insults. Every ugly thing she could think of came pouring out of her mouth, no two the same.

The pouring rain soaked me through, chilling me to the bone, and still it was nothing beside the cold sitting in my chest.

The "useless girl" she spoke of was the one who sat at her bedside when she broke a bone, massaging her, wiping her down.

The one she called a "money-grabbing killer" was the one who once emptied her savings so the Sawyer family could be what it is today.

None of it, none of the real things I'd given, could close the gap in her heart between a granddaughter and a grandson.

"Mom," I cut her off, my voice calm and steady. "This is the last time I'll ever call you that."

"As a captain, I did everything I was supposed to do. All of it legal, all of it by the book."

"Xavier and the rest of them knew that child was sick, and they didn't even keep his emergency medication on hand. That's negligence on the part of his guardians."

"You've got time to interrogate me. You'd do better to teach your son how to be a decent father."

Then I hung up and blocked her, all in one motion.

We were never going to speak again anyway.

The next morning I woke with a fever, both cheeks flushed red.

I took some medicine, and two messages came in on my phone.

One was the divorce paperwork from the lawyer. The other was the notice that flights had resumed.

I printed out the documents and signed the divorce agreement.

I couldn't fly with a fever, so I planned to check in at the airport, then go to the hospital to find Xavier.

When I got to the airport, I saw a crowd off in the distance with the Chief Pilot and Xavier at its center.

"Amelia Vance is here!"

Someone shouted it, and in an instant every camera and microphone the media had swung toward me.

"Captain Vance, we've heard you landed here on purpose to delay the patient's treatment. Is that true?"

"People online say you're taking your grief over your daughter out on the world, that you tried to kill your passengers. What's your response?"

"An inside source says you failed your evaluations and only became a captain through a sponsor. What's your relationship with that sponsor?"

The questions came at me one after another, and I stood there with no idea where to begin.

"Everyone!" the Chief Pilot said, raising his voice. "This diversion was fully legal and by the book. We're willing to release our internal files and open ourselves to public scrutiny!"

Xavier scoffed. "You're all in this together. Why should anyone believe you?"

His cold, cruel gaze settled on me.

"Amelia Vance used her position for a personal vendetta and delayed my son's treatment! Yesterday she even went to the hospital and threatened my wife, forced her to her knees, scared her so badly she's sick now!"

His finger was nearly jabbing into my face.

"After everything she's done, and she's still standing there glowing with health. It's absolutely disgusting!"

"How is someone like this fit to be a captain? How could anyone put a whole plane full of lives in her hands?"

"I wanted to take this all the way. But my wife is too kind. She said if Amelia Vance kneels and apologizes in front of the media, she'll let the whole thing go!"

I watched his high-minded performance with cold eyes, and it struck me as nothing but absurd.

I was running a fever, and to him it was a face glowing with health.

I had done my duty as a captain and saved his illegitimate son, and out of his mouth it became a personal vendetta.

While one of Dora Swanson's tears, one of her lies, was enough to send him charging in to frame and humiliate me, the wife he'd had for ten years.

My nails dug deep into my palms as I forced down the anger churning in my chest.

"Xavier, since when is Dora Swanson your wife? She's nothing but a little—"

"Shut up!"

Xavier roared it, and suddenly he rushed at me, eyes gone red.

A slap cracked through the air, sharp and loud.

Unlike the last time, when he'd lost control for a moment, this one carried all his strength.

I was knocked to the ground like a fallen leaf, and blood came up out of my mouth.

Still he wasn't finished.

"Amelia Vance is out here openly spreading lies about my wife, and I've had all I can take!"

"I don't accept her apology anymore. Your airline is going to answer for this today!"

"In front of all these reporters, if you dare shield this murderer, I'll make sure not one of your planes ever gets off the ground again!"

The Chief Pilot's fists clenched.

In the end all he could do was let out a sigh.

"Effective immediately, Amelia Vance is grounded indefinitely."