Chapter 6 - Flight to Raleigh
The Gulfstream G650 sliced through the clear blue sky at forty thousand feet, flying east toward North Carolina.
In the back cabin, Ethan, Leo, and Mason were having the time of their lives. They had never been on a private jet before, and they were busy pressing every button, testing the reclining leather seats, and demanding that the flight attendant bring them endless supplies of apple juice and chocolate chip cookies.
Jason sat on the floor of the cabin, letting Mason climb on his back while Ethan showed him a complex Lego spaceship he was building.
"Look, Mr. Jason!" Ethan said, pointing to a plastic laser canon. "This is for blowing up space monsters."
"It's incredible, Ethan," Jason said softly, holding a tiny green Lego brick with the utmost care, his eyes shiny with awe. "You... you have amazing attention to detail. Just like your mother."
"Mom says I get my stubbornness from my dad," Ethan remarked casually, snapping a piece into place. "She said my dad was a king who got lost in a dark forest."
Jason stopped moving. He looked over at me where I sat in the club seat nearby, a sudden wave of emotion threatening to overwhelm him.
"She... she told you that?" Jason choked out.
"Yeah," Ethan nodded, looking up at Jason with those piercing dark eyes. "She said he wasn't a bad man. Just lost. Are you going to help us find him?"
Jason bit his bottom lip so hard a drop of blood nearly formed. He reached out, his hand trembling as he gently patted Ethan’s head. "I'm trying, buddy. I'm trying with everything I've got."
I turned my head toward the window, wiping a stray tear from my cheek. Even in my deepest bitterness over the last five years, I had never taught my sons to hate their father. I had preserved his memory as a tragedy, not a villain—a choice that was now paying dividends in the healing of my children's hearts.
Jason stood up an hour later, leaving the boys with their nanny in the rear lounge, and sat across from me in the conference section.
"I spoke with the State Attorney General ten minutes ago," Jason said, his tone switching to business. "Detective Rodriguez from the Financial Crimes Unit has been running a quiet wiretap on Donald Vance's personal accounts for three weeks. They already suspected him of insider trading, but they lacked the smoking gun linking his personal shell companies to the forged medical files from five years ago."
"And my brother's files?" I asked.
"I found the original investigator's receipts in Sterling Energy's confidential legal archives," Jason said, sliding a folder across the table. "Donald billed the company three hundred thousand dollars for 'Corporate Due Diligence' on the exact date your brother was admitted to hospice. He forged your signature on an NDA to prevent the hospital staff from talking to me."
I opened the folder, looking at my own forged signature. "He had this planned before I even knew I was pregnant."
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"He knew that if you stayed by my side, Sterling Energy would transition into sustainable clean energy faster, cutting off his lucrative oil and gas lobby kickbacks," Jason explained. "He didn't just want money, Claire. He wanted to keep the company dirty."
I closed the folder with a sharp snap. "Tomorrow night, Donald Vance is going to learn what happens when you poison a mother's family."
