Chapter 3 - The Stolen Medicine
Panic completely consumed me as I unbuckled my seatbelt and grabbed Leo.
He was gasping for air, his tiny chest heaving with every ragged breath.
Leo suffered from a rare respiratory condition, and his emergency inhaler was packed inside my checked luggage.
Graham jumped into action instantly.
He shouted for the flight attendants and demanded emergency oxygen immediately.
A terrified flight attendant rushed over with an oxygen tank and placed the mask over Leo's small face.
The color slowly returned to my son's cheeks, but his breathing remained dangerously shallow.
“We need his medication the exact second we land,” the on-call doctor announced over the radio.
The plane touched down aggressively on the runway of a diversion airport in Chicago.
Graham carried Leo down the jet bridge while I managed the other two crying babies.
We rushed frantically to the baggage claim area to retrieve my blue suitcase.
The carousel spun endlessly, delivering hundreds of bags to irritated passengers.
My suitcase was not there.
I ran to the airline counter, hot tears streaming down my face.
“Please, I need my blue suitcase because my son's medicine is inside,” I begged the agent.
The agent typed rapidly on her keyboard and frowned in deep confusion.
“Ma'am, your luggage was intercepted and rerouted by a VIP request thirty minutes ago,” she said.
Graham slammed his heavy fist onto the customer service counter.
“Who authorized that?” he roared.
The agent pulled up a digital receipt on her monitor.
“It was authorized by a Mrs. Victoria Whitaker,” the agent replied.
I felt the solid floor drop out from underneath me.
Victoria had stolen the luggage containing the only thing keeping my son alive.
Graham pulled out his phone and dialed her number with violently shaking hands.
She answered on the very first ring.
“Did you enjoy your private flight, Graham?” Victoria asked sweetly through the speaker.
“Where is the luggage, Victoria?” he growled.
“Oh, you mean the cheap bag with the pediatric steroids?” she replied casually.
I grabbed Graham's arm, pure terror radiating through every nerve in my body.
Victoria's voice turned incredibly cold and calculated.
“I have the bag securely in my possession,” she stated.
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“If Emily wants her child to survive the night, she will meet me at the downtown Grand Hotel in exactly one hour.”
She hung up the phone before Graham could say another word.
