Chapter 1 - The Announcement
I held my breath as Tyler’s voice echoed through the cabin.
He sounded so incredibly serious, so unlike the man who jokingly narrated his breakfast routine to our son every morning.
"She has been my rock, my secret sanctuary, and the only reason I wake up smiling," he continued.
Mason squeezed my hand with both of his, his little body vibrating with pure, unadulterated excitement.
He thought his dad was talking about me.
I thought he was talking about me, too.
I even started to unbuckle my seatbelt, ready to stand up and wave to the cheering passengers who were looking around the cabin.
"Valerie, if you can hear me in row two, I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Tyler said over the crackling speakers.
The entire plane erupted into spontaneous applause and loud whistles.
My blood ran ice cold in my veins.
Mason looked up at me, his wide, innocent eyes full of deep confusion.
"Mommy, who is Valerie?" he whispered loudly over the cheering crowd.
I could not bring myself to speak.
I could not even move a muscle.
I just stared blankly at the front of the plane, where a tall, elegant brunette woman stood up from her first-class seat.
She was glowing with joy, covering her mouth with manicured hands as she blew a dramatic kiss toward the locked cockpit door.
My husband of nine years had just proposed to another woman while I was secretly sitting twenty rows behind her.
The passengers clapped even louder, completely oblivious to the family being quietly destroyed in seat 22B.
I reached for my carry-on bag beneath the seat, my hands trembling violently.
I desperately needed to get off this plane, but we were already hurtling down the tarmac at top speed.
The immense pressure of takeoff pushed me back into my rigid seat as the massive aircraft lifted into the air.
I was completely trapped in a metal tube in the sky with my cheating husband and his brand-new fiancée.
I tried to slow my breathing, telling myself there had to be some sort of bizarre explanation for this nightmare.
Suddenly, the lead flight attendant pushed her beverage cart down the aisle and abruptly stopped right beside my row.
May you like
She leaned down close to my ear, her bright, corporate smile never leaving her perfectly painted lips.
"He knows you are here, and he said if you make a scene, he will have you arrested the moment we land," she whispered menacingly.
