Chapter 8 - The Decoy
High above the storm clouds, the private jet suddenly banked hard to the left.
Liam had triggered the emergency autopilot override, forcing the plane to return immediately.
Ten agonizing minutes later, the jet touched back down heavily on the wet runway.
Before the stairs had fully extended, Liam and Avery forced their way through the cabin door.
Richard sat alone in the luxurious leather seat, drinking a glass of scotch with a terrified look on his face.
Avery rushed past him, tearing apart the cabin, searching the bedroom and the bathroom.
The baby was not on the plane.
Liam grabbed Richard by the collar, slamming the older man against the mahogany bulkhead.
"Where is my son!" Liam roared, his eyes wild with lethal intent.
Richard dropped his glass, crying pathetically as the spilled liquor stained the carpet.
"She never gave me the baby!" Richard sobbed, holding up his shaking hands.
"Victoria paid me to drive the SUV here and take this flight to Switzerland as a decoy."
Avery felt the blood drain completely from her face.
If Richard was just a distraction, that meant Victoria still had Leo.
"Where did she take him?" Avery demanded, grabbing her father's lapels.
"She said she was taking him to the one place in the estate no one could ever breach," Richard confessed.
Liam let go of the pathetic man, exchanging a horrified look with Avery.
"The underground panic vault," Liam realized.
Avery's phone suddenly buzzed with a text message from an unknown number.
It was a live video link showing Victoria inside a steel room, holding the crying baby.
May you like
"I have triggered the vault's lockdown," Victoria's voice echoed through the phone speaker.
"The oxygen is set to run out in exactly sixty minutes, unless Liam signs the divorce and transfer papers."
