Chapter 2 - THE MAN ON THE AIRPORT WALL
“You really don’t know who I am, do you?”
Blaire slowly shook her head.
Luca looked almost relieved.
For half a second, he was simply the tired man who had folded a napkin into a rabbit for Fiona and sat motionless for two hours so a stranger could sleep on his shoulder.
Then the plane touched the runway.
Everything changed.
Three black SUVs were waiting beyond the jet bridge.
Two men in dark suits stood near the bottom of the stairs, and a woman in a charcoal coat spoke quietly into an earpiece before looking directly at Luca.
The passengers noticed.
Phones came out again.
Whispers spread.
“That’s Luca Sterling.”
“Oh my God.”
“Sterling? As in Sterling Group?”
Blaire stared at him.
The name landed slowly.
Everyone in America knew Sterling.
Hospitals.
Technology.
Hotels.
Shipping.
News stations.
The Sterling Foundation funded schools, shelters, medical research, and half a dozen programs Blaire had once dreamed of working with.
Time magazine had called Luca Sterling “the billionaire presidents called before making economic decisions.”
And Blaire had drooled on his shoulder somewhere over Pennsylvania.
She closed her eyes.
“Oh no.”
Luca almost smiled.
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“I used your jacket as a pillow.”
“You also apologized to me three times while unconscious.”
“I did not.”
“You did.”
For the first time that morning, embarrassment almost pushed fear aside.
Almost.
Then the woman in the charcoal coat reached them.
“Mr. Sterling.”
Her eyes moved to Blaire and Fiona.
“Ms. Quinn,” Luca said, “this is Blaire and her daughter, Fiona.”
The woman offered a hand.
“Mara Quinn. I handle security for Mr. Sterling.”
Blaire shifted Fiona higher against her shoulder.
“I’m not with him.”
Mara’s expression barely changed.
“I understand.”
Something in her tone made Blaire uneasy.
Luca heard it too.
“What happened?”
Mara glanced toward the terminal.
“There’s a man in public arrivals asking airport employees whether a woman traveling with a little girl came off this flight.”
Blaire stopped breathing.
Luca’s face changed immediately.
“Name?”
“He hasn’t given one.”
Blaire already knew.
“What does he look like?”
Mara described him.
Forty.
Dark blond hair.
Gray overcoat.
Expensive shoes.
A faint scar near his right eyebrow from a college hockey accident.
Blaire’s fingers tightened around Fiona’s blanket.
“David.”
Luca looked at her.
“My ex-husband.”
The terminal noise seemed to fade.
“He’s here?”
“I don’t know how.”
Fiona stirred against her chest.
Blaire immediately lowered her voice.
“He shouldn’t even know which flight I took.”
Mara asked, “Does he have reason to believe you’re coming to New York?”
“My cousin knew. A neighbor knew I was leaving. I bought the ticket with a card he used to have access to.”
She swallowed.
“There are probably ten ways.”
Luca studied her carefully.
“What happens if he reaches you?”
Blaire hated the question because she did not have a dramatic answer.
David had never broken her ribs.
Never chased her with a weapon.
Never threatened her life.
What he had done was quieter.
He had removed her access to money.
Changed the locks.
Told mutual friends she was emotional.
Moved another woman into their house.
Then acted confused when Blaire finally left.
“He’ll talk,” she said.
Luca waited.
“He’s very good at talking.”
That was all she needed to say.
Luca turned to Mara.
“Separate exit.”
Blaire shook her head.
“No.”
Luca looked back.
“I appreciate everything you did on the plane, but I don’t want to become a problem you have to solve.”
“You’re not.”
“I’m going to Queens.”
“Then my driver can take you.”
“I can take a cab.”
“Blaire.”
His voice remained quiet.
“This isn’t about money.”
She looked at him.
“If a man who shouldn’t know where you are is waiting inside an airport with your photograph, taking a different exit is not charity.”
That stopped her.
Because David had spent years turning every form of help into something she should feel ashamed for needing.
Luca did not.
He simply stated the situation.
Mara took Blaire’s suitcase.
“I’ll stay with you.”
Blaire hesitated, then nodded.
They moved through a service corridor instead of public arrivals.
Fiona woke halfway through.
“Mommy?”
“I’m here.”
“Did we get to New York?”
“Yes, baby.”
Fiona blinked at Luca.
“You’re still here.”
Luca smiled.
“So are you.”
Fiona seemed satisfied with that.
At the end of the corridor, they entered a quieter baggage area.
That was when Blaire saw the first television screen.
Luca’s face filled it.
A financial news anchor stood beneath the headline:
LUCA STERLING RETURNS TO NEW YORK AHEAD OF FUTURE FAMILIES GALA.
Blaire glanced sideways at him.
“You have a gala?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“Of course you do.”
His mouth twitched.
Then another photograph appeared.
Luca standing beside three businessmen.
One of them was David.
Blaire froze.
Luca noticed.
“What?”
She pointed.
“That’s him.”
Mara turned toward the television.
“David Vance?”
Luca’s expression went completely still.
“You were married to David Vance?”
“For five years.”
Nobody spoke.
Blaire looked from him to the screen.
“You know him.”
“I’ve met him.”
“How?”
Luca didn’t answer immediately.
Mara did.
“Vance Community Partners is one of the organizations being considered for a major Sterling Foundation expansion.”
Blaire gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Community Partners.”
Luca looked at her.
“You know the organization?”
“I helped build it.”
His eyes sharpened.
“David never mentioned that.”
“David stopped mentioning me a long time ago.”
The television changed again.
Now David appeared alone at a charity event, smiling for cameras.
Beneath him were the words:
DAVID VANCE: BUSINESSMAN, FATHER, AND ADVOCATE FOR STRUGGLING FAMILIES.
Blaire stared.
Father.
Advocate.
Struggling families.
She almost laughed again.
Then her gaze dropped to his wrist.
And every trace of humor left her face.
David was wearing a silver watch.
Plain face.
Dark leather strap.
A small dent near the crown.
Blaire stepped closer to the television.
“No.”
Luca followed her gaze.
“What is it?”
Blaire’s voice became thin.
“That watch.”
She knew every scratch on it.
Her father had worn it for twenty-six years while repairing heating systems in public schools across Chicago.
After he died, he had left it to Blaire.
Not David.
Her.
She had searched the house for it for months.
David had told her she must have misplaced it.
There he was wearing it beneath a headline about integrity.
Luca said quietly, “David told me that belonged to his father.”
Blaire slowly turned.
“What?”
“He spoke about it at dinner three months ago. Said his father gave it to him when he started working.”
Blaire’s eyes burned.
“My father gave it to me.”
Fiona suddenly squirmed in her arms.
“Mommy.”
Blaire looked down.
Fiona pointed toward the diaper bag.
“Grandpa’s clock.”
Blaire frowned.
“What?”
Fiona reached for the faded stuffed rabbit attached to the outside pocket.
The rabbit Blaire had nearly thrown away twice because one ear was coming loose.
Fiona hugged it to her chest.
May you like
Then she whispered four words that made Blaire forget the television completely.
“I took it from Daddy.”
