Chapter 3

Evangeline's POV

Less than twenty-five minutes to landing.

"Evangeline, listen to me! We're about to land!" Dylan's hoarse, desperate voice bled through the curtain. "Even if you truly believe Lila is alive—do you want her to see her mother become a cold-blooded killer? Think about Daniel, waiting for you in prison! Are you going to destroy the only future your family has left?!"

I leaned against the galley wall, listening to the crew report their "fruitless" search. My blood ran ice-cold.

They were stalling. They hadn't found a single clue because they never intended to.

"Ready, Mia?" I looked down, squeezing three packets of ketchup I grabbed from a tray onto a napkin, then smeared it thickly across her pale neck. "Close your eyes. Hold your breath. Showtime."

I ripped the curtain open.

"Let me show you what a mother who has lost everything is capable of!"

In full view of the horrified passengers and Dylan, I held Mia by the shoulder and violently "slashed" the knife across her throat. A burst of thick, red liquid sprayed out, soaking her floral dress.

The little girl played along perfectly. Her tiny body went limp, collapsing into the "pool of blood" like a broken ragdoll, completely motionless.

"Mia—! Oh God, you monster!" The old woman shrieked and fainted in the aisle.

The cabin erupted into absolute chaos. Screams, roars, and retching fused into a terrifying wave of sound.

"See that?! That’s the price of stalling!" I stepped forward, glaring at the cabin. "That's one! If I don't see Lila in ten minutes, he's next!" I pointed the knife at the middle-aged man in the front row, who had literally pissed his pants.

"You... you really did it..." Dylan's eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving. He gripped his Glock tightly, aiming right at me, but his hands were shaking. He forced his voice to steady. "Drop the knife. Get on your knees, hands behind your head—don't push me anymore, Evangeline!"

"Why are you still talking to her?!" Curtis roared from the back, spitting as he yelled. "She just slit a little girl's throat in broad daylight! What are you waiting for?! Shoot her! Shoot her and we'll all be safe!"

Facing the black hole of a barrel, I didn't even blink.

"Shoot me." I ignored the gun and stepped closer. "If I get my daughter back, I'll turn myself in. But if I don't die, all of you will."

"She's still negotiating with you?!" Curtis agitated again. "Take the shot!"

He wanted me dead more than anyone. Because if I died, the hidden child would never be found.

"Shut up," I sneered, slowly raising the wrist wrapped in exposed wires—the trump card I had saved since I ripped that panel open.

Dylan's hand twitched.

"Dylan, did you think I tore open that panel just for fun?" I showed the red and yellow wires to everyone, holding my thumb directly over the call button. "These wires? I've spliced them into the fuel line relay. Thirty thousand feet up, if I push this button, this plane becomes a fireball."

I enunciated every word. "You can shoot me. But when my body falls, my weight will guarantee this button gets pressed."

The cabin fell into a deathly silence, filled only by heavy breathing. From one man, to a child, to three hundred souls on board... I had pushed everyone to the absolute edge of the cliff.

Just as the tension reached a breaking point—

Static blasted from Renata's walkie-talkie.

"Lower deck... bzzzzt... We found a kid in a hidden maintenance duct!" It was Captain Russell's voice, pitching high out of "extreme panic"—yet even the panic sounded staged.

Dylan flinched and roared into his radio. "Identify her! Is it a little girl?!"

"Blonde little girl! And... we found something at the duct entrance!" the voice yelled back. "A pink headband! Is that Lila?!"

It was Lila's headband. I had tied it in her hair myself this morning.

"Did you hear that, Evangeline?!" Dylan exhaled sharply, lowering his gun two inches, sweat pouring down his face. "Your daughter is safe! Let go of the button and come confirm it with me!"

My heart hammered against my ribs like it was hooked up to a live wire. Pure relief washed over my frayed nerves.

I kicked the cart aside, desperate to rush to the back, locking my eyes entirely on the security monitor Renata held out to me. The footage was grainy. In the dim light, a frail figure was curled on the grated floor of a crawlspace. Blonde curls covered her face, and that glaring pink rhinestone headband lay next to her.

Ecstasy flooded me. My fingertips were trembling uncontrollably.

But just as I took my second step, my eyes swept across the screen one more time.

A wave of liquid nitrogen washed over me, freezing my blood in my veins. In a fraction of a second, the ecstasy vanished.