Chapter 1 - turbulence
The first-class cabin of flight 408 was quiet, wrapped in the low, steady hum of twin jet engines cutting through the midnight sky between New York and San Francisco.
Luca Moretti leaned his head against the cold window. He looked like an executive returning from a corporate merger—crisp cream polo shirt, tailored beige trousers, a platinum watch catching the cabin’s dim blue LED lights. But beneath the expensive fabric was a build forged in back-alleys and high-stakes syndicate rooms. As the undisputed head of the Moretti real-estate empire, he rarely traveled commercial. Tonight, a sudden issue at the West Coast docks demanded silence, speed, and zero private flight manifests.
A soft rustle pulled him from his thoughts.
A little girl, no older than six, was climbing into the wide leather seat beside his. She wore a cream floral dress with a pale-pink bow pinned into a mop of unruly brown curls. In one hand, she clutched a worn pink stuffed rabbit. In the other, a bright pink backpack.
She didn't look at the screen in front of her. She turned her head and studied Luca’s face with large, fearless hazel eyes.
Across the aisle, a woman sat frozen. Luca’s peripheral vision caught her—slender, wearing a simple beige travel cardigan, long brown hair pulled back in haste. Her knuckles were white where she gripped her boarding pass.
"You look like you hide secrets," the little girl announced. Her voice was clear, sweet, and entirely devoid of fear.
Luca’s mouth twitched. In twenty years, no one had dared say that to his face. "Do I?"
"Yes," she said matter-of-factly, unzipping her backpack. "My teacher says people who don't smile have heavy pockets."
"Lila," the woman across the aisle whispered, her voice trembling with an urgency that seemed disproportionate. "Sit back, honey. Don't bother the gentleman."
Luca glanced across the aisle. The woman immediately turned her head toward the dark window, shielding her profile. There was something familiar about the curve of her jaw, but the memory stayed buried beneath years of business and blood.
Lila didn't listen. She pulled out a sheet of drawing paper and a box of crayons. For twenty minutes, the only sound was the scratch of wax against paper. Luca pretended to read a quarterly report on his tablet, but his focus kept drifting to the tiny passenger beside him.
She pushed the paper across the center console. "Look."
Luca looked.
It was a drawing of a small house, a mother with long brown hair, a little girl with pink bows, and beside them, a tall man in a dark tailored suit with thick dark hair. The man in the drawing had sharp shoulders and no smile.
Luca studied the dark-haired figure. A strange, cold prickle climbed the back of his neck. "Who is this?"
Lila pointed an innocent, crayon-smudged finger at the tall man.
"That’s the daddy I made up."
Across the aisle, the woman inhaled sharply. She dropped her magazine, quickly leaning down to retrieve it, her shoulders shaking.
Before Luca could speak, the aircraft shuddered violently.
The chime rang three times. The nose dipped, and the cabin dropped twenty feet in a stomach-churning second. Luggage rattled in the overhead bins as the plane slammed into severe air turbulence.
Lila let out a tiny gasp. Her stuffed rabbit flew from her lap, and her small fingers shot out, locking desperately onto Luca’s forearm.
Luca didn't think. Instinct older than reason took over. He caught her tiny hand in his, pulling her close and throwing his other arm over her small frame like a shield against the shuddering cabin.
"I've got you," Luca heard himself say, his voice low, steady, and entirely calm. "Look at me. You're fine."
The girl stared into his eyes, her chest heaving. Slowly, as the jet leveled out, her breathing slowed.
May you like
Luca looked down at the child clinging to his arm. Beneath the dim cabin light, her wide hazel eyes reflected his own. The shape of her brow, the stubborn set of her chin—it was like staring into a mirror that had somehow reached back thirty years into his own childhood.
A heavy silence settled between them as the turbulence faded into smooth air.
