Chapter 3 - Interrogation at 30,000 Feet"You picked the wrong airport, Elena," Vance said smoothly, stepping into the cabin and blocking any escape route.
Elena shrank back against the leather seating, her hands trembling despite her best efforts to maintain a mask of icy composure. "Vance... I didn't know you were tracking us. I thought you stayed in Manhattan."
"I stay wherever my family is concerned," Vance replied, his voice dangerously low. He pulled out a sleek tablet and dropped it onto the table. On the screen was a scanned document bearing a federal seal and the Vance family crest. "Five years ago, my brother David and his entire family were declared dead in a suspicious mansion fire. The coroner identified remains. Case closed."
He leaned forward, planting both hands on the table. "So explain to me why two children who look identical to my late brother—holding a bear stitched by our family tailor—were just abandoned at Gate 28 by a woman using a dead woman's passport."
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Elena swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "David knew too much. The syndicate wanted the estate wiped out. I took the twins and ran to protect them! But I couldn't keep hiding them. Every shadow felt like an assassin. I left them where someone with power could find them!"
"You didn't leave them for protection," Vance corrected coldly. "You left them to get rid of a burden. And in doing so, you just rang a bell that cannot be un-rung."
