Chapter 2
The plane’s engines roared as we lifted off the ground.
Sophie squeezed her eyes shut, burying her face in my shoulder.
Leo stared out the window, his small face tight with worry.
“Will he come after us?” he asked, his voice barely loud enough to hear over the engines.
I kissed the top of his head.
“Not if he can’t,” I said.
I didn’t tell him how scared I was.
I didn’t tell him I’d spent the last three months secretly applying for a job at my old design firm’s Madrid office, or that my sister Lila had been wiring me small amounts of cash every week to save for the tickets.
I didn’t tell him I’d had to forge Julian’s signature on the passport applications, a risk that had made me sick to my stomach every night.
All that mattered was that we were gone.
We were free.
Eight hours later, we touched down in Madrid.
The air was warm and sweet, smelling of jasmine and fresh bread from a stand outside the terminal.
Lila was waiting for us by the baggage claim, her arms wide open.
She swept all three of us into a hug so tight I could barely breathe.
“You’re safe now,” she said into my hair. “No one’s going to hurt you here.”
Her apartment was small but bright, with white walls and a balcony that looked out over a tree-lined street.
She’d made up a room for the kids with cartoon sheets and stuffed animals she’d bought secondhand.
Sophie ran straight for the bed, bouncing up and down, her fear forgotten for the first time in months.
Leo smiled, a small, real smile, and ran his fingers over the toy cars Lila had left on the nightstand.
For the first time in years, I exhaled.
Back home, Julian was living his worst nightmare.
He’d made it to Bianca’s clinic ten minutes after we left the attorney’s office.
He’d burst through the doors, grinning, ready to see his son on the ultrasound screen.
The doctor had pulled him into a private room, her face grave.
Bianca was there, pale and shaking on the exam table, tears streaming down her face.
“There’s no baby,” the doctor had said, her voice gentle but firm. “The pregnancy was ectopic. It ruptured an hour ago. We had to operate immediately to save her life.”
Julian had stared at her, uncomprehending.
“What do you mean, no baby?” he’d said. “It’s a boy. We saw the heartbeat last week.”
“The heartbeat stopped,” the doctor said. “I’m so sorry. And because of the damage to her reproductive organs, Bianca will never be able to carry a child to term.”
The words hit Julian like a physical blow.
He staggered back, hitting the wall.
No heir.
No son.
No perfect new life.
Bianca started screaming then, throwing a tissue box at his head.
“This is your fault!” she shrieked. “You made me rush the divorce! You made me brag about this stupid baby before it was even safe! If you’d just been patient, none of this would’ve happened!”
Julian didn’t hear her.
All he could think about was the custody papers he’d signed.
The two children he’d called dead weight.
The only children he would ever have.
He’d run out of the clinic, ignoring Bianca’s screams, and fumbled for his phone.
He called Attorney Miller, his hands shaking so bad he could barely dial.
“Miller,” he’d gasped. “The custody papers. I need to undo them. I need to get my kids back. Now.”
Attorney Miller was quiet for a long moment.
“Mr. Morales,” he said finally. “You signed full, irrevocable sole custody over to your ex-wife. You waived all rights to visitation, all claims to decision-making, all financial obligations. There is no undoing it. The judge signed off on it an hour ago.”
Julian dropped his phone.
It shattered on the clinic’s tile floor.
May you like
His perfect life was gone.
And the only people who could’ve fixed it were already 5,000 miles away.
