Understood. Are they aware who you are?
Maya looked at Ethan.
Then Victoria.
Then the cockpit door.
No.
Naomi’s next reply came quickly.
Then let them finish choosing.
Maya almost smiled.
Naomi understood her too well.
The descent grew steeper.
Cabin lights brightened.
Clare moved through the aisle checking seat belts, but she avoided Maya’s eyes.
When she reached 1B, she stopped at a distance.
“Seat belt fastened?”
Maya lifted the belt slightly.
“Yes.”
Clare looked at the phone in Maya’s hand.
“Secure your device.”
Maya placed it in her blazer pocket with the camera still recording, lens angled upward.
“Secured.”
Clare did not challenge her.
That alone told Maya how much had changed.
Victoria pressed her call button.
No one answered.
She pressed it again.
Clare looked toward Ethan, uncertain whether to go.
Ethan shook his head almost imperceptibly.
Victoria saw it.
For the first time all night, Crestline’s loyalty did not move toward her.
Her face hardened with disbelief.
“Clare.”
Clare did not come.
The plane dropped through clouds.
City lights appeared beneath them.
New York spread out in broken gold lines beyond the window.
Maya had imagined using this descent to review talking points for the morning meeting.
Instead, she sat with a coffee stain on her cuff, a peanut packet on her tray table, and a false report waiting somewhere in the airline system.
Lena checked the video again.
“Two million.”
Maya looked at her.
“Already?”
“Already.”
Samuel exhaled.
“Truth travels faster when people try to bury it.”
Captain Mallerie’s voice came over the speaker again.
“Flight attendants, prepare for landing.”
Ethan walked down the aisle one last time before taking his jump seat.
“Miss Williams,” he said quietly. “When we land, remain seated until instructed.”
Maya looked up.
“Will police be at the gate?”
He did not answer.
“That is a yes,” Lena said.
Ethan looked at her, then back at Maya.
“This could have been handled quietly.”
Maya’s voice was calm.
“It should have been handled correctly.”
The aircraft dipped lower.
Wheels lowered beneath them with a heavy mechanical sound.
Victoria stared out the window, her phone locked in both hands.
Clare strapped into the forward jump seat, breathing too fast.
Ethan sat opposite her, report tablet on his lap, no longer typing.
Behind the cockpit door, Captain Mallerie watched the runway lights approach and knew corporate legal might be waiting before the police were.
Maya rested one hand on her phone and the other on the confirmation email.
The wheels hit the runway at JFK just after midnight.
No one in first class clapped.