Chapter 3 - SEVEN HOURS TO THE TRUTH
By the time the plane began its descent over Switzerland, Milo had slept for nearly four hours. His father had not slept at all. Khloe found Silas in the forward seating area with a stack of documents spread across the narrow table. He had removed his jacket. Beneath the crisp white shirt, his shoulders looked as though they carried something too heavy for a single man.
Victor remained near the galley, talking quietly into an encrypted phone. Gemma had reported that he asked twice whether Khloe could be removed from the flight crew's Geneva return assignment. The aircraft owner employed an outside management company; Victor did not formally supervise attendants, but his influence was obvious.
“Do you know what this is?” Silas asked as Khloe approached.
He pointed to an agreement headed FAMILY CONTINUITY AND EMERGENCY GUARDIANSHIP PLAN. One provision identified Victor Sterling as the temporary contact empowered to make arrangements for Milo if Silas became unavailable. Another authorized a Geneva-based service to schedule assessments and coordinate accommodations. The document contained language about consultations for communication services, but the schedule in Victor's email described an exclusive residential program without the family participation Khloe would have expected.
“I can't interpret legal language,” she said. “But I can tell you that a child needs to understand where he's being taken.”
“I signed it in September.” Silas touched the bottom of the page. “I was overseas dealing with a shipping crisis. Victor told me it was an emergency backup.”
“Did you read the attachments?”
“No.” He looked at her, daring her to be impressed or repelled by the admission. “I trusted him.”
Khloe didn't answer at once. She thought of her sister Maeve, who'd once endured a school meeting where administrators called her uncooperative because she refused to surrender the interpreter who made her classroom accessible. The adults had debated what Maeve needed while Maeve sat directly across from them. Her sister had been twelve.
“Your son is not a problem to manage,” Khloe said. “He's a person to include.”
Silas leaned back as if she'd touched a bruise. “You say things no one around me would dare say.”
“Maybe they should.”
He glanced toward the curtain. “Victor has been with me twelve years. My father hired him. He handled Elena's funeral when I couldn't function. He found the specialists. He told me Milo's withdrawal was grief, that pushing signing would keep the boy from learning to communicate in the wider world.”
“That claim doesn't make sense,” Khloe said. “Accessible language doesn't prevent a child from learning anything else.”
“I see that now.”
He didn't sound proud. He sounded ashamed.
In the rear cabin, Milo was awake, studying the flight map on a mounted screen. Khloe approached from the front so he saw her coming. She showed him a drawn picture of the airplane landing and signed SOON GROUND. He tilted his head, then signed WHERE SLEEP?
“Hotel,” Silas said before remembering. He caught Khloe's eye. “Show me.”
Together they signed HOTEL and SLEEP with Khloe correcting only enough to make the meaning clear. Milo stared at his father, surprised. Then he raised the rabbit and signed BUNNY TOO.
Silas managed a short laugh. “Bunny too.”
After landing, Khloe supervised the disembarkation while the crew completed its safety duties. She expected the strange connection to end at the terminal. Silas had other plans, and he was used to acting on them.
“I want you in the car with us,” he said.
Khloe glanced at her uniform. “I can't simply leave my duty roster.”
“Name your salary.”
Her face heated. “No.”
He blinked. “No?”
“I'm working. There's a difference between asking me for help and assuming you can purchase my time.”
Silas looked away, visibly chastened. “You're right. I'm sorry.”
It was the first apology he'd offered her without sounding surprised by the concept.
She suggested he hire a qualified local interpreter through established services. She could provide immediate support until the handoff if her employer permitted it. Silas called the aircraft management director in her presence rather than issuing an order. Arrangements were made for Khloe to assist for two additional hours on paid duty, while the family contacted an interpreting agency for ongoing communication.
The vehicle waiting on the tarmac was dark and polished. Two guards stood beside it. Victor was already in the front passenger seat, his phone tilted away from view. Milo saw him and stopped walking. Khloe noticed his shoulders rise toward his ears.
Silas stopped too. “Victor, take the second car.”
“Boss, it's a security protocol.”
“Then update the protocol.”
Victor exited slowly, every movement controlled. He looked at Khloe with open dislike. She watched him cross the tarmac and understood that rich families might have enormous houses but very few places where an ordinary employee could safely disagree.
At the hotel, Milo refused the elevator until Khloe drew a simple sequence on paper showing where it would go. In the suite, he inspected every door and pointed to the small light inside the bathroom. Khloe asked him whether he wanted it left on. He nodded. He had lived in a house where he had no consistent way to call someone without running through dark hallways; the realization made her angry in a way that frightened her.
Silas watched while she helped Milo arrange the rabbit and his dinosaur-print pajamas on a low couch. They set the next day's plan on a card beside the bed: breakfast, a walk, and time with a professional interpreter. Nothing about a clinic until Silas had enough information to discuss it with his son.
“Can I have your number?” Silas asked when Milo had gone into the bathroom with his nanny, who had joined them at the hotel.
“You can have the agency's details,” she replied. “I'm not qualified to be his only communication bridge.”
“I wasn't going to ask you to be.”
“You asked me to get in your car before you knew my name.”
He gave a brief, bleak smile. “Fair.”
Khloe studied him. “You know my name. You called me Khloe on the plane.”
“I read the manifest.”
“Then learn your son's language with the same attention.”
He looked toward the bathroom door. “I intend to.”
At that moment Silas's phone vibrated. He read a message, and whatever softness had appeared vanished.
It was from his Chicago office manager, an unusually formal woman named Evelyn Park.
**The original blue notebook from Elena's office was logged into company storage last winter. The storage entry was deleted two days later. Authorized removal: V. Sterling.**
Silas showed Khloe the message without speaking.
A second message arrived.
**Mr. Costello, please call. Victor told the Geneva service you approved a transfer of Milo's residency. I cannot locate any approval signed by you.**
Through the doorway, Milo emerged holding his rabbit. He looked at his father and signed a question. Khloe understood at once.
**ARE WE GOING HOME?**
May you like
For the first time, Silas looked afraid of his own answer.
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