Chapter 8 - THE FLIGHT RISK
The officer handed me a printed boarding pass. It was for a flight leaving out of the private municipal airport at 2:00 PM today.
The passenger name was Ivy Bennett.
"She was going to take her," Carol choked out, a fresh wave of horror washing over her. She pulled Ivy so tightly against her chest the little girl squeaked. "She was going to kidnap my daughter."
"Not kidnap," I corrected, looking at the destination on the ticket. Chicago. "She was going to sell her back."
The depth of Vanessa's evil finally bottomed out. She wasn't just fleeing with my ten million dollars. She had contacted Carol's abusive husband. She had arranged to deliver his missing daughter to him, likely for an enormous bounty. That's why she dragged them out to the golf cart. Ivy was her payday.
I felt a cold rage settle over my heart. I walked over to the police cruiser where Vanessa sat behind the glass.
I tapped on the window. The officer rolled it down slightly.
"You're going to federal prison," I told her, my voice eerily calm. "Human trafficking. Extortion. Fraud. I am going to put the full weight of the Sterling empire into ensuring you never see the outside of a cell again."
Vanessa dropped the smug act. Real terror finally broke through her eyes. "Nathaniel, please—"
"Roll it up," I told the officer.
I walked back to Carol. She was sitting on the bumper of the ambulance, rocking Ivy back and forth.
"Carol," I said gently, crouching down so I was eye-level with the little girl who had saved my life. "I need a new estate manager. Someone who knows this house, who knows the staff, and who isn't afraid to tell me the truth."
Carol blinked, confused. "Mr. Sterling, I'm a cleaner."
"You're a mother who outsmarted a cartel of wealth to protect her child," I said. "You're exactly who I want running my home. The job comes with the East Wing cottage. It has its own security system. You and Ivy will never have to run again."
Ivy peeked out from her mother's shoulder. "No more bad lady?"
"No more bad lady," I promised, reaching out and gently tapping her tiny nose. "And nobody hurts Mommy ever again."
Ivy smiled, a bright, genuine thing that made the awful morning melt away. She reached into her little pocket.
May you like
"I have a present for you," she whispered.
She pulled out a crumpled, shiny object.
