LESS THAN AN HOUR BEFORE PROPOSING TO ANOTHER WOMAN, I SAW MY EX-WIFE STANDING IN THE CHICAGO RAIN WITH THREE CHILDREN WHO HAD MY EYES—AND WHEN I LEARNED THEY WERE THREE YEARS OLD, ONE QUESTION DESTROYED EVERYTHING I THOUGHT I KNEW ABOUT OUR DIVORCE: WHY HAD GRACE KEPT THEM FROM ME? / Chapter 9 / 20

Chương 9 - Flight to BostonThe private jet sliced through the clouds at forty thousand feet, leaving the grey, miserable skies of Chicago far behind us in favor of an endless, blinding expanse of blue.

Inside the cabin of the Gulfstream, the atmosphere was a delicate, fragile truce.

Leo was curled up on a plush leather divan near the front of the cabin, wearing a soft grey blanket, fast asleep after taking his morning medication. The two little girls—Maya and Chloe—were quietly playing with a set of magnetic blocks on the carpeted floor, occasionally glancing up at me with wide, curious eyes that hadn't yet decided whether to trust the tall stranger who had suddenly appeared in their lives.

Grace sat a few seats away, staring down at a digital tablet scrolling through pediatric oncology research papers, though her eyes hadn't moved past the same paragraph in twenty minutes.

I sat across the aisle from her, nursing a cup of black coffee that had long since gone cold.

“You should sleep, Grace,” I said quietly, breaking the steady hum of the jet engines. “You haven't slept in thirty-six hours.”

She didn't look up from her tablet. “I’m fine, Ryan.”

“You’re running on fumes and sheer adrenaline,” I countered gently. “The medical team at Massachusetts General will take over the moment we land. You don't have to carry the whole world on your shoulders anymore.”

Grace finally raised her head, giving me a dry, exhausted smile. “That’s funny coming from the man who spent three years carrying an entire corporate empire on his shoulders while letting his own family starve for lack of attention.”

The jab hit its mark, but I didn't argue. I simply nodded.

“You’re right,” I said softly. “I was blind, Grace. I measured my worth by bank accounts, mergers, and high-society approval. I didn't realize that the only things of any real value were sitting right in front of me.”

Grace stared at me, searching my face for any trace of the arrogant, dismissive husband she had divorced three years ago. What she found, apparently, was a man just as broken and desperate as she had been.

Before she could respond, a small voice interrupted us.

“Mister?”

We both looked down. Little Chloe, the younger of the twin girls, was standing beside my seat, holding a plastic toy spaceship with a missing wing.

I blinked in surprise, instantly dropping lower to her eye level. “Hey there, Chloe.”

“Is this your spaceship?” she asked, holding out the broken toy. “Mama says you fix things now.”

My throat tightened. I gently took the plastic toy from her small, warm fingers, running my thumb over the broken joint.

“Well,” I smiled softly, my voice cracking slightly. “I’m not very good at fixing things in the past, sweetheart. But I’m going to try my absolute hardest to fix this one.”

Chloe beamed, a bright, gap-toothed grin that bore an uncanny resemblance to Grace’s smile on our wedding day. She climbed uninvited onto my knee, resting her head against my chest as if she had known me her entire life.

Across the aisle, I saw Grace’s breath catch. A single tear slipped down her cheek, quickly wiped away before it could fall.