Chapter 4

Once we were airborne and had reached cruising altitude, the tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Chloe, having enjoyed her special view from the cockpit during takeoff, now settled into the plush leather seat in the main cabin, the silver briefcase placed on the seat beside her like a royal treasure. She was acting less like a guest and more like the queen of the aircraft.

Liam was in a meeting in the forward conference room, leaving Chloe to her own devices. It didn't take long for her to get bored. She reached over and pressed the call button, the chime echoing through the quiet cabin.

One of my junior flight attendants, a young man named Ben, immediately went to her.

"Yes, Ms. Vance? Can I get you anything?"

Chloe didn't even look at him. She stared straight ahead, a smirk on her face. "Send Ava to me."

Ben froze, unsure how to respond. It was a completely inappropriate request. I was the head of the cabin crew and in-flight security, not a personal attendant.

He came over to my station, his face flushed with embarrassment. "Ma'am, Ms. Vance is asking for you."

I knew this was coming. It was a power play. I took a deep breath and walked down the aisle to where she was sitting.

"Is there a problem, Chloe?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral.

She finally turned to look at me, her eyes filled with condescending amusement. "You know, for a head of security, you really should know how to perform all the duties of your team. I want you to prepare my drink."

This was a direct attempt to humiliate me. Ben and Sarah, who were standing nearby, looked outraged on my behalf.

"I'd be happy to have one of my team get that for you," I replied evenly. "What would you like?"

"No," she said, her voice sharp. "I want you to do it. Liam says it's important for leaders to understand the work their subordinates do. Consider it a learning experience."

She was using Liam's own twisted logic against me.

"If you want me to act as a flight attendant," I said, a cold smile touching my lips, "then you'll have to accept all that comes with the role. That means I will be required to perform safety checks on your person and your luggage every thirty minutes, per my security responsibilities."

I was calling her bluff. I was turning her petty game of humiliation into a matter of official procedure.

Chloe's face tightened. "That's ridiculous. I'm a passenger."

"And I am the head of security," I countered. "You can't have it both ways. You can't treat me like a servant one minute and expect me to ignore my professional duties the next."

Her arrogance got the better of her. "This is why people like you stay in service jobs," she sneered, her voice dripping with venom. "You have no ambition, no understanding of the bigger picture. You just follow your pathetic little rules. It's a job anyone could do. Liam and I are changing the world, and you're worried about who serves the drinks."

The insult hung in the air. The other crew members who heard it stiffened, their faces hardening with anger. She hadn't just insulted me; she had insulted all of them.

I just watched her, my expression unreadable. Let her talk. Let her reveal her true self. Every word was another nail in her coffin.

Liam emerged from his meeting just then, smiling. "Everything okay out here?"

Chloe immediately put on her sweet act. "Oh, yes! I was just telling Ava how much I admire the work her team does. So detail-oriented."

Liam beamed, completely oblivious. He gestured to the empty seat next to him in the ultra-exclusive forward cabin, a section usually reserved for the primary client only.

"Come on, Chloe. Come sit up here with me."

He was once again breaking the rules for her, placing her in a privileged and restricted area. She picked up her silver briefcase and followed him, casting a look of pure triumph over her shoulder at me.

As I returned to my station, I saw the call button for my seat light up. It was the button from the forward cabin. From the seat right next to Liam.

Chloe was summoning me again. The humiliation was just getting started.