Chapter 3

"Stabilize flight attitude, maintain best glide speed," Victoria said, no hesitation in her voice. "I recommend establishing a visual circling approach for descent immediately."

Her cadence was steady, each command precisely targeting a critical point.

A flicker of recognition lit up Lincoln's eyes, and he swiftly relayed the key points to the flight crew.

The seconds that followed felt endless. Then the captain's voice broke through the speakers, heavy with exhaustion and relief. "Tower, this is B-3471. We have landed safely at Eastlake Airport. All personnel are secure. The aircraft is now taxiing to the designated gate."

The control room erupted with cheers.

Lincoln let out a long, slow breath and turned, clapping a hand on Victoria's shoulder. His eyes were filled with genuine admiration.

"Excellent, Victoria! Very well done! You haven't let your studies slip one bit."

"It's what I'm here for, Mr. Jones," Victoria replied, her lips curving into a small smile.

His expression settled into something more thoughtful as he stared at her. "Victoria, I've seen your theoretical knowledge and your emergency response capabilities firsthand. They're exceptionally solid." 

He paused, weighing his next words. "Considering your current condition, I'm prepared to offer you a position in the Flight Operations Control Center as a flight operations controller. Once you've had the baby and are ready, we can transition you to a pilot role. What do you say? Are you interested?"

A flight operations controller?

Victoria's heart hammered against her ribs. She answered without a flicker of doubt. "I am. Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Jones. I'd be thrilled to join."

Upon leaving Lincoln's company, Victoria wasted no time. She pulled the resignation letter she had written the night before from her bag and made her way to the bus stop.

The bus to her old airline was packed, as it always was. Victoria kept one arm curled around her stomach, the other hand wrapped around a handrail as the vehicle jolted and swayed through traffic. 

She watched scenery slide past the window, and her thoughts drifted to the row of luxury cars sitting untouched in their garage at home. 

Charles had never actually told her not to drive them, but she had always felt that, for a mere ground staff member, arriving in such a vehicle would make her stand out, and standing out ran against everything Charles preferred. 

He'd never said as much directly, but his silence had always felt like a closed door, so she'd quietly accepted it — taking the crowded bus every morning while those cars gathered dust.

After arriving at the airline's headquarters, Victoria went straight to her supervisor's office and set the letter on his desk. 

Finn Davis looked up at her, caught off guard. He tried to dissuade her, but her resolve was firm, and he eventually relented, signing his name with a sigh.

"Alright. Just make sure you hand over everything to Chris before you go."

The rest of the afternoon was a blur of activity. Victoria began the handover process, organizing files, cross-referencing invoices, and explaining workflows. 

Even for a ground staff position, the number of trivial but necessary tasks was considerable. By late afternoon, a dull throb had started in her temple.

She slipped away to the breakroom to get some hot water. As she stood by the window, her gaze drifted down to the main entrance of the building. 

A familiar black luxury car pulled up to the curb. Charles stepped out from the driver's side, dressed casually, and walked around to open the passenger door.

Michelle climbed out, already smiling. 

She was wearing a beautifully tailored suit dress, and a pink butterfly brooch on her collarbone glittered in the sunlight. 

Charles's face was wreathed in a smile as he looked at herHe leaned in close and said something, and Michelle laughed and swatted his arm before turning and heading into the building. 

He didn't leave immediately, his eyes following her until she disappeared through the doors. Only then did he get back into the car.

Behind Victoria, a few colleagues on break had noticed too.

"Mr. Smith dropped Michelle off again!"

"Is that car new? I heard he bought it for her as a birthday present! He really spares no expense."

"And he's always so busy, but he makes time to drive her every day. He's spoiling her rotten."

"They look so good together. Michelle is so lucky to be doted on by Mr. Smith like this."

"Who knows, maybe Michelle will actually become our future captain's wife…"

Victoria's grip tightened around her cup. 

So, the expensive cars she had consciously avoided driving could be given away so easily. 

So, he wasn't born cold and detached; his tenderness was simply a currency he refused to spend on her. 

The pain came sharp and swift, like something pressing down hard against her chest. 

She let it pass, finished her water, and went back to her desk.

She was almost done with the last of the handover materials when Chris came over, a stack of invoices in hand and a troubled look on his face. "Victoria, these are the freight manifests you handled earlier. The cargo station is pushing hard, saying there seems to be an issue with the data. Could you take another look?"

She nodded and took the documents. As she reviewed them item by item, she quickly spotted the problem: the data on several manifests showed signs of tampering, which could lead to critical errors in the load and balance calculations. 

She marked the discrepancies with a red pen and added a detailed note in the handover memo spelling out exactly what was wrong and where the original data could be verified.

Once finished, she handed the entire file back to Chris. "The problematic sections are marked. Make sure you re-verify them against the source."

With the task complete, Victoria felt a wave of relief. She was about to start clearing her desk when the temperature in the room seemed to drop. 

Charles walked toward her, his face a mask of thunder. Clutched in his hand were photocopies of the very manifests she had just reviewed.

"Is this your work? How could you get the most basic load data this wrong? Do you have any professional integrity at all? Do you have any idea the kind of risk this creates?"

He threw the papers, and they fanned across her desk. No one nearby made a sound.

"That is not the data I finalized," Victoria stated, her voice calm as she looked at the scattered sheets. "I identified the problem, marked it clearly in red pen on the original documents, and requested a re-verification against the source records. You can pull the originals; my signature and notes are on them."

"Marked it?" He sneered. "The mistake is sitting right in front of me, and you're telling me you 'marked it'? Victoria, I've let a lot slide, but this goes beyond carelessness. You clearly have no sense of responsibility whatsoever!"

His reprimand was merciless. Normally, faced with Charles in such a state, Victoria might have backed down. But not now. She was leaving this job—no, she was leaving this marriage. What was there to be afraid of?

She pushed herself to her feet, hands flat on the desk, and held his gaze. "Then I suggest Mr. Smith pull the security footage right now and see what the original documents I handed over actually looked like."

His expression hardened. "What gives you the right to demand security footage? Who exactly do you think you're playing victim for?"

So, that was it. Regardless of the truth, the fault was hers. A familiar resignation settled over her, though her hands clenched at her sides. This was, after all, his consistent pattern with her.

Just then, a soft voice interjected. "Charles, don't be so angry." Michelle had appeared at his side, her tone gentle and placating. She then turned to Victoria, her eyes lingering for a moment on the swell of her abdomen before she offered a purely benevolent smile.

She began, her voice soft and considerate, "Please don't take it to heart. Charles is a captain, and he's extremely particular about flight safety, so he can be a bit harsh." 

She looked back at Charles, her eyes wide and innocent. "But these data errors are quite fundamental. This base number, especially, is obviously wrong. I think she was probably just unfamiliar with the procedure and made a mistake. Being pregnant is tiring, after all. Please don't be mad at her anymore. Can you let it go this once?"

She was so kind, so gentle, every word a plea on Victoria's behalf.

A dry, humorless laugh escaped Victoria's lips. "There's no need to plead for me," she said, her gaze fixed on Michelle. "It wasn't my mistake to begin with."

Charles's frown deepened. But Victoria ignored him, unlocked her phone, and pulled up the video she'd taken of the handover documents — a quick recording she'd made almost out of habit, and now couldn't be more grateful for.

"This is the original. The red-pen notations and my signature are right there," Victoria said, turning the screen toward Charles and pointing to the section that mattered. 

"As for the data itself," she continued, her gaze shifting to Michelle, "the base number you just pointed out is, in fact, the correct original data. The value currently printed on the manifest is the erroneous one. It falls outside the aircraft's safety redundancy standards for load distribution."

A hot blush flooded Michelle's cheeks. Her eyes darted away as her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. She bit her lip, cornered.

"That's enough!" Charles snapped.