CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE JACK & MAKAYLA
Nine Months Later
“Smile!”
Jack moves his attention to his reflection on Makayla’s phone as she holds it up to capture the three of them in their newly purchased SUV.
Jack smiles, and Makayla snaps the photo before he pulls away from their condo building, towing the U-Haul behind them containing her mother’s baby grand.
“Who’s excited for our move?”
“Me!” Makayla chirps.
“Ma ma!” Liam points to Makayla as she drops her phone into her purse.
Her Nikon camera sits between them on the center console, ready to capture the sights on their cross-country trip. After what happened, none of them were ready to get on a flight. He doubts Makayla ever will again.
They plan to take over three weeks to make the drive to Anchorage, stopping at several scenic sights along the way, starting with Niagara Falls and the Great Lakes. As they pass a sign for the Financial District, Jack’s thoughts drift to Lionel’s arrest six months earlier after the FBI seized the firm’s assets.
Jack can’t help pitying the man, despite everything he did. His only daughter is dead, his wife of over forty years has left him, and he’ll live out the rest of his days at a federal prison—alone and disgraced. Lionel pled guilty to his fraud charges and received a fifty-year prison sentence.
When he heard the news, Jack had been filled with relief at not having to testify against his longtime mentor. He hasn’t seen Lionel since Sabrina’s funeral. It was hard to hold a grudge after seeing the pain in Lionel’s eyes. Despite Lionel’s betrayal, Jack still feels the void of his absence in his life and chooses to remember the good times they shared.
They pass the Tribeca art gallery where Makayla’s photography was featured last month.
He turns to his wife. “I’m so proud of you.”
Makayla grins. “Thank you.”
In the back seat, Liam giggles at the small, stuffed bunny in his lap. Jack takes Makayla’s hand as they speed through the white-tiled walls of the Holland Tunnel beneath the Hudson River, relishing the time they’ll have together on their way to Anchorage over the next three weeks.
Liam’s kidnapping and Sabrina’s death shook them. Even Jack’s father has made an effort to see him more since it happened. He thinks of the hug his father enveloped him in last night when they said goodbye at his parents’ home in Brooklyn. And his father’s promise to visit them once they were settled in their new home.
He glances at his son in the back seat. Jack knows his relationship with his dad will probably never be what he would like it to be, or the bond he shared with Lionel. But if there’s one thing he’s learned from what happened last August, it’s to make the most of the time he has.
Makayla looks at her husband as they cruise beneath the Hudson River. She smiles, remembering the day two months ago when Jack broke the news.
“I got a job.”
She’d been folding laundry when Jack blurted the words. She set down the pair of socks and braced herself for Jack to tell her he was starting at a new firm, knowing what this would mean. He would push himself to work all hours of the day and weekends to prove himself and work his way up to a senior account manager all over again.
Jack quit the firm after Lionel’s arrest, and they put their condo on the market. Makayla would have no problem leaving it behind, but she feared Jack wouldn’t stop until they were able to afford something similar.
Last month, photos she’d taken on her trip to Alaska had been featured at a Tribeca art gallery event. Afterward, she’d been blown away to learn that every photo had sold. Within a few days, the gallery asked to feature her photography again at their summer expo, their biggest event of the year. In the last few weeks, she’d been getting tenfold sales from her photography, which she advertised on her blog. While it helped with their finances, it wasn’t enough to sustain the life they’ve been living.
“It’s in Anchorage. I’d be a high school economics teacher.”
Makayla spun around. From his high chair, Liam looked between his parents before plopping a Cheerio into his mouth.
“I thought we could get a house near your dad,” Jack said. “With a big yard.”
Makayla stared at her husband and realized he was serious.
“Liam can grow up hiking and spending more time outdoors. You could do your photography. I could be home every night. Off every summer.” Jack stepped toward her as Liam watched them in silence. “We could have the life you want. And that I want too. The money won’t be the same but—”
Makayla threw her arms around his neck. “I don’t care about the money.” She let go of Jack and turned to her son. “What do you think, Liam? You want to move to Alaska? Have a yard and see your dad—and grandpa—all the time?”
Liam cooed, a Cheerio spilling from his mouth when his toothless smile reached his eyes.
Jack put his hands on the sides of Makayla’s waist. “How about you?”
“I’m going to pack right now.”
Jack laughed as Makayla marched into their bedroom.
Now, she runs her hand down the back of Jack’s head as they emerge from the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey. Above them, a plane descends toward Newark Airport in the clear morning sky. Makayla suppresses a shudder, imagining Liam free-falling out of their aircraft—strapped to his abductor’s chest. And Derek, who’d gone out without a parachute, giving his life while trying to save Liam. Three days after his fall, Derek’s body was discovered by a couple of hikers on the shore of Cayuga Lake. A medical examiner determined the flight attendant was killed instantly upon impact with the water, and his body was likely submerged for two to three days before floating to the surface.
It’s taken months of therapy for her to deal with the guilt she felt for Derek’s death—and Liam’s abduction. Part of her will always feel responsible for what happened to the flight attendant, but she’s come to accept his death as an accident.
After attending his memorial service, she stayed in touch with Derek’s mother, who received a substantial death benefit from the airline. It covered all her medical bills, including the experimental cancer treatment Derek was working so hard to help pay for. She’s now in full remission. Although Makayla knows nothing will ever fill the void of losing her son.
She averts her gaze from the plane and leans back in her seat, seeing the reflection of Manhattan moving away from them in her rearview mirror across the Hudson River. She stares at the city’s skyline shrinking in the distance as they speed along the interstate, thinking the packed-in skyscrapers have never looked more beautiful than they do right now.