14. Jade
— ? —
Jade
The airfield is dark when we arrive.
A single hangar illuminated against the pre-dawn sky. A plane on the tarmac. And Vivian’s SUV, parked near the loading area.
Damian pulls the car to a stop behind a row of trees, out of sight.
“Martinez?” he says into his phone.
“Northwest corner of the hangar. I’ve got eyes on the plane. Gulfstream G650. Pilot’s doing pre-flight checks.” A pause. “Black SUV is opening up. Vivian’s getting out.”
“Police?”
“Fifteen minutes out.”
“We can’t wait fifteen minutes,” I say. “What if the plane takes off?”
“It won’t.” Damian’s voice is certain. “Martinez, can you delay them?”
“I’ll try.”
Damian turns to me. “We need to get closer. If things go wrong, I need you to be able to reach Nova. But stay hidden until I say. Okay?”
I nod. My whole body is vibrating with adrenaline.
We slip out of the car. Move through the shadows toward the hangar.
And then I see them.
Vivian, stepping out of the SUV in designer clothes and dark sunglasses like she’s going on vacation. The nanny, emerging from the other side, holding Nova.
Nova, half-asleep and confused, clutching her stuffed rabbit.
“Mommy?” Her voice carries across the tarmac. Small. Scared. “Where are we?”
“We’re going on an adventure, sweetheart.” Vivian’s voice is bright. Fake. “A big airplane ride to a beautiful new home.”
“But what about Daddy? What about my room?”
“Daddy’s going to meet us there. Now come on, we need to get on the plane.”
“I don’t want to.” Nova’s voice wobbles. “I’m tired. I want to go home.”
“We ARE going home. A new home. Now stop whining and come on.”
“But-”
“Nova. Enough.”
Vivian grabs Nova from the nanny’s arms. Roughly. Nova yelps.
“I don’t like this! I want to go back! I want DADDY!”
“Your daddy isn’t coming!” Vivian snaps. The mask is slipping now. “Now be quiet and get on the plane!”
“NO!” Nova is crying now. Thrashing. “I don’t want to! You’re being mean! I want to go HOME!”
Vivian’s hand connects with Nova’s face.
The slap echoes across the tarmac.
Nova screams.
I don’t think.
I run.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!”
Vivian spins around. Her eyes go wide.
I don’t stop. I reach them and shove Vivian so hard she stumbles backward.
“Don’t you TOUCH her!”
Nova is on the ground where Vivian dropped her, sobbing. I scoop her up. Hold her tight.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
Nova is hysterical. She doesn’t know who I am - just that I’m someone who isn’t the scary woman who hit her. She clings to me anyway, small arms wrapped around my neck, tears soaking into my shirt.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”
Vivian recovers. Her face twists with rage.
“Give her back. GIVE HER BACK!”
She lunges forward.
Damian steps between us.
“Touch either of them and I’ll put you on the ground.”
Vivian stops. Looks between us. The nanny is backing away, wanting no part of this.
“You can’t do this,” Vivian hisses. “She’s MY daughter. I have custody!”
“You have nothing.” Damian’s voice is ice. “Kidnapping a child during active custody proceedings. Fleeing jurisdiction. Assaulting a minor.” He points to the shadows where Martinez stands, camera raised. “It’s all on video, Vivian. Every second.”
Her face goes white.
Sirens in the distance. Getting closer.
“It’s over,” Damian says. “The police are coming. The video is uploading to three different cloud servers as we speak. You run now, you’re a fugitive. You’ll never stop running.”
“You don’t understand.” Vivian’s voice cracks. Something real underneath the mask for the first time. Fear. Desperation. “I can’t go to prison. I CAN’T.”
“You should have thought about that before you framed an innocent woman. Before you stole her child. Before you hit a four-year-old because she wouldn’t stop crying.”
Police cars screech onto the tarmac. Red and blue lights flashing.
Vivian makes one last desperate lunge toward Nova.
“Give her to me! She’s MINE!”
I turn away, shielding Nova with my body.
“You were never her mother,” I say. “You were just the woman who stole her.”
Officers swarm the tarmac. Vivian tries to run. Makes it three steps before they tackle her.
“Get OFF me! Do you know who I AM?”
But no one’s listening anymore. They’re putting her in handcuffs. Reading her rights. Loading her into a squad car.
Nova’s sobs are quieting against my shoulder. I stroke her hair, murmuring comfort, feeling her small body slowly relax.
“It’s over, baby,” I whisper. “The scary part is over.”
***
The chaos takes hours to sort out.
Police statements. Social services arriving to assess Nova. Paramedics checking the mark on her cheek where Vivian slapped her.
Through it all, I don’t let go of my daughter.
Nova clings to me like a lifeline, alternately crying and sleeping and asking confused questions I don’t know how to answer. Who are you? Where’s Mommy? Why is everyone yelling?
I don’t explain. Not yet. She’s been through too much tonight.
Instead, I just hold her. Rock her. Tell her she’s safe.
Around dawn, Donald arrives. The police had called him the moment they took Nova into protective custody - he was still her father and legal guardian - and he’d driven straight from the city.
He looks like hell - unshaven, eyes red, shirt untucked. He stumbles out of his car and searches the chaos until he finds Nova.
“Nova!”
Nova’s head lifts from my shoulder. “DADDY!”
She struggles in my arms, reaching for him. My heart clenches, but I loosen my grip. Let her slide down.
She runs to Donald. He catches her. Drops to his knees. Holds her so tight.
“Are you okay? Baby, are you okay? Let me see your face.”
He sees the mark. The tear stains. The terror.
“She hit me, Daddy.” Nova’s voice is small. “Mommy Vivi hit me.”
Donald’s face crumbles.
He looks up. Past Nova. At me.
Our eyes meet.
Four years of history. Betrayal. Lies. Destruction.
Slowly, Donald stands. Lifts Nova with him. Walks toward me.
I tense. Ready to fight.
But he doesn’t try to take Nova away.
“I didn’t know,” he says quietly. “About any of it. I swear, Jade. I didn’t know she would-”
“You didn’t want to know. There’s a difference.”
He flinches. “You’re right. I didn’t want to see it. I was so guilty about what I’d done that it was easier to believe you were the villain.”
“I spent four years in prison. I missed my daughter’s entire life.”
“I know.” His voice cracks. “And there’s nothing I can say that makes it okay.”
A social worker approaches. “Mr. Castillo? Ms. Moreno? We need to determine temporary placement for Nova.”
Donald looks at Nova. At me. At the way Nova keeps glancing over at me with curious, confused eyes.
He makes a decision.
“She should stay with Jade.”
I stare at him. “What?”
“I’m waiving my rights. Temporary custody, permanent custody, whatever she needs.” He meets my eyes. “She’s yours, Jade. She was always yours.”
The social worker nods. “We’ll formalize it at the emergency hearing tomorrow.”
Donald looks at Nova one more time.
“Are you sad, Daddy?”
“A little, baby. But I’m happy too. Because you’re going to be with your real mommy now.”
“My real mommy?” Nova looks at me. Studies me. “You’re my real mommy?”
My heart stops.
“Yes, baby.” My voice is barely a whisper. “I’m your real mommy. The one who had you in her tummy. The one who loved you first.”
Nova is quiet. Processing.
Then, softly: “Are you going to go away again?”
“Never.” I pull her into my arms. “I’m never going away again. I promise.”
She hugs me back. Small arms around my neck. Holding on.
“Okay,” she whispers. “I’ll stay with you.”
The sun is rising over the tarmac. Red and gold painting the sky.
Behind us, Vivian is being loaded into a squad car, screaming.
Ahead of us, a future I never thought I’d have.
I hold my daughter and let myself cry.
***
It’s nearly midnight by the time we get home.
Nova is asleep in the guest room - crashed hard after the adrenaline wore off. The social worker left an hour ago. The house is finally quiet.
I’m standing in the kitchen, hands braced on the counter, trying to stop shaking.
She’s safe. Nova’s safe. It’s over.
But my body hasn’t gotten the message. My hands won’t stop trembling. My heart is still racing. Every time I close my eyes, I see Vivian’s hand connecting with Nova’s face, hear that horrible slap echoing across the tarmac-
“Jade.”
Damian’s voice, soft behind me.
I don’t turn around. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re shaking.”
“I’m just-” My voice breaks. “I almost lost her. Again. If we’d been five minutes later-”
“But we weren’t.” His hands find my shoulders. Warm. Steady. “We got there in time. She’s safe.”
“I can’t stop seeing it. The way Vivian grabbed her. The way Nova screamed.” I’m crying now. Can’t stop it. “She hit my baby. She hit her.”
“And she’s going to prison for it.” He turns me around, cups my face in his hands. “Vivian is never going to touch Nova again. I promise you.”
“I know. I know, I just-” I fist my hands in his shirt, pulling him closer. “I need-”
“What do you need?”
“You.” The word comes out desperate. Raw. “I need you. I need to feel something that isn’t fear.”
His eyes darken. “Jade-”
“Please.” I’m pulling at his shirt now, trying to get it off him. “Please, Damian. I need to feel alive. I need to feel you.”
He doesn’t ask again.
His mouth crashes into mine. Not gentle - we’re past gentle. This is adrenaline and terror and relief all crashing together, desperate and frantic and necessary.
He lifts me onto the counter. I wrap my legs around him, pulling him close, grinding against him. He groans into my mouth.
“Here?” he pants.
“Here. Now. I can’t wait.”
He doesn’t make me wait.
His hands are everywhere - pushing up my shirt, yanking down my jeans, touching every inch of skin he can reach. I’m tearing at his clothes with equal desperation, needing to feel him, needing to be as close as physically possible.
“I was so scared,” I gasp as his mouth finds my neck. “When I saw her hit Nova-”
“I know.” He bites down gently on my pulse point. “I know, baby.”
“I thought I was going to kill her. I wanted to kill her.”
“So did I.” His hands find my hips, position me at the edge of the counter. “But she’s gone now. It’s over.”
“Make me forget.” I reach between us, guide him where I need him. “Make me forget everything except you.”
He slides inside me in one thrust.
I cry out - from relief, from pleasure, from the overwhelming sensation of being filled. He stills, giving me a moment to adjust, his forehead pressed against mine.
“Okay?” he breathes.
“More than okay.” I roll my hips, urging him to move. “Don’t stop.”
He doesn’t.
He takes me hard and fast, the counter shaking beneath us, my moans echoing off the kitchen walls. There’s nothing gentle about this - it’s raw and desperate and exactly what I need. A physical release for all the terror and adrenaline and emotion that’s been building for hours.
“You’re safe,” he says against my throat, punctuating each word with a thrust. “Nova’s safe. I’ve got you. I’ve got both of you.”
“Don’t let go.”
“Never.” His rhythm increases, driving deeper. “Never, Jade. I’m never letting go.”
The orgasm builds fast - too fast, I’m not ready, but my body doesn’t care. It crashes over me like a wave, and I’m screaming his name, clinging to him, shaking apart in his arms.
He follows seconds later, groaning my name, holding me so tight I can barely breathe.
We stay like that for a long time. Connected. Breathing together.
“I love you,” I whisper into his shoulder.
He pulls back. Looks at me with eyes that are soft and fierce and full of something I’m only beginning to understand.
“I love you too.” He kisses my forehead. My nose. My lips. “I’ve loved you for years. I’ll love you for fifty more.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
He carries me to bed. Cleans me up. Pulls me against his chest and holds me while I finally, finally stop shaking.
I fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.