Alexander picked up the intercom.
“Captain, continue to Paris.
Authorities will meet us on the private apron.
No one communicates outside the aircraft except through my legal team.”
The flight attendant stared at him.
“You can’t hand me over based on her story.”
“I’m not.”
He gestured toward the tablet, the two tokens, and the damaged clasp.
“I’m handing you over based on yours.”
She spent the remainder of the flight seated near the cockpit under the chef’s watch.
Alexander and I returned to the cream leather seats where the evening had begun.
The dinner plates had gone cold.
My hands would not stop trembling.
He poured water into a clean glass and placed it in front of me.
“I owe you an apology.”
“You didn’t accuse me.”
“I looked at you as though I might.”
“You had forty-eight million reasons to be suspicious.”
“That does not make it right.”
I held the glass with both hands.
“What happens now?”
“To her? French authorities will detain her.
My lawyers will provide the network records, account logs, airport footage, and both security tokens.”
“Airport footage?”
“My team retrieved it while we were speaking.”
He turned the tablet toward me.
The image showed the aircraft stairs at Gate 12A.
I saw myself standing unsteadily beside my suitcase.
Several feet behind me, the flight attendant emerged from the shadows carrying the black briefcase.
She placed it beside my bag, glanced toward the empty corridor, and walked away before I turned around.
The silver ring flashed beneath the airport lights.
My knees weakened even though I was sitting down.
“That could have destroyed my life.”
“Yes.”
“I would have missed work.
I couldn’t have afforded a lawyer.
Every family I’ve worked for would have seen my name connected to a theft.”
Alexander’s face hardened, but not at me.
“She understood that.”
The knowledge hurt more than her insults.
He closed the tablet.
“You will have copies of every record proving what happened.
My legal team will speak to your employers, but only with your permission.
You will also have independent counsel, paid by my company, until this is resolved.”
“I don’t want charity.”
“Neither do I.”
I looked at him.
He leaned back, studying me with those unreadable blue eyes.
“You noticed the ring, the scratch, the unlocked cabin, and the words she used.
My security team missed a four-month breach.
You found it while exhausted.”
“I got lucky.”
“No.
You paid attention.”
The plane began its descent over Paris as morning light spread across the clouds.
When we landed, police vehicles waited beyond the private terminal.
