Chapter 1 - Champagne at Thirty Thousand Feet
“Champagne for the business meeting you invented?”
Dakota’s voice was smooth enough to belong in a training video.
Her hand did not shake.
She stood in the first-class aisle of the Miami-to-Paris flight, flawless in her navy uniform, one palm braced beneath the green bottle as champagne streamed into the glass held by a visibly pregnant woman in a fitted pink dress.
Trinity stared at the bubbles.
Beside her, Adam jerked backward so hard his shoulder struck the gray leather seat.
His mouth fell open.
“Dakota…”
Several passengers turned toward them.
Dakota had been married to Adam for seven years.
That morning, he had kissed her forehead and claimed he was flying to Chicago for a four-day corporate strategy meeting.
He believed Dakota had accepted an emergency work assignment in Nashville.
Instead, she had watched him board first class with another woman.
A pregnant woman.
Trinity slowly turned toward Adam.
“What business meeting?”
Adam pushed halfway out of his seat and reached toward Dakota’s arm.
She stepped back, snapped the bottle upright, and raised one firm palm.
“Dakota, let me explain.”
She locked the bottle into the beverage cart and pushed it between them.
“Sit down, sir.”
Adam obeyed.
Dakota placed his boarding pass beside Trinity’s.
Then she showed him the recording indicator on her phone.
His confidence vanished.
His hand froze around the dripping champagne glass.
“You said she was in Nashville,” Trinity whispered.
Dakota gave him one cold, microscopic smile.
She had not come aboard to catch him.
May you like
She had come aboard because she already had.
👉 But Adam had no idea the affair was only the smallest lie Dakota had uncovered.
