Chapter 13 - ACROSS THE OCEAN
Five days later, the private Gulfstream jet chartered by Vance Global Logistics soared high above the Atlantic Ocean, cutting through a sea of white clouds toward the sun-drenched coast of Italy.
For Shiomara, who had never flown higher than a commercial coach seat—and that only once in her youth—the experience felt entirely surreal.
She sat in a plush leather armchair near the cabin window, sipping sparkling water while watching the endless horizon. Eleanor sat across from her, quietly sketching architectural designs on a notepad, while Julian and Marcus reviewed global shipping forecasts on their tablets.
“Are you enjoying the flight, Shiomara?” Marcus asked, glancing up from his screen with a warm grin.
“I feel like I’m in a dream,” Shiomara confessed, shaking her head with a light laugh. “If I wake up tomorrow morning and find myself back on Route 41 pushing my squeaky cart, I honestly wouldn't even be surprised.”
“You are wide awake, and you aren't going back to that cart,” Julian promised firmly, reaching over to tap his glass against hers. “You earned every second of this peace, a thousand times over.”
When the jet touched down in Naples, a sleek vintage convertible waited on the private tarmac to drive them along the winding, cliffside roads of the Amalfi Coast.
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The air smelled of salt, lemons, and blooming bougainvillea. For the next two weeks, Shiomara experienced a world she had only ever seen on worn-out television screens in laundromats. They dined at cliffside trattorias overlooking the sparkling blue Mediterranean, walked through ancient cobblestone villages, and laughed until their ribs ached.
For the three Vance siblings, the trip wasn't just a vacation; it was a reclamation of the childhood they had lost, shared with the only person who had ever thrown them a lifeline in the dark.
