Then back at Nora.

“I'm asking you not to disappear.”

The words settled between them.

Nora's heart gave one painful beat.

She looked away.

“Why?”

“Because I have spent my entire life surrounded by people who want something from me.”

His voice was almost emotionless.

“And today, for the first time in a long time, someone walked toward me when she had nothing to gain.”

Nora didn't know what to say.

Leo reached into his jacket and handed her a card.

She looked at it.

“What's this?”

“My private number.”

Her eyebrows lifted.

“That's not necessary.”

“It is.”

She looked at him again.

His expression had hardened into something decisive.

“I don't make promises casually, Nora.”

She froze.

She hadn't told him her name.

Leo noticed her reaction.

“The passenger manifest.”

Of course.

She almost smiled.

Almost.

Then his next words erased the humor.

“If my daughter needs you again, I'll make sure you never have to wonder whether you can reach me.”

Nora closed her fingers around the card.

“Thank you.”

Leo didn't leave.

He looked at her for another long moment.

Then he said quietly, “You saved my daughter's strength when she had almost none left.”

Nora swallowed.

“I only fed her.”

“No.”

His gaze held hers.

“You reminded her that someone would answer when she cried.”

Something inside Nora broke.

She looked down quickly, afraid he would see the tears forming.

Leo stepped back.

“I'll contact you tomorrow.”

Nora frowned.

“You said I didn't owe you anything.”

“You don't.”

“Then why will you contact me?”

His expression was calm.

Certain.

“Because I already made my decision.”

She looked up.

“What decision?”

Leo glanced at his daughter.

Then back at Nora.

“That you're not going to face the next part of your life alone.”

Nora couldn't answer.

The jet's engines had gone quiet.

The afternoon air smelled of rain and wet pavement.

For three months, Nora had believed the rest of her life would be measured in empty rooms, unanswered questions, and memories she was too tired to carry.

She had boarded the plane that morning expecting nothing.

Now she stood on the edge of a completely different future, holding a small white card between trembling fingers.

She didn't know Leo Mercer.

She didn't know why a man with everything would look at a grieving stranger as though he had already decided she mattered.

She didn't know what his promise would cost.

She didn't know what dangers surrounded him, or what secrets waited behind the polished walls of his world.

She knew only one thing.

At 35,000 feet, a starving baby had cried.

And Nora had answered.

For the first time in three months, she wondered if perhaps answering one cry could lead somewhere other than pain.

Behind her, Leo's daughter stirred.

He immediately looked down.

The baby's tiny hand curled against his shirt.

Leo smiled.

It was barely there.

A private expression that vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

Then his eyes returned to Nora.

And Nora understood that the most frightening thing about his promise wasn't that he had the power to change her life.

It was that some hidden, exhausted part of her wanted to believe him.