Falling at 30,000 feets
On Valentine's Day, love is in the air-but so is danger.
At 30,000 feet, trainee captain Jane Harley proves she's more than just a rising pilot when she navigates a terrifying turbulence that leaves passengers shaken and lives hanging by a thread. Calm under pressurej and fiercely capable, Jane becomes the unexpected hero of Flight 423.
But while she's saving lives in the sky, fate is already setting something far more complicated in motion.
Among the passengers is the powerful and ambitious mother of Jayden-Aurelia Air's largest shareholder-whose midair health crisis is only the beginning of a chain of events. Grateful and intrigued, she sets her sights on Jane... not just as a hero, but as a future daughter-in-law.
Jayden, a grounded pilot with a sharp mind and guarded heart, has no interest in his mother's schemes-until one unexpected name changes everything.
In a world of wealth, expectations, and high-altitude emotions, two lives are about to collide.
Love, ambition, and fate take flight in Falling at 30,000 Feet.
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Chapter 19
Jayden set the glass down harder than necessary.
The sharp clink cut through the chatter like a warning signal, making every head turn his way. Water sloshed slightly over the rim, leaving a small dark circle on the polished wood table.
He exhaled slowly, his chest rising and falling in a deliberate rhythm as he steadied himself, then lifted his gaze to scan the table-his eyes meeting each face in turn, calm but unyielding.
"Rest assured," he said, his voice calm but carrying weight that made even Rosa pause. "I can provide for Jane. We have everything we need."
A beat of silence stretched across the table-then Rosa let out a sharp scoff, leaning back in her chair as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Pfft. Love swindlers are everywhere these days," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "They say all the right things until they've drained you dry."
Her eyes slid toward Jane, her expression hard with judgment.
"You should heed my advice, mija. I've been around longer than you have-I know how these things go."
Jane inhaled slowly, her nostrils flaring slightly as she forced her temper down before responding. She lifted her head, her spine straightening as she met her aunt's gaze directly-no longer willing to back down.
"I trust Jayden," she said firmly, her voice clear and unwavering. "He's not that type. He's honest, and he cares about me-more than anyone else in this room seems to."
Jenny smirked, her lips curling with quiet mockery as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. She'd been waiting for this moment all night.
Jane didn't look at her. She kept her eyes fixed on her aunt, refusing to give Jenny the satisfaction of a reaction.
"Please refrain from speculating about him," she added, her tone sharper now, cutting through the room like glass. "He's my husband, and I won't have people talking about him like he's some kind of criminal."
A brief silence followed until her grandmother cleared her throat, the sound loud and deliberate in the quiet room. She tapped her fork against her plate-once, twice-before speaking.
"Jane is right," she said, waving a hand dismissively as she looked around the table. "We're here for dinner, not arguments. Let them bring the food. All this talking is making me hungry."
But Rosa wasn't done. She leaned forward again, her eyes glinting with determination as she fixed her gaze on Jayden.
"Oh no," she said, straightening in her seat, her voice dripping with calculation. "We shouldn't eat homemade food tonight. That's too casual for such an important occasion."
Her eyes locked onto Jayden, and Jane could see exactly what she was doing-trying to force him into a corner, to make him look foolish in front of everyone.
"Since it's his first time dining with us," she continued, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "he should order something... luxurious. Something befitting Jane's status as a captain."
The smile widened slightly.
"I bet he hasn't even seen half the things on a proper menu. Not with the kind of life he's been leading."
The jab landed cleanly. Jane's fingers curled against the tablecloth, her nails digging into her palm hard enough to leave marks. She could feel her temper rising again-hot and sharp in her chest.
Before she could speak-
Her mother stepped in, reaching across the table to place a hand on Jane's arm. "Didn't Jenny arrange everything for tonight?" she said quickly, her tone gentle but deliberate, clearly trying to change the subject and shield Jayden from further attacks. "Let her handle the ordering. She knows the place better than anyone here."
A quiet attempt to de-escalate, to give Jayden an out.
The grandmother let out a soft, knowing "tch," shaking her head slightly as she picked up her glass of water. She could see through the attempt, but she said nothing-choosing to let it pass.
Jenny, however, looked pleased. She sat up straight, puffing out her chest slightly as she picked up her phone. Her mother watched her with pride, practically glowing as she patted her daughter's shoulder.
"Of course," Jenny said smoothly, flipping through the pages with practiced ease. "I know exactly what's good here."
Then-
"Hey, Jane," Jenny said casually, glancing up from the menu with a sweet smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Need help finding your husband a job? I know how busy you are with your flights."
The words hung in the air, heavy and loaded with mockery.
Jane turned to look at her-silent, unblinking, her face a mask of calm despite the anger boiling just below the surface.
Jenny leaned back slightly, enjoying the attention as she twirled her hair again.
"Reuben mentioned," she continued, her voice light and airy as if she'd just offered genuine help, "that the West terminal could use a security guard. It's not much, but it's steady work. I could even pull some strings to get him hired without going through the usual process."
She laughed lightly, a tinkling sound that made Jane's jaw clench.
Rosa nodded approvingly, beaming at her daughter. "That's right, Jane. Listen to Jenny. We're family-we should support each other, even when some people make... questionable choices."
Mockery dressed as kindness. The worst kind of cruelty.
Jane's chair scraped against the floor as she started to rise-ready to end this dinner, to take Jayden and leave, to never speak to her aunt or cousin again.
But Jayden's hand closed gently around hers.
Firm.
Steady.
His fingers wrapped around hers, warm and reassuring, grounding her in the moment.
She paused, looking down at their joined hands-then up at him, her eyes wide with surprise.
Jayden didn't look at her. His gaze remained fixed on Jenny, his expression calm but sharp, like a pilot assessing a storm ahead.
Then-
"I heard," he said slowly, his tone even and measured, "that at Aurelia Airline, even security positions require rigorous screening. Background checks, psychological evaluations, verification of prior experience."
The table quieted. Even Jenny stopped smiling, her fingers tightening around the menu as she stared at him.
"No fixed arrangements," he added, his voice carrying just enough to reach every corner of the room. "Not for any position. The company has standards to maintain-especially when it comes to who they trust with passenger safety."
Jenny's smile faltered-just slightly. Her face flushed a faint pink, and she looked away from his gaze, focusing on the menu as if it held the answers to getting her out of this conversation.
Her fingers tightened around the menu until her knuckles turned white.
Jayden continued, calm and composed as if he were simply discussing flight schedules:
"So I'm curious... how exactly were you planning to 'pull strings'? Bypass the screening process? Override the hiring committee's decisions?"
A subtle shift in the air. The warmth of the room felt suddenly cooler, more tense.
For the first time that night-
Jenny looked... uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat, clearing her throat as she tried to find her voice.
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9.6
In the two years after I married Daniel Carter, my private photos had gone viral nine times, and Daniel had been taken into custody ten times.
Because every time his mistress, Emily Morgan, was unhappy, she would leak my private photos all over the internet.
I, Claire Parker, never let it slide. I reported every shady business Daniel was involved in and personally sent him behind bars.
That lasted until an unexpected kidnapping. I took a bullet for him, one aimed straight at his heart, and he shielded me beneath his body, taking the brunt of the explosion for me.
After we survived, the man who had always been so cold-blooded knelt before me, his voice hoarse beyond recognition.
"Honey, let's leave the drama behind. I just want a peaceful life with you."
Right in front of me, he ordered his men to send his mistress out of Northhaven and never let her appear before him again.
In the third year after we reconciled, I carried my eight-month pregnant belly and brought him lunch.
But on the way there, I was hit by a car. The hospital issued three critical condition notices, yet they still could not save the baby.
Daniel rushed over, but he did not even spare me a glance. Instead, he pulled the woman who had hit me and her child into his arms, soothing her in a low voice.
"Don't be scared. I'll protect you and the child."
Only then did I realize that the woman who had hit me was the very mistress he had sent away three years ago.
When I demanded an explanation, Daniel brushed it off as if it were nothing. "She didn't do it on purpose. Don't take it out on her and her son. You can have a baby another time."
At that moment, I finally understood. They had gotten back together long ago.
I looked at him and nodded. "Don't worry, this will never happen again."
7.8
My abusive ex was threatening a lawsuit that would destroy my father's career and wipe out my PhD. I was completely out of options.
That night, Graham, the boy from next door I hadn't seen in a decade, showed up at my apartment in the middle of a hurricane. Now a wealthy orthopedic surgeon, he offered a transactional marriage: he needed a local wife to keep his family away while he cared for his sick mother, and in return, he would make my ex disappear.
I thought it was a simple deal. But the morning after we signed the marriage license, Graham didn't just scare my ex off—he ruthlessly dismantled him. Then, Graham turned to me. His eyes were dead as he pulled out his phone, showing me a high-resolution photo of the night I illegally sold lab samples to pay off my ex's initial blackmail. He had hired a private investigator to stalk me. If that photo leaked to the FDA, I wouldn't just lose my degree; I'd go to prison.
"I needed a guarantee," he said flatly.
I was shaking with rage and terror. This wasn't a rescue. It was a hostage situation. Why did he hunt me down? Why use my darkest secret to trap me in this twisted marriage?
I couldn't live like this. I demanded an immediate divorce. But at the courthouse, the clerk dropped a bomb on us: state law required a mandatory thirty-day waiting period. Thirty days trapped with a ruthless, manipulative stranger. I had to find a way to break his leverage before the month was up.
7.1
I was the top commander of a black-ops military program. After slaughtering my way through a hellish mission, I reached the extraction helicopter, trusting my second-in-command to watch my back.
But the moment our hands locked, he didn't pull me up. Instead, he plunged a syringe of lethal neurotoxin directly into my neck.
He aimed his gun at my chest, coldly stating that I was too dangerous to live. My lungs stopped, and I died in a pool of my own blood. But the endless blackness suddenly shattered. My consciousness violently forced its way into a new, broken shell. I woke up in a freezing alley, soaked in muddy rain.
This body belonged to seventeen-year-old Eliza Wyatt. A massive wave of foreign memories crashed into my brain. Her own younger sister had just stood at the top of the stairs with a mocking smile, watching street thugs beat Eliza to death.
"Take good care of the Wyatt family's eldest daughter. Tonight is the night she finally disappears."
The endless humiliation, the cold stares of her family, and the brutal betrayal by her own blood flashed before my eyes. Why was this fragile girl treated like garbage and pushed to her death by the very people who should have protected her?
I looked down at my pale, trembling hands. The top commander was dead, but in this bleeding shell, Eliza Wyatt was very much alive. I picked up a switchblade from the bloody puddle and stood up in the storm. It was time to hunt.
9.7
For three years, I was the dutiful wife of billionaire Ervin Valdez.
On our third wedding anniversary, he came home smelling of his mistress's perfume, pinned me down, and brutally mocked me.
His mistress, Sylvia, had even sent me a fake ultrasound report to force me out of the picture.
In Ervin's eyes, I was just a vicious, calculating liar who used a pregnancy to trap him into marriage.
He didn't care that I had actually lost that baby, nor did he know the trauma of my gambling father selling me to a dark club where I was assaulted by a stranger.
When I finally handed him the signed divorce papers, giving up all assets, and left the penthouse with nothing but an old suitcase, he just sneered.
"She is playing a game of hard to get. She won't last three days before she comes crying back."
He froze all my bank accounts, let his mistress humiliate me in public, and waited coldly for me to starve and beg.
He thought my entire existence relied on his wealth, completely confident that I would inevitably surrender to his control.
But he was wrong.
I calmly opened my old laptop, bypassed the complex encryptions, and looked at the dozens of unread emails from top-tier global brands begging for my return.
I resurrected my hidden identity as the legendary jewelry designer "R," and walked straight into the top design firm in Manhattan.
"It is time to find myself again."
9.2
After six brutal months, I returned to my Seattle villa, my sanctuary. An unsettling quiet, then a cloying mix of cheap vanilla and baby talc hit me. Pink slippers, a cookbook, and a blonde hair on Nathan's hoodie screamed betrayal.
Unwashed baby bottles and a note from "M" to "feed the baby" confirmed my dread. A baby's cry led me to Misty, holding a baby with Nathan's exact curls. She claimed Nathan called me his "bankrupt ex-wife," my clothes gone, wedding photos crumpled, and his loving text proved his calculated fraud.
Nathan burst in, spewing gaslighting lies, despite finding a deed transfer for *my* house. His blame—that I was a "cold work machine"—only solidified my resolve. My husband used my money, home, and trust to build a new life, systematically trying to erase me. He didn't just cheat; he tried to steal everything. A venture capitalist doesn't just walk away from a hostile takeover.
8.0
"Don't you dare touch me. You bloody monster," Eric whispered glaring at me, which only turned me on the more.
A beautiful smile crossed my lips; luckily for us, his fake mother was so focused on Katherine, she did not know I was fucking her son before her eyes.
"So I am now a monster, huh? That was not what you said yesterday. Or have you forgotten about our hot night?" I asked as I traced my way to his lap again, approaching his groin area.
He swallowed hard, his eyes roaming around. "Damien. I am Katherine's fiancé. your niece" He reminded me as my hands reached his groan, caressing it through the layers of his trousers.
"Yesterday you were Mike's boyfriend, and what did I tell you? I don't give a fuck!," I whispered back. "Now be quiet and try to control yourself" .
Eric's life is thrown upside down when his brother is killed on his coronation day, and he now has to become the king. and he can't because he is gay and he has a boyfriend who he loves dearly, or so he thought until he met Damien Monetro, his fiancée's uncle and his former one-night stand