Chapter 383 - 383: England, Here We Come.

The airport terminal buzzed with the usual chaos—people rushing, announcements crackling, suitcases bumping against floors. Kyle's group moved as a single unit: Jane pushing a stroller for Junior, Cassandra carrying the diaper bag, Ella herding Jasmine, and Kyle pulling the largest suitcase.

Check-in took ten minutes. No issues. Passports were clean, tickets were first class.

"First class?" Jane had whispered when Kyle handed her the boarding pass. "Kyle, this is… a lot."

"You deserve it," he said simply.

Security was smooth. Jasmine needed help taking off her shoes, but a TSA agent smiled and guided her through. Junior slept through the whole thing.

When they reached the gate, Kyle stopped.

The plane sat on the tarmac, massive and gleaming. He had seen planes before—in movies, in the sky, from a distance. But standing this close, about to walk inside one? His heart pounded against his ribs.

"You okay?" Ella asked.

"Yeah," Kyle said, but his voice cracked.

They boarded through the first-class gangway. The cabin was quiet, spacious. Leather seats that reclined all the way. Complimentary champagne already waiting. Jasmine's eyes went wide as saucers.

"This is a plane?" she asked. "Looks like a rich person's living room."

Kyle laughed. "Something like that."

He found his seat next to Cassandra, who had Junior in her lap. Jane and Ella sat across the aisle. Jasmine took the window seat behind Kyle, her face pressed to the glass.

The flight attendants went through the safety demo. Kyle tried to listen, but his mind was elsewhere. His hands were sweaty. His leg bounced.

This was really happening.

The engines hummed to life. The plane began to take off.

Kyle's breath caught the moment it left its initial location.

"You're doing that thing," Cassandra said softly.

"What thing?"

"The thing where you pretend you're fine but your knuckles are white."

He looked down. His hands were gripping the armrests like he was holding onto a cliff.

The plane turned onto the runway. The engines roared louder. Kyle felt the vibration in his chest, in his teeth, in his bones.

Then the plane accelerated.

His heart left his body but Kyle knew he had to keep his composure.

A man who had taken life and sat on the same table as the Mafia was about to lose his shit because of a plane, the safest mode of transportation.

The nose lifted. The ground fell away. Kyle grabbed Cassandra's hand—not gently, but desperately. His other hand shot out and gripped the armrest again.

"Whoa," he breathed.

Cassandra placed her free hand over the back of his palm, warm and steady. "Hey. Look at me."

He looked, Cassandra was new to this as wepl but she was a lot calmer.

This was a rare moment of Kyle's inner-child slipping through.

"The plane is not going to fall from the sky," she said. "I promise. We're okay."

Kyle chuckled. "You sure? Because my stomach is still back on the runway."

She smiled. "That's normal. It'll pass."

"It better or I will jump out and doom us all!" Kyle joked and Cassandra giggled at this.

"Then you'll be dramatic in first class. There are worse ways to travel."

He let out a laugh. The pressure in his chest eased, just a little.

Ella leaned over from across the aisle. "You good, tough guy?"

"Shut up," Kyle said, but he was smiling now.

Jasmine tapped his shoulder. "Mr. Kyle, look! The cars are tiny!"

He turned to the window. Below, the world had shrunk. Highways became threads. Houses became specks. Clouds drifted past like cotton balls.

Then they climbed higher until the ground disappeared.

Kyle stared. There was nothing but white and blue. No buildings. No roads. No people. Just sky.

"How…" he started, then stopped.

"How what?" Ella asked.

"How did anyone build something that can do this?" He gestured at the window, at everything and nothing.

"I've seen planes in movies. I've read about them. But being here? Feeling it?" He shook his head. "It's different. It's… amazing."

Ella grinned. "First time flyer speech. Classic."

"Let him have this," Cassandra said. She squeezed his hand. "It's cute."

Kyle didn't even care that he had let his mask slip. He looked back out the window, heart still racing, but now with wonder instead of fear.

He couldn't believe Jasmine, who he had comforted earlier, was more composed than him.

"We really are gods," he thought. Humanity, there was nothing they couldn't achieve.

Junior let out a happy gurgle.

"Even the baby likes it," Jasmine said.

Kyle laughed—a real, full laugh. "Yeah. I guess he does."

The seatbelt sign turned off. A flight attendant came by with drinks. Kyle ordered water, still staring out the window.

He was terrified five minutes ago. Now he couldn't stop smiling.

Some things, he decided, were worth being raw for, especially if it was the first time.

You never forget your first.

-

Calista was finally feeling better, she had woken up but she didn't need to look far to know what was going on.

It was Ella's posts, it was about her leaving the country but she saw Kyle's tinged hair in one of the frames.

Calista wondered if that was why Kyle came to invite her to join them?

That was highly unlikely but not impossible.

Vivienne did little to nothing to aid in her recovery, only interested in the relationships she had formed now that she was becoming a big shot.

But every now and then, she would try to get more information about Kyle but she dodged the questions.

She had already crossed Kyle once before, there was no way in hell she was about to tell her loud mouthed mother anything.

But this was a glimpse of why Calista turned out the way she did.

After all, we are the product of our upbringing and Calista was no different.

And she was sure not do anything that would piss lf Kyle, he was not only the man she had grown fond of but also the man who made her life what it is now.