The Billionaire's Runaway Pilot

The billionaire heir of a massive airline empire once threw punches in front of everyone just for me.

He used to pull me close on his private tarmac and kiss me like I belonged to him. I thought that was love. Until that perfect, highsociety girl showed up.

I watched him throw the gift I saved up for right into the trash, turn around, and get into her supercar. I took the hint. I vanished that exact same day.

I stayed gone for five whole years. Shouldn't he be happy? Then why are his eyes bloodshot? His large frame shakes uncontrollably as he stares dead at me.

Chapter 1 I saw Silas again at the senior job fair. He stood surrounded by a massive crowd, wearing a sharp suit that made him look out of our league.

My roommates chattered from a distance. "Everyone is dying to get into the airline, and it's all because of Silas." "You know he is only a year older than us, right?" Silas was twentythree.

The heir to the airline empire. The real deal. But it was not just the money that drew people in. He was sixfoottwo, with broad shoulders, narrow hips, and striking features.

The airline hired a bunch of male celebrities for a promo last year. Silas stood next to them on stage and wiped them out. Everyone said Silas was his own best billboard.

I looked up. Silas answered questions with a steady face. He looked different from the guy in my memory. He always had a tense jaw, a gaze sharp as a knife.

Those thin lips only spit out sharp words. My roommates kept talking. "Ugh, look at the campus queen trying to throw herself at Silas!

Doesn't she see his girl right next to him?" "Penelope is so pretty.

She is the perfect match for Silas." "I heard they grew up together." "Old money loves old money." "Hey, don't you guys think Sloane looks a little bit like Penelope?" The topic suddenly shifted to me.

Penelope and I looked more than just "a little bit" alike. If we did not, how could a broke girl from the wrong side of the tracks catch Silas's eye five years ago?

He used to tutor me, teaching me everything about planes. He used to lean down and kiss me on his private tarmac. He gave me a fantasy, all because I looked like her.

The floor opened up for a Q&A session. The entire hall quieted down. Silas's gaze swept lazily over the crowd. In that exact second, his eyes locked.

His stare cut straight through dozens of people and pinned dead on my spot. His breathing stopped for a fraction of a second.

A sharp crack cut through the silence as he suddenly snapped his expensive pen in half, drawing everyone's attention. But Silas ignored them. His locked stare stayed right on us.

I immediately bent down, pretending to tie my shoelace to break his line of sight, my heart hammering against my ribs.

Luckily, my roommate had only mentioned the resemblance in passing. The session moved forward. A student asked, "Mr.

Silas, what kind of person does the airline refuse to hire?" Silas gripped the microphone.

The veins on the back of his hand popped out. "A woman full of lies, someone ready to run at any moment." His voice dropped low, words grinding through his teeth. "My exgirlfriend was exactly like that." The crowd broke into whispers and gasps.

Until the very end of the event, everyone gossiped about Silas and his mysterious ex. No one noticed me. I threw away the airline flyer without saying a word.

My roommates were all in the flight attendant program, but I majored in aviation technology. Simply put, I flew the planes. My roommates all wanted to get into his airline.

But the competition was brutal, and almost the entire flight attendant department was prepping for it. My loudmouth roommate was named Brooke, and she was my closest friend.

Chapter 2 Before the written test, Brooke leaned against the wall. "Sloane, I'm so jealous.

You've got this in the bag." "Why do you say that?" "You're the only girl in your major, and you're at the top of your class. They'd be begging to take you." "Hard to say.

Female pilots aren't exactly in high demand." "No, you're wrong. Girls might have a slight physical disadvantage, so being number one means you worked twice as hard as anyone else.

If I know that, his airline definitely knows that." I crumpled the airline flyer into a tight ball and pitched it straight into the trash. "I'm never stepping foot in his territory." "Huh?

Why not?" She was shocked because they offered the best packages in the industry. Who would turn down that kind of paycheck?

I looked at her. "I'm applying to other airlines." Brooke's jaw dropped. "Sloane, are you out of your mind? The salary they pay pilots is something I can't even dream of!

Who else pays that kind of money?" It was never about the money. I kept that answer locked behind my teeth. I dropped Brooke off at her exam room, and walked alone on campus.

Sunlight spilled over the pathways. Looking back, my first runin with Silas eight years ago happened on a day exactly like this. I grew up in a forgotten, rundown town.

My parents died when I was ten, leaving behind nothing but debts. I scraped by with my grandmother. Right before high school, a bigshot documentary director rolled into town.

He wanted to track a kid from the bottom of the barrel moving into a highsociety world for three years. The wealthy host family was already lined up.

They just needed the perfect charity case. My school principal pushed me forward. Before I left, she pulled me aside, her face dead serious. "Sloane, you know why I picked you?

You're the smartest kid we have. You have to get into college. Get out of this town. I can't teach you anymore. They have better teachers there. Grab this chance.

Got it?" "Got it." I looked up at the sky. A massive commercial jet roared as it took off. The violent slipstream rushed past, making my heart pound against my ribs.

That same rush of air carried me all the way to my eighteenth birthday, rewriting my life. I was taken in by the chairman of the airline.

They threw a massive, lavish welcome party in their sprawling mansion. They shoved expensive electronics into my hands—things I didn't even know existed.

It was supposed to be my welcome party, but I stood silent, a stray dog crashing a highsociety gala. But then, I spotted someone just like me.

A teenage boy dressed in sharp black stood on the secondfloor landing, his gaze dropping to pin me in place. I had never seen a guy that striking.

And I had never seen a gaze that dead. That was my first time seeing Silas. Silas was the chairman's only son. The sole heir to the empire. He hated me.

Probably because I looked like I crawled out of the dirt. I ended up at his elite prep school. We were even in the same classes. His first rule for me?

Pretend I didn't know him at school. Chapter 3 The camera crew didn't follow me every single day.

The shooting schedule revolved around the Chairman's time, and both he and his wife were always busy. Most of the time, Silas and I were the only ones in that massive house.

We didn't say a word to each other. The silence was deafening. The ice between Silas and me broke after the first set of monthly exams. I bombed English, ranking dead last.

The teacher made me stand up and read the text out loud. Back in my rundown town, we didn't exactly have real English teachers.

My accent was a joke, and the entire class burst into laughter. I froze, my face burning. I went straight home and hid in my room, burying my face in the pillow.

Until Silas kicked the door open with a loud bang. I thought he would just ignore me like he always did. But his large frame blocked the doorway.

His long fingers tossed something through the air, landing perfectly in the palm of my hand. "Eat it." He kept his jaw tight, his voice raspy. "Then come find me." It was a sweet and sour candy.

From that day on, Silas tutored me in English. He also taught me everything about the mechanics of airplanes. By finals, my grades skyrocketed.

I took the pocket money I saved up and bought him a little bird keychain.

Silas stared at it. "That is one ugly chicken." "It's a bird," I mumbled, my voice lacking any real confidence. The corner of his mouth twitched up.

Just a fraction of an inch, but it showed a crack of softness in his armor.

He clipped the keychain to his backpack. "Thanks, Sloane." "Why do you actually call me Sloane?" "What else would I call you?" Silas didn't pull punches. "I heard what your relatives used to call you back in that town. 'Waste of space.' Your parents didn't exactly hide the fact that they hated you, did they?" He hit the nail on the head.

My parents made it clear I was an unwanted burden. Before they died, they told me to my face I was nothing but a drain on their wallets. Things between Silas and me slowly thawed.

He kept up the tutoring. And I finally understood why his attitude toward me changed. He was drowning in loneliness. His parents couldn't care less about him.

Before I showed up, he came home to an empty mansion and a housekeeper every single day.

He hated me at first because he thought I was going to steal the tiny scraps of attention his parents had left. Then he realized the truth.

I became the only person who actually stayed by his side. When he thrashed around in bed, burning up with a high fever, I sat by his side through the entire night.

When he sat in that massive, hollow mansion on his birthday, waiting for parents who were never going to walk through the door, I stayed with him.

That night, Silas crouched in the dark garden, dragging heavily on a cigarette. The elaborate dinner spread inside sat untouched.

The family had strict rules against smoking, but who cared? I wanted to say something to make it better, but I sucked at comforting people.

So, I just grabbed his arm and dragged him out for a night ride on our bikes. The heir to the airline was used to tinted windows and private chauffeurs; he never rode a bike.

We sped down the empty streets, the cool night wind rushing past us, completely free. I told him stories about the country, explaining the difference between wheat and cornfields.

Silas looked up at the night sky, his dark eyes catching the streetlights. "One day," he said, his voice quiet but rocksolid. "I'm going to open a flight route straight to your hometown." Young love hits exactly like that.

Simple. Reckless. And burning hot. Chapter 4 From fifteen to eighteen, we were practically glued to each other. Some guy at school mocked my accent.

Silas stepped up and laid him out with one punch. Nobody messed with me after that. When my cramps were killing me, I still had to force a smile for the documentary cameras.

Silas stood just out of frame, quietly wrapping his warm hands over mine. On the night of our high school graduation, Silas pinned me against the railing of his private tarmac.

The roar of the jet engines was deafening. He roughly ripped off his tie, dipped his head, and kissed me hard.

If things had gone to plan, we would have gone to the same college, graduated together, gotten married, and had kids… So, when did the plan fall apart?

Probably around the time I saw Penelope's photo. "Hey." That familiar voice snapped me back to reality. "Are you here for the interview too?" Silas stood right in front of me, his dark eyes sweeping over my face.

I was just here keeping Brooke company for her interview. It was a standard recruitment event. I didn't expect Silas to show up in person, let alone notice me.

I shook my head, keeping my body rigid. My pollen allergy was acting up, so I wore a massive mask that covered half my face, right up to my eyes.

I used to be malnourished and skinny as a rail. Now, I had a tan and muscle definition—the solid build of a trained pilot.

There was no way he could recognize me… Just as I thought that, Silas's brows snapped together. "What's your name? Where are you from?" The waiting room went dead silent.

I kept my mouth shut, my mind racing for an exit strategy.

Brooke walked out of the interview room right at that second and caught his question. "Oh, my roommate is from out of state.

Her last name is…" Before she could finish, Silas's eyes darkened. He lunged forward and grabbed my arm. "Sloane