Chapter 1: The Fall Wasn’t an Accident
The marble felt colder than death beneath Eliza’s skin.
For a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
The chandelier above blurred into fractured light as pain rippled through her body, sharp and relentless. Her hands instinctively curled around her stomach.
“My baby…” she whispered.
Footsteps echoed—fast, urgent.
Relief flickered in her chest.
Daniel.
But instead of kneeling beside her… instead of touching her, checking her, saving her—
He ran past her.
Just… ran.
Eliza’s heart didn’t shatter all at once.
It cracked slowly, painfully, as she turned her head and watched him take the stairs two at a time—toward her.
Vanessa.
At the top of the staircase, Vanessa staggered back a step, placing a delicate hand against her chest like she was the victim.
“Daniel… I—I tried to stop her,” she said, her voice trembling with perfectly crafted fear. “She slipped… I couldn’t—”
Daniel pulled her into his arms immediately.
“It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Safe.
The word echoed like a cruel joke.
Down below, Eliza lay bleeding.
Alone.
Her fingers brushed something cold—scattered pearls. Her necklace. Broken… just like everything else.
And then she remembered.
The push.
Vanessa’s whisper, soft and venomous right before it happened:
“You were never supposed to carry his heir.”
Eliza’s eyes widened.
This wasn’t an accident.
This was attempted murder.
And the man she loved… had just chosen her killer.
A tear slid down her temple.
But something inside her—fragile, trusting, naïve—finally died.
May you like
And in its place…
Something stronger began to rise.
