CHAPTER 1: The Voice That Shattered Everything
The recorder clicked.
A soft hiss filled the room before Juliette’s voice slipped out—cold, calculated, unmistakable.
"If she disappears, everything comes to me. The house, the trust fund… all of it. One push into the water, and it’s done."
The air in the Pierce mansion turned to stone.
No one moved.
Christopher’s grip tightened around Emma as her small body trembled against him. Across the room, his father staggered backward, his face draining of color as decades of denial collapsed in seconds.
“Play it again,” he whispered.
But the housekeeper shook her head. “There’s more.”
The next clip was worse.
Emma’s terrified voice.
Begging.
Crying.
Then—splashing water.
May you like
Christopher closed his eyes.
That was the moment everything ended.
